Customer Reviews

Troubleshooting, Maintaining & Repairing PCs, Millennium Edition

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the author rightfully states in his introduction,that this book concentrates on PC symptoms and repair. I own several PC repair books including a recent edition of Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PC's. Where this book excels is in the formatting and content. Its not a computer theory book. Rather symptoms and their corresponding solutions can be quickly discerned. Working as a PC repair technician I don't have time to wade through lengthy discourses,in order to find a solution for uncommon problem.

This is one of the finest books on PC troubleshooting ever written. Each chapter contains a list of symptoms, suggestions, and solutions in an accessible format, helping a technician solve even the most obscure hardware problem quickly. Any book that keeps you from looking like a fool in front of a customer is worth its weight in gold (and it hasn't let me down yet).

This book is also good for aspiring technicians, presenting exhaustive (but not overwhelming) coverage of topics you are sure to see on the A+ or CST exams. The author is kind enough to include useful diagrams and historical tidbits throughout the work, making the arcane comprehensible and the boring bearable. How many computer books can you think of that accomplish such a feat?

Mr. Bigelow, if you're reading this, I would like to thank you for producing such a wonderful book. Suggesting it to others is the least I can do.

I'm not a computer technician. Heck, I can barely operate a computer! I "grew up" (computer-wise) with Macs, which never seem to need fixing and seldom wear out, but because my husband had a typical PC person's prejudice against Macs, I started using PCs. Toshibas, IBMs, Dells -- each and every one sooner or later had problems. Tired of talking to technicians from Wales to Holland, I decided to take an online course in computer repair and this book was required reading.

Voila! Help at last.

Information is thorough and easy to find. Fixes work.

If you HAVE to have a PC and you run into problems, this is the book to have.

I bought a HP Pavillion 8785C and within the year had so many problems that the PC was racking up more mileage than me!

It was 'fixed??' twice by HP. Motherboard changed, Modem changed, RAM changed.. You name it, they changed it and still couldn't solve the problem!

I was ready to dump the PC after spending [money] in phone calls to HP Help! They even re-routed my call to India! And kept advising me to re-format my hard drive.

Then I bought this book and the solution was on page 698! Symptom 19-3.
Within an hour after checking the heat sink and changing the fan, I was back in business.

I could have saved so much money if I had bought this book earlier. Fedup with Tech Support? Get this book!

Maybe HP should invest in a couple of hundred copies for their staff.

If you're a PC Technician, or would like to learn about PC Hardware, a must. It has all the Hardware Info/solutions you need. The entire Book (1500+ pgs) is in PDF format on the CD that accompanies the Book. So you can do a quick 'Keyword' search, or take it with you in a laptop

A new edition updated in Sept 2000 is available. Technology changes quickly . . .

Bigelow's Troubleshooting, Maintaining and Repairing PCs, FIFTH EDITION - is just fabulous. It is well written, comprehensive, yet simple to understand.

Even newer computer users with only a basic understanding of computers will be able to handle any computer problem that arises.

I think you will love this book - be sure to get the FIFTH EDITION, which was released in October 2001. It's the best.

very complet book but it's hard to find easely what you need. The failures' list are complete but not very well indexed.

The chief problem with the book is the difficulty of finding a problem among the hundreds of troubleshooting symptoms that Mr. Bigelow has included throughout the text. The symptoms at a glance, pp. xxxvii - LXXVIII is weak in that it is very difficult to use it to drill down to the actual problem.

For instance, I was encountering a fatal exception error during a Windows 98 installation. There are fatal exception errors all over the "Symptoms at a Glance" but good luck finding them all! I suggest listing all the fatal exception errors together. Likewise for other problems such as keyboard, DVD or numerous components. Group them logically together!

Having said that, I love the book! With some effort, a technician can find almost any problem and solve it. Hope the next edition includes my suggestions and also Windows 2000 and Windows XP. I purchased the 5th edition in August 2001 for my class and was dissapointed that Windows 2000 or NT wasn't included in chapter 40.

Theory books and others offering "deep background" certainly have their place, as well as their limitations. When the time comes - and it will - that you need to solve a difficult pc problem or one of those pesky hardware headaches, this is the book you want within reach.