Things to add for PC / Network Issues
Guys, Girls and Goats,
When asking for help with a networking issue, a PC issue or even a simple display issues here are some background things we will need to have before we get into depth on assisting you with your issue.
PC Issue - System info required;
An easy way to gather some general system information is to generate a DXDiag report (DirectX Diagnostic Tool). To perform this in the Search (Start - Search or for XP Start - Run) type in the command dxdiag to generate the report.
This will generate the DX Diag window where you can then choose on the bottom right to "Save all information" and output it to a txt file.
Open the text file and then cut/copy/paste in the system details into the forum topic your creating. Please only copy out whats relating to your request. Dont be spamming the whole wall of text report into the thread (I personally find it annoying) try to snip out whats relevant. If you miss something, dont worry as we will ask you to add more.
An example from a laptop I am on right now;
SYSTEM INFO
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System Information
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Time of this report: 1/30/2012, 09:54:37
Machine name: 2Goats&aChal
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.111025-1629)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP EliteBook 8440p
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q 740 @ 1.73GHz (8 CPUs)
Memory: 3000MB RAM
Page File: 787MB used, 5048MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode
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DxDiag Notes
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DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Display Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.
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Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA NVS 3100M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: NVS 3100M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A6C&SUBSYS_172B103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.8812 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Date/Size: 11/25/2009 15:31:48, 5981056 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
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Sound Devices
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Description: IDT Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_111D&DEV_7603&SUBSYS_103C172B&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: sthda.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.6257.0000 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 11/18/2009 13:19:46, 1654723 bytes
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EVENT LOG INFO
Is there something in the eventlog to show / tell you there is an error?
In some instances, when the PC is doing something odd, crashing or behaving poorly, there could be an error being created in the event log on the computer to advise you whats happening. A common one seen once was Punkbuster generating errors and thus needing a manual update to resolve.
To find the event log do the following;
- Do a single right click on Computer / My Computer and select Manage. This will open the computer Management Window.
From here, expand event viewer tree so you see the event viewer System and Application eventlogs.
Selecting the Application and System event logs will show you the processes, EXEs and services that have started, run, failed, errored etc. You will need to look through these looking for an error that occured roughly the same time your system spat the dummy and fucked up.
Once you find a possible entry that seems to relate to the issue, open and copy out the details and paste into the forums post that you are writing up.
Example Below;
Event Type: Error
Event Source: SmcService
Event Category: None
Event ID: 0
Date: 3/02/2012
Time: 6:50:44 AM
User: N/A
Computer: 2Goats&aChal
Description:
The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( SmcService ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: SmcService error: 6, SetServiceStatus.
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NETWORK INFO
Networking Issues
If you have a network issue, can you supply some generic information such as the IP address, can you ping things can you surf the net, etc.
IP Address Gathering;
To obtain the IP info on a system is to select Start and then type CMD to open the command prompt window (Black window with white text for non IT people)
In the prompt type in IPConfig to generate the IP details of the computer. If you want to generate more details info, type in IPConfig /All
An example (Using the Ipconfig / all)
H:\>ipconfig /all
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : 2Goats&aChal
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Chals-House
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : google.com
google.com.au
google.local
chalice.xxx
goats.com
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300
AGN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-D7-98-E7-8C
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : google.com
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82577LM Gigabit Network Con
nection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : B4-99-BA-E2-DB-1A
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.75.152.78
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.75.152.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.75.136.5
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.75.136.3
10.80.100.100
10.76.100.100
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, 30 January 2012 7:01:13 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, 7 February 2012 7:01:13 AM
=============================================================
Additional details that help are, "Can you ping your router or another PC"
To ping another device you need to know the IP Address or the name of the other device. In this example, we have done an IPConfig and we know the IP address of the system we are one, we also see the gateway which is the router and we also see the DNS details. You can ping the router to see if your able to communicate within your network and then if having network issues, ping an outside address.
To 'ping' something, in the command prompt window, type the command PING and the address of what to pint. See example below;
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
H:\>ping 10.75.152.1
Pinging 10.75.152.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.75.152.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.75.152.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.75.152.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=255
Reply from 10.75.152.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=255
Ping statistics for 10.75.152.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 3ms, Average = 1ms
H:\>ping
www.google.comPinging
www.l.google.com [74.125.237.148] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 74.125.237.148: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=54
Reply from 74.125.237.148: bytes=32 time=36ms TTL=54
Reply from 74.125.237.148: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=54
Reply from 74.125.237.148: bytes=32 time=37ms TTL=54
Ping statistics for 74.125.237.148:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 36ms, Maximum = 37ms, Average = 36ms
As you can see in the example above, I have done a ping to both the router and to the website
www.google.com. This confirms I am able to communicate internally on my network and also to the internet. Therefore no issues. If there is an issue somewhere the result would be a 'time out' or
H:\>ping
www.goatsoflove.comPing request could not find host
www.goatsoflove.com. Please check the name and
try again.
Thus indicating an error somewhere.
Additional information required is the details of your network devices, IE whats the make / model and Firmware of the network devices in your home / office. To see the details of your router etc, type the gateway address IE 192.168.1.1 (See above for obtain IP to see Gateway) into Internet Explorer to open the router details (Username / password may be required) and then consulting your operating manual, gather info on the device such as the firmware, model, type, are you using WEP / WPA, etc etc and any other configuration that could benefit us.
Therefore if having a network issue, test to see if you can ping some devices, obtain the network details of your system and router and post them in here for us to look over along with all the thigns you have tried to resolve the issue first.
Regards,
Syks
NOTE - anyone else want to add to this can and sticky it up.