You know you are expert when (and this does happen, but rarely) someone describes a problem with their PC, you go and visit them, have good access to the PC (it isn't tucked away or under a load of junk) and you fix the problem in 2 seconds by lifting it one or two inches (maximum) off the ground before dropping it.
The user's look of horror swiftly dissipates when the PC boots, having been very crashy crashy for the weeks leading up to your visit.
This is not to be attempted with tower PC's that have heavy CPU coolers installed. Works like a charm with desktop PC's.
I follow this up by taking their PC away, giving a thorough clean and re-seating every component.
One tip I will give you (may not apply to newer PC's), weird crashy boot problems can sometimes be fixed by pressing on the BIOS chip (thereby re-seating it). Older socketed chips can sometimes lever themselves out of place due to repetative thermal expansion and contraction (PC gets switched on and off a lot). Happens with memory modules too.
Rare these days, stuff is desgined not to unseat itself.
The user's look of horror swiftly dissipates when the PC boots, having been very crashy crashy for the weeks leading up to your visit.
This is not to be attempted with tower PC's that have heavy CPU coolers installed. Works like a charm with desktop PC's.
I follow this up by taking their PC away, giving a thorough clean and re-seating every component.
One tip I will give you (may not apply to newer PC's), weird crashy boot problems can sometimes be fixed by pressing on the BIOS chip (thereby re-seating it). Older socketed chips can sometimes lever themselves out of place due to repetative thermal expansion and contraction (PC gets switched on and off a lot). Happens with memory modules too.
Rare these days, stuff is desgined not to unseat itself.