PCinfospace

I need to say that due to technology changes there is no simple answer to this. I want to first discuss mother boards. Older machines may have mother boards that have separate cards. That is to say the sound card, Video card and others were all separate. Most of the mother boards today are integrated. This means that video, sound, Network cards as well as other necessities are integrate right into the board.

Why am I telling you this? If you don’t have the original driver disks or floppy drive that came with the separate card or device you may need to go through a lot of work to reload the driver you need if you ever need to reload it for any reason. With motherboards that are integrated you will also need the original drivers. However, they are either on the Manufacturer’s web site or on a disk if the computer was built by you or someone else.

I know this seems unimportant but you will see why I told you this shortly.

Here is the troubleshooting steps to find out why you’re not getting any sound:
1. Go to the back of the computer. Find the plug that goes to the speakers. See if it is plugged into the proper outlet of your sound card. This is normally a light green color. Either that or try each one and test to see if you have sound or not. Media player has samples you can use or try a music CD.
2. Check to see if you have power to the speakers.  If you have speakers that has a transformer (most do) be sure it is plugged in to a power strip that is turned on.
3. Check the power button on the speaker itself. If it is on, most speaker will show an indicator light which should be green.
4. Here is the one I usually find: Be sure the sound knob is turned up. I have found this turned down in many cases.
5. Test to see if you now have sound.
6. If you still don’t have sound things start getting more complex. Find the small speaker emblem in the lower right corner of your computer screen. (Some sound cards will put a different emblem there). Double click it or whatever program you are using.  A screen should come up that shows sliders. Be sure these are turned all the way up. There is a small square in the lower left corner of the Speaker volume section. BE SURE “Mute all” is NOT clicked.
6. Again test for sound if you changed any settings.
7. If there is no small speaker or other program the driver is probably corrupt or is not working for some reason.
8. FOLLOW THIS CAREFULLY!! Left click “start”. Right click “my computer”. Left click on properties. You should see a hardware tab. Left click it. Left click the octagonal button that says “device manager”.  This is the screen that shows the devices installed in your computer. If there is an explanation mark or other symbol chances are the driver for the sound card isn’t working. If that is the case your sound will not work until you fix it.
9. Find your original disk for the sound card or the board if sound is integrated in the mother board. Double click on the device unknown section. Find the “driver” tab. click on “update driver” and follow the instructions. Sometimes you will need to go to the manufacturer web site to find drivers.
The above instructions should allow you to have sound again. If not you may have other serious problems. Here are some possibilities: Problems with operating system, bad sound card (if separate from board), bad motherboard, plugged into wrong sound card if there is more than one installed and others.

If you can’t figure out what the real problem is you need to find a professional to take it to.

Definition of a Routed network:

A routed network is just a network that gives you access to servers and other network devices that are not on your physical network. If you have ever connected to the internet, you have used a routed network!

How do they work?

Every computer has a number, also known as an address, and these addresses are used to send messages back and forth. Since all of the servers on the internet are not located in your building, the traffic to the internet must be routed to the internet through a device that is actually called a router. A router forwards messages to either the server in question or another router. Any break in this chain will cause your internet to stop working.

If your internet stops working, the first thing you must do is look at the physical connections and hardware. This means that we need to make sure that everything is physically connected together and working correctly. Assuming your computer is on, check your router and make sure it is on and that the lights are correctly illuminated. Next check the network cable going into your computer and make sure it is seated properly. Now do the same with all the cables connected to the router. A high percentage of network issues are simply a matter of cableing not being connected or improperly secured.

Troubleshooting

You may need to do some troubleshooting if the internet is still not working. You need to get to a command line in order to do this. The command line is the black box with the white cursor where you can directly type in commands. Click on START>Run. Type “cmd” in the box that comes up. Now we are at the command line. You now need to check the settings. Type ipconfig, and press the enter key. This shows you the network address. If it is 0.0.0.0, or starts with 169.254, this means that your computer has no address. Restarting your router will generally fix this. From here on out, the only way to fix what you find will be to contact your Internet Service Provider, or ISP. The next thing we will try is the ping command. Type “ping <web address>” at the prompt. As an example: ping http://www.google.com. You must leave a space after the word ping and the address must be the full address. This is going to tell us two things. The first thing it will do is turn the name into a number. If it cannot do this, it will return a message saying, “unable to resolve host”. This means that there is a problem with the Domain Name System (the system that converts numbers to names). If it resolves the name, it sends out little messages to see if the other server is out there. If it is not, it will say “100% packet loss”. Either way, you will know what to tell the ISP. You local service

Here’s a really good deal!

These are the different sizes and varieties of mother boards developed over the years.

The Motherboard is the central backbone to which all other modular parts such as RAM, Hard drives, etc. can be attached. It accepts various components (PCI cards in particular) for the purposes of customization and upgrading. One of the main purposes is to distribute power to many of the PC components including the (CPU) processor itself. It electronically coordinates the operation of all devices. It also coordinates the processing between devices.

Mostly the mother boards got smaller and more efficient over time. Their speeds became faster as their size got smaller. Some of the form factors are (From largest to smallest size): Standard ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX, Nano ITX and Pico ITX. In most desktop computers the Micro ATX is very popular.
Integration became the standard. In the earlier mother boards it was common to have a separate Graphic card, Audio card and modem. Many other cards and devices were available also. In recent boards almost all of these are now integrated.

Cost also became a factor in purchasing computers. As the mother boards got smaller the prices started dropping. By about 2005 you could purchase desktop computers for around $500. Laptops took a while to catch up but by 2008 they also became inexpensive.

Speeds started getting faster and faster. Due the demand of gaming and high level applications the need for speed needed to be greater. Some of the speeds (fastest to slowest) are as follows: 1066 MHz, 800 MHz, 533 MHz, and 400 MHz. Certain manufacturers made other speeds.

If you are going to purchase a mother board for any reason you must know what you are going to use it for. If you are using a particular case it must be able to fit. You must know what processor you are going to be using. Another big thing to know is what kind of Graphics need you want. This, in itself, will drive up the price of the board. If you want to do gaming you must know what kind of game you want to play and what the system requirements are. You need to know if it is compatible to your processor. That means you need to know if you are going to use an INTEL or AMD as an example.

Check more than one source if you are going to purchase a mother board. THE MAIN THING!!! If you don’t understand what to do find somebody that does. You can spend a lot of money needlessly if you don’t. It’s very easy to damage a motherboard. Even a little static electricity can render it worthless.

Did you ever type in a web site address in the URL space (know as address bar) and you get a totally different site? If you did you may be hijacked. That is to say you may have downloaded a spyware program without knowing it.
Redirects
A redirect is a special program put in a web page and/or imbedded in a spy-ware program that makes the web browser go to a page different from the one you typed in. This normally happens when you are infected with a virus or spy-ware.
How does this happen?
If you open an infected e-mail or web site you can easily get a Virus or spy-ware program. Even clicking on a picture or link on a web site can infect your computer’s hard drive instantly. New programs called Rootkits can do extensive damage to your computer or gather information about you that can be used for illegal reasons. These programs can run undetected for as long as they are written for. By the time you know it you’re infected it could be to late.
How can I protect myself?
• Do not go on Illegal sites or sites that contain pornography. These sites are designed to cause harm to you or your computer.
• Keep a quality Anti-Virus/spyware program running and activated at all times.
• Do not let you Anti-Virus/spyware program expire. This is the leading cause of infection.
• Purchase a new program every year or two to be sure you have the best protection available.
• Periodically check for updates.
• Scan your system on a schedule. This can be set up right inside the program.
• DO NOT assume you can install the program and forget it.
• Do not install cheap or free Anti-Virus/spyware programs. These normally do very little to protect you from the latest and greatest threat.
Do not underestimate what a Virus or Spy-ware program will do. They can destroy or change your information, they can obtain information that will lead to identity theft and much more.