Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  Check your cables Here are the cables on the back of your computers and where they are supposed to be plugged in

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

   Here is the whole thing – the way it is supposed to be.

Of course you are reading this because something or someone may have screwed around with the cables Here they are one by one:

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

   This is a power switch Kids love to turn this off and watch their friends try to turn on their computers from the front.

Hours of fun!!

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  This is the plug to the power outlet Make sure both ends connect to something appropriate

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  These are the connections for the keyboard and mouse.

Have they been reversed?? If so change them back.

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

     This is the video plug If you don’t see anything on the screen, check to see if it is plugged in and secure.

Make sure the pins are straight and intact before you do the above Perhaps the little beggars have plugged one computers video into another computers back Clever aren’t they?

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  These are the headphone/speaker and microphone connections.

Make sure they are in this order with green on top.

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  This is the network cable Wouldn’t it be fun to place this cable in the socket but not push it in quite all the way so your friend can’t connect and gets in trouble with the teacher?

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  The other end of the network cable should be plugged into a box somewhat like this.

Of course you could always unplug it and leave it dangling in order to watch the fun

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

 That’s about it really.

  Cables are basic but offer endless opportunities for fun in the classroom.

On to other things you might do before calling the techies in and having to listen to them berate you!!!

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

    Printing problems usually come from two sources: The person is not logged in correctly and therefore his computer can’t see the printer OR the printer has run out of paper or jammed and a huge lineup of print jobs have accumulated Here’s how to check:

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

  When you send a job to the printer, an small printer icon will appear in the lower right hand corner which shows your job is waiting to be printed If it does not disappear after a few minutes then something may be wrong or there may be a huge job ahead of you

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

    To check: Double click the printer icon and a list of jobs currently being worked on will be presented Right now this printer is totally empty and waiting for a job Lucky you

Troubleshooting – When good computers go bad!

   Now the bad news: If there is a long line in the print queue, you can only delete your print jobs.

Call an administrator to go to the printer in questions and clean out the print queue or turn the printer power off and on (oops I didn’t tell you this)