Customer Reviews

PC Technician's Troubleshooting Pocket Reference

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a person who seems to be called upon more and more to fix someone's computer, and as one who's learned by doing in several years of owning these machines (my first was a humble 8088 with a then-huge 20 megabyte hard drive, way before today's Pentiums), I've found this book to be an invaluable reference for assistance in diagnosing computer problems. This is NOT the book for the computer neophyte who knows pretty much how to turn the machine off and on, and who can type a letter and get on the Internet but not much else; it assumes a level of familiarity with computer processes considerably higher than that. However, if you know how to take the cover off, if you're not afraid to remove and replace cards, and you have a basic understanding of interrupts, COM ports and the like, this book is DEFINITELY for you. I heartily recommend this book for the tinkerer, the unofficial neighborhood computer guru, and the professional technician. Two more of his titles that I've purchased and have found just as indispensable is Bigelow's Build Your Own PC Pocket Reference, and his PC Hardware Fat Faqs: Troubleshooting, Upgrading, Maintaining and Repairing. This man KNOWS computers.

Poorly organized. Useful neither as a field reference nor study manual. Don't waste your money. Much better investments are: (1) Upgrading And Repairing PCs, Field Guide, by Scott Mueller, and (2) Pocket PCRef, by Thomas J. Glover & Millie M. Young.

If you're studying for the A+ Exam, check out 'A+ Certification', by Michael Meyers. Another excellent book which goes into greater depth, is 'Upgrading And Repairing PCs', by Scott Mueller.

I purchased this book because of the several glowing reviews of it on Amazon. Now that I have a copy (which I will be returning shortly) I can only guess that those reviews were written by friends of the author. This book is little more but a long and rambling antidotal collection of PC repair stories roughly organized into general failing areas. No symptom analysis, no error code explanations, no organized flowcharts of logical procedures, no tables of settings and types. Just paragraph after paragraph of "if you notice this, try that". In my mind this should be called something like the "Jeff Foxworthy you might be a redneck PC repair tech manual". However, if you are new to PC repair and have no idea where to start looking for the resolution of a problem, this MIGHT be just the book you need - because you can sit and thumb through it and look like you are doing something useful while you await the arrival of the guy who knows what he's doing. You might even stumble on an antidote that actually applies to the problem you are currently experiencing.

This book is filled with the information computer repair professionals need to do their jobs. The reference is split into major categories, like Input Devices, Motherboard and Drive Troubleshooting. From there you can quickly look up the specific error and find a solution. Multiple solutions are almost always provided. The collection POST codes for different manufacturers is alone worth the price of this book.

Stephen Bigelow's book on Troubleshooting PCs is a personal favorite, containing (literally) pounds of practical advice and information. Alas, that great work is far too bulky to fit inside my toolkit... which is why I own this book.

There are no frivilous details here, only the "meat and potatoes" a technician needs to do his or her job correctly. It is loaded with lists of facts (POST codes, AT and DOS commands, connector pinouts, and so forth), as well as instructions on diagnosing and resolving many hardware problems. My only complaint is that not all the page numbers in the index are correct, but the book is so well-organized that I seldom need the index.

When troubleshooting a PC, I use this book almost as often as my screwdriver. It is a tool that few technicians should be without.

This is an excellent quick reference, and provides valuable tips while onsite. It is not for those without a SOLID background in repair & troubleshooting though. Well worth the money....

Would be a great resource if it was updated. The technology and operating systems are way too outdated for my needs. Nobody I know uses Windows 98 as the most recent operating system. If I had known how old the hardware and software was, this little Aussie would not have bought it. That said, I guess I should have looked at it harder before I bought it!

I bought this book as follow up reading after taking the A+ 2006 course. I should have noted the year 2000 publishing date in Amazon's details, because this book is OLD NEWS! It's poorly organized, and being that it's a "pocket sized" book with tiny 4 5/8 X 8" pages, that didn't help much either.

This useful book offers guidance to people in the pc troubleshooting field, along with 100s of possible solutions to pc problems. The book's format allows you to find specific information quickly. Includes a thorough list of POST codes and diagnostic codes.

OK, so I guess I was supposed to know it was only for older operating systems/computers. Maybe the technology can be somewhat related to current systems. Make sure you are buying the latest versions that cover your OS. I ended up buying the "purple" one later and it does cover xp, vista. This is only a good deal if you are still working on the 9x systems. Spend more to get more.