How to troubleshoot PC Motherboard

Common symptoms of motherboard issues are similar to CPU problems: The system does not display anything; an error code appears; one or more beeps occur; the system locks; the system reboots; a Windows BSOD (blue screen of death) appears; or one or more of the ports, expansion slots, or memory modules fails.

Motherboard problems and power problems are probably the most difficult issues to troubleshoot. Because various components are located on the motherboard, many things can cause errors. POST (power-on self-test) is one of the most beneficial aids for troubleshooting a motherboard.Here are some of the things you need to do:

  • Is the motherboard receiving power? Check the power supply to see if the fan is turning. If the CPU or motherboard has a fan, see if it is turning. Check voltages going from the power supply to the motherboard.
  • Check the BIOS/UEFI settings  for accuracy.
  • Check for overheating. Power down the computer and allow the computer to cool. Power on the computer with the cover off.
  • Check the motherboard for distended capacitors. These are small components that might appear to be bulging. If sighted, replace the motherboard as soon as possible.
  • Reseat the CPU, adapters, and memory chips.
  • Remove unnecessary adapters and devices and boot the computer.
  • Plug the computer into a different power outlet and circuit, if possible.
  • Check to determine whether the motherboard is shorting out on the frame.
  • Check the CMOS battery .
  • With a motherboard that has diagnostic LEDs, check the output for any error code. Refer to the motherboard documentation or online documentation for the problem and possible solution.
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How to enable “God mode” in Windows 10

  1. Right click on your desktop and create a new folder
  2. Enter the folder name GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}.
  3. The God mode folder will appear now on your desktop with full administrator access.

When you double-click to open the folder, you will see the clear list of currently 250 system settings. You can also easily search for the setting you need in the list using the search function.

Those who enable Windows 10 God mode can create Windows 10 Users, create a Windows 10 backup, change or enable the windows 10 administrator and make profound changes to the Windows operating system.

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How to turn off different location services in Windows

Cortana :

  1. Go to Start  > Settings  > Cortana.
  2. Select Permissions or Permissions & History.
  3. Select Manage the information Cortana can access from this device.
  4. Turn the Location setting to Off.

Microsoft Edge :

  1. Go to Start  > Settings  > Privacy > Location.
  2. Turn on Allow access to location on this device.
  3. Turn on Allow apps to access your location.
  4. Turn on Allow desktop apps to access your location if present.

To turn the Windows location settings on or off :

On your pc :

  1. Go to Start   > Settings  > Privacy  > Location.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • To control location for the whole device if you’re an administrator on the device, select Change, and then in the Location for this device message, switch the setting to On or Off.
    • To control location for just your user account, switch the Allow apps to access your location setting to On or Off. If Location for this device is off appears on the settings page, you won’t be able to turn on the Allow apps to access your location setting for an individual user account. (Note that in previous versions of Windows, this setting was called Location service.)

On Windows 10 PCs, you can add or remove the Location tile from the notification area at the far right of the taskbar. Here’s how:

  1. Go to Start   > Settings  > System  > Notifications & actions.
  2. Under Quick actions, select Edit your quick actions.
  3. Add, remove, or move the Location tile.
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How to migrate users to separate partition or drive

  1. Create a administrator account with no password. This account will be used to copy user data. It is important that this account have no password.
  2. Map a new drive or partition to a drive letter (in most cases D-Z). This drive letter will be used to represent the new user drive location. The drive or partition should be local to the machine.
  3. Copy and paste or use robocopy utility (Preferred) to copy the user data. If all accounts are being transferred copy the ‘Users’ folder (default location C:) to the new user drive.
  4. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
  • Expand the ‘ProfileList’ folder in the left pane. Under the ‘ProfileList’ folder there should be folders that begin with ‘S-1-5-21’. These are the folders for each user on that machine.
  • Click on each folder in the left pane that begins with ‘S-1-5-21’. The associated user will display in the value of the ‘ProfileImagePath’ key located in the right pane.
  • For each user folder you move to the new user drive in step 3. You will need to change the ‘ProfileImagePath’ key located in the right pane.
  • Edit the ‘ProfileImagePath’ key changing the drive letter (default is C:) to the drive letter of the drive mapped in step 2.
  1. Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList– Ensure that ‘ProfileList’ is highlighted in the left pane. — In the right pane you should see the three keys needed to be changed. (Default, ProfilesDirectory, and Public) — Double click each key (Default, ProfilesDirectory, Public) located in the right pane and change the drive letter (default is C:) to the drive letter of the drive mapped in step 2.
  2. After successfully copying the desired user data to the new user drive location and after successfully editing the associated user registry key restart the machine. After the machine has restarted login with the account created in step one.
  3. For each account moved to the new user drive location in step 3 delete the corresponding user folder from the old user drive location (default is C:). If you moved the entire ‘Users’ folder to the new user drive location you may delete the entire ‘Users’ folder from the old user drive location (default is C:).
  4. Create a new administrator account on the machine and delete the account created in step 1 from the ‘Users and Groups’.
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How to enable turbo boost on Intel Processor

1. Boot your PC into the BIOS. Here’s an easy way to do so from Windows 10:

  • Click the “Windows” icon menu.
  • Click Settings .
  • Click Update & security.
  • Click Recovery.
  • Click Restart now under ″Advanced Startup.″ The PC will reboot to a blue screen.
  • Click Troubleshoot on the blue screen.
  • Click Advanced options.
  • Click UEFI Firmware Settings.
  • Click Restart. The computer will now reboot into the BIOS.

2. Go to the CPU/processor configuration screen. The BIOS will look different depending on who manufactured your motherboard. In most cases, the setting for Turbo Boost will be in a menu called CPU Specifications, CPU Features, Advanced Core Features, or something similar.

  • Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate the BIOS, and press ↵ Enter to make your selections.
  • Press Esc to go back a screen.

3. Locate ″Intel® Turbo Boost Technology″ in the menu. You’ll usually see either ″Enabled″ or ″Disabled″ beside it. If you see ″Enabled,″ you don’t need to change anything in the BIOS.

4.  Select Enabled from the menu.

5. Save your changes. The exact key to press should appear at the bottom of the BIOS. In most cases, it’ll be F10.

6. Exit the BIOS and reboot the computer. Press Esc and then follow the on-screen instructions to restart. When your PC comes back up, Turbo Boost will be enabled.
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How to use a PS4 Controller on Steam

  1. Open Steam
  2. Go to Settings in top left dropdown
  3. Open Controller tab
  4. Click General Controller Settings
  5. Register device to your account
  6. Change preferences
  7. Calibrate joysticks
  8. Tick PlayStation Configuration Support
  9. Remap from Settings Controller tab/in game

Thanks to official Steam support, there’s almost no setup involved in getting your PS4 controller working in Steam. Just be sure to pair or plug in your controller before opening Steam or any Steam games, otherwise your controller may not be recognized.

If you run into any connection issues, closing and reopening Steam should do the trick. Otherwise, try using a USB 2.0 port instead of a USB 3.0 port. DualShock 4s are weird like that. Once connected, navigate to Steam’s settings menu—under the top left dropdown—to get everything running smoothly.

Under the Controller tab, open General Controller Settings; you should see your controller listed under Detected Controllers. From here you can register it to your account, so it will remember the settings on any PC you log into.

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How to validate digital signature in a PDF

  1. Open the digitally signed PDF that you need to validate using Power PDF.
  2. Locate the digital signature object within the document.
  3. Right click or command-click on the signature object.
  4. Select “Verify Signature” from the context menu.
  5. Power PDF automatically checks the information behind the signature and displays a message saying “Signature Valid” if the document remains in its original form.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 as needed with any other signatures in the document. If Power PDF displays “Signature Validity Unknown,” you should proceed to verify the integrity of the document with the original signer.

Click the “Verify Identity” to check for contact information and to match signature certificate numbers. You may need to contact the signer directly for additional information.

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How to silently install an .EXE file?

1. Check if setup.exe has some install parameters by calling the setup.exe in a cmd and typing in the /? or /help. This will usually open a help/usage message box.

Setup.exe /? /help
//cmd photo of msg box

2. Access the vendor’s application support page or forum. There, you may find what install parameters the application supports and it might also give you full silent install instructions. That is if the vendor decided to create a support page.

3. If none of the above methods work, you could open the setup.exe by double-clicking on it until you see the installation wizard. Usually, in the installation wizard, you can notice which tool/packaging program was used to package the installer. With this information, you can go to the official website of the tool and search for the default installation parameters.

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How to silently install an MSI package

MSI stands for Microsoft Installer and it’s the Windows standard installer format. It uses msiexec.exe to install the setup and accepts the standard MSI parameters. MSI’s silent install standard parameters are as follows:

  • /quiet – quiet mode (there is no user interaction)
  • /passive – unattended mode (the installation shows only a progress bar)
  • /q – set the UI level:
  • n – no UI
  • n+ – no UI except for a modal dialog box displayed at the end.
  • b – basic UI
  • b+ – basic UI with a modal dialog box displayed at the end. The modal box is not displayed if the user cancels the installation. Use qb+! or qb!+ to hide the [ Cancel ] button.
  • b- – basic UI with no modal dialog boxes. Please note that /qb+- is not a supported UI level. Use qb-! or qb!- to hide the [ Cancel ] button.
  • r – reduced UI
  • f – full UI

A regular command line to silently install an MSI should look like this:

 Msiexec /i <applicationname.msi> /qb! /l*v install.log
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Adding a printer via TCP/IP Port (Windows)

  1. Find the printer ip address
  2. Click ” Printers & scanners”
  3.  
  4. Click on “Add a printer or a scanner” tab
  5. Select “Add printer using an IP address or an Hostname” 
  6. Then, on Devices type select ” TCP/IP Device” and add the hostname ip address   
  7. Then install the printer Driver, if you have one already installed in Windows.If not, click on the “Have a disk tab” and select your downloaded driver.
  8.  
  9. Then select the “Replace the current driver” tab
  10. Then give your printer a name in the “Printer name” tab
  11. Click install printer.
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