Spot the warning signs that your PC, phone or tablet is struggling and take action before it’s too late. Wayne Williams reveals what you shouldn’t ignore
PC fans are working overtime
Symptom:
The fans inside your computer are constantly spinning and making a loud ‘revving’ noise. Your PC may also occasionally shut down without warning.
Cause:
If your PC is generating too much heat, the internal fans will kick in to try to cool things down. If the fans are being forced to work harder than normal, it’s a clear sign that something isn’t right.
What to do:
First, identify the cause of the heat. It could be down to poor ventilation, components overheating or dust clogging up the inside of your PC. Try moving your computer to a location with better ventilation and clear away any dust, preferably using a mini-vacuum cleaner (don’t use an air spray duster – it will just move the muck around and may make things worse). If it’s a desktop computer, temporarily remove the side of the casing to see if that helps.
Hard drive is making strange noises
Symptom:
Your hard drive shouldn’t make any noise aside from the gentle whirring you hear when data is being accessed. If the drive is clicking, grinding or whistling, it’s very likely that it’s beginning to fail.
Cause:
Impending failure is the number one suspect when it comes to noisy hard drives. Mechanical drives are much more reliable than they used to be, but they still won’t last forever.
What to do:
Check the S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) status for the noisy drive using the free program CrystalDiskInfo (bit.ly/crystal383). If the health status says Bad or Caution, this suggests that the drive is failing, so you will need to save your data and get a replacement. If the status says everything is fine, make sure the drive is tightly screwed into the chassis. If the screws have come loose, due to vibration, that could be the source of the noise.
Blue screen errors keep appearing
Symptom:
Blue screen errors, also known as the Blue Screen of Death (or BSOD) are the most feared of all errors and require you to reboot your PC to resume using it. Unfortunately, once you’ve had one blue screen, they may become a regular occurrence.
Cause:
Blue screen errors have many causes, including a change of hardware, software problems and driver incompatibility. They can also be caused by failing hardware – processor, memory and motherboard problems being the most common causes.
What to do:
You need to identify the root cause. If the blue screens started after you installed a program or a new piece of hardware, try removing the likely culprit. If the blue screens started for no obvious reason, you can try using the built-in Resource & Performance Monitor to identify the source of the problem. Press Windows+R, type perfmon /report, then click OK to see where errors have occurred recently.
It’s also worth using the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool to check for faulty memory. Go to Start, Administrative Tools, Windows Memory Diagnostic. If it finds a problem with your RAM, you will need to replace it.
Opening and saving files takes ages
Symptom:
When you open a file – such as a document, photo or video – or try to save one, the process takes a very long time and doesn’t always work. Windows occasional fails to boot properly, too.
Cause:
This is likely to be a problem with your hard drive failing. You won’t be able to read or write to bad sectors, and existing files on the drive may become corrupted.
What to do:
Check the S.M.A.R.T. status to confirm there’s a problem with your hard drive, then use a program such as Clonezilla (clonezilla.org) or EaseUS Partition Master Free (www.partition-tool.com) to clone as much of the drive as possible to a replacement drive. The sooner you act, the more data you will be able to save.
Graphics are not displaying properly
Symptom:
3D graphics aren’t displaying as they should, your Desktop occasionally has glitches and your PC freezes when you’re playing games or editing video.
Cause:
This indicates a problem with your video card (or onboard graphics). It’s likely that the card is overheating, so you need to find out why.
What to do:
First, remove and reinsert the graphics card (if it’s a separate board). Make sure any power connectors are firmly in place. You can use Driver Booster (bit.ly/driver381) to make sure you have the latest graphics drivers installed. Finally, make sure there’s enough ventilation in your PC and that any fans on the graphics card are spinning as they should.
Mobile phone keeps shutting down
Symptom:
Your phone keeps turning itself off, even though there appears to be plenty of life left in the battery.
Cause:
If you have a removable battery, it could be inserted incorrectly. If you don’t have a removable battery, it’s likely that the device itself is faulty.
What to do:
If you have a removable battery, take the back off the phone and pull out the battery. Make sure there’s no dust or dirt getting in the way, then reinsert the battery, replace the back of the phone and restart your device. While the battery is out, check that it’s not damaged.
Android phones have an option that lets you test the battery for problems. Open the Phone app and dial *#*#4636#*#*. This will open Android’s hidden test menu. Select Battery Information to see the battery charging status, charge level, scale and – most importantly – the battery health.
Tablet or phone is overheating
Symptom:
Tablets and smartphones often get hot when they’re working hard, but if your device is getting very warm even when it’s not being used, that could indicate problems.
Cause:
Processor-intensive tasks – such as playing 3D games – can generate a lot of heat, and using the tablet or phone in a warm room or outside on a sunny day can make things worse. Battery problems are often the cause of continual overheating, especially if the device gets very hot when charging.
What to do:
Check to see which apps are running in the background, and disable any you don’t need. If you have an Android or iOS device, go to Settings, Battery and see if you can spot any apps that are consuming more resources than they perhaps should. In iOS 9, there’s a Low Power Mode you can switch to. If the overheating device is an Android phone, try the free app EaseUS Coolphone-Cool Battery (bit.ly/coolphone383), which is designed to instantly cool things down by disabling apps and features that can cause overheating.