Automated System for Troubleshooting Personal Computers
Chapter One
Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to develop an automated system for troubleshooting personal computers. The following are the specific objectives:
- To aid users to be able to troubleshoot Personal Computer (PC) problems even in the absence of human experts.
- To provide a software system to aid maintenance of disk problems using disk utilities.
- To develop a system that can be used to troubleshoot Sound, Monitor and Hard Disk problems
- To develop a software application that can be used to activate utility software programs that will fix system issues.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the literature review, the contributions of other scholars pertaining the subject of automated system for troubleshooting computers is presented in this chapter.
Maintenance Concept
According to Encarta Dictionaries (2009), maintenance refers to work that is done regularly to keep a machine, building or piece of equipment in good working condition and order. For instance, a printer can be taken for maintenance every three (3) months. They are two types of maintenance namely:
Preventive maintenance: In preventive maintenance, an equipment is maintained before break down occurs. Recent studies have shown that Preventive maintenance is effective in preventing age related failures of an equipment or device. Preventive maintenance is maintenance performed in an attempt to avoid failures, unnecessary production loss and safety violations.
Corrective maintenance: In corrective maintenance, an equipment is maintained after break down. This maintenance is often most expensive because one faulty part of an equipment can damage other parts and cause multiple damage. Corrective maintenance can be defined as the maintenance which is required when an item has failed or worn out, to bring it back to working order. Corrective maintenance is carried out on all items where the consequences of failure or wearing out are not significant and the cost of this maintenance is not greater than preventive maintenance.
General Troubleshooting Process
A troubleshooting plan is a written check list that is used for any problem, or just a routine procedure that is followed each time a problem occurs with adjustments for the situation. The elements that should be included in any troubleshooting plan are:
- Maintenance journal
- Diagnostic checklist or questions
- Identification of possible causes
- Identification of possible solutions
- Application and testing of solution
- Follow up
When a problem occurs in a device, it is important to follow a standard problem-solving process of about six steps:
- Identify the problem: This part of the process is typically the most difficult. The problem may not actually be what it seems.
- Identify possible causes: Any problem can be triggered by many causes. Hence it is important to identify the possible causes of the problem before moving on.
- Identify possible solutions: a possible cause could have more than one possible solution, in which case, the solutions need to be ranked in order of result yielding capacities.
- Analyze the possible solutions: if two solutions will produce the same result, other considerations may be involved.
- Apply a solution: from the analysis of possible solutions, it is important to pick the most promising and implement it.
Test the solution: Verify the solution again and again to confirm if the problem has been actually solved.
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Introduction
This chapter presents the system analysis and design, research methodology, analysis of the existing and proposed system.
Research Methodology
The system analysis and design methodology used to analyze the system is Object Oriented Analysis and Design Methodology (OOADM). OOADM applies object orientation in the analysis and design as a software engineering approach that models a system as a group of interacting objects. Object oriented analysis and design is the analysis and design of a system from the object point of view.
The data used for the development of the research was gotten from the internet, textbooks and articles. The contributions of other researchers on the subject were examined so as to gather relevant information. The case study also provided useful information for the development of the system.
System Analysis
System analysis has to do with examining a system in order to understand its step by step operations so as to identify its benefits and areas of limitation that require improvements.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
Introduction
This chapter focuses on the system implementation. It presents the system design diagram, choice of programming language, analysis of modules, programming environment, implementation and software testing.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion, constraints of the study and offers useful recommendations.
Constraints of the study
In carrying out the research work, some challenges were faced that limited the study such as:
Time: The time given for the completion of the research work was too short hence the researcher had speed up the research work to meet up and this has an impact on the study.
Limited Materials: few materials were found pertaining to the research area and this limited the bulk of the literature review.
Finance: The high cost of textbooks, internet browsing and transportation to different libraries to gather materials stood as a constraint to the research work.
Summary
In this era of proliferation of personal computers, there is need for the development of PC troubleshooting systems that will enable users of personal computers solve common problems without consulting an expert all the time. A human expert will be consulted only when the problem is beyond the scope of the solutions proffered by the software.
Conclusion
Automated system for Personal Computer troubleshooting is an expert system that aids users fix PC problems and also educates the user by providing solution to specific problems.
Recommendation
The following recommendations are offered based on the findings of the research study:
- More research should be encouraged in the area of troubleshooting system for personal computers.
- Computer programmers should work with maintenance engineers in developing the troubleshooting system.
- PC users should be encouraged to use troubleshooting systems to fix common problems
REFERENCES
- Abran and H. Hguyenkim, (1993) “Measurement of the Maintenance Process from a Demand-Based Perspective,”Journal of Software Maintenance: Research and Practice,Vol 5, no 2,.
- IEEE (1998) Standard for a Software Quality Metrics Methodology. IEEE ComputerSociety Press,
- Arnold, R.S.. (1992) Software Reengineering. IEEEComputer Society,
- Arthur, J. (1988) Software Evolution: The Software Maintenance Challenge. John Wiley & Sons.
- Capretz, M. A and Munro, M. (1994) “Software Configuration Management Issues in the Maintenance of Existing Systems,” Journal of Software Maintenance, Vol.6, no.2,.
- Card D.N. and Glass, R. L. (1990) Measuring Software Design Quality, Prentice Hall,.
- Cardow, J. (1992). “You Can’t Teach Software Maintenance!,” Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meetingand Conference of the Software Management Association.
- Dekleva S. M. (1992). Delphi Study of Software Maintenance Problems. Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Maintenance.
