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If you are having problems with your
computer hardware, internet cafe terminal or point of sale system, then
please try these simple steps to get everything back up and running
smoothly. If problems persist them please visit our
Support Page.
1.
Shutdown, wait, then Restart
Unplug the power or at least turn the
power off at the wall and wait a full 60 seconds. Then turn
everything on again. Its best to do this for everything that is
attached to the computer, including the PC itself, the monitor,
printer, router, modem, etc. You'll be amazed how this simple
step solves 90% of all computer problems.
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Put an automatic digital timer switch
on the power-point so that your system automatically has a complete
power-off every day for a period of at least 15 minutes. This
helps to reset your system, and also improves the life-span of your
hardware! |
2. Check
your cables and hardware
Check and
make sure that everything is plugged in. If necessary, unplug
and reconnect any hardware that may be playing up.
If necessary, check the printer for a
paper jam or for a print job stuck in the print queue.
Our
Surf Easy software
is pretty smart, and it may disable certain features if they
notice that the particular hardware required is not functioning correctly.
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Always use a label maker
to mark your cables. This will help you identify which cable
belongs to which piece of equipment. This is particularly
useful for installations in which the PC is difficult to access or
poorly illuminated. |
3. Check
your internet connection (if applicable)
Can you open web pages in Internet
Explorer? Try a few new web sites, not just those that my already be
stored in the cache.
Our Surf Easy software is pretty
smart, and it will disable the coin and note validators and pause the
user's time when the internet is unavailable.
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If you are using a
wireless network and the connection is frequently dropping out, you
can try changing the wireless Mode to 802.11b (instead of g) as this
transmits a further distance. |
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If your ADSL connection is
dropping out, or some websites are unavailable, or if you are a long
distance from your local telephone exchange, then you may need to
change your Encapsulation to PPPoA instead of PPPoE. |
4. Check
your settings
Check your configuration. Are your
settings correct? Are your Window Blocker settings correct?
You can
download the recommended
settings from our website and import them into your program. Just
click here.
For Surf Easy Internet Cafe
Software you should also do a test email from the Administration
screen, just to make sure your email server is alive and kicking.
5. Check
for software and driver updates
Is there a new version of the
software available for you to download? Just run the Update feature
within the application and the software will automatically download
the latest version of the program.
You can
download the latest updates
for our Surf Easy and Serve Easy software from our website. Just
click here.
You should also visit
updates.microsoft.com and download all the latest Microsoft
Updates and Hot Fixes for your particular operating system.
Do the same for any other program
you have installed on your PC. Particularly any anti-virus software,
Java, Adobe, Office, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AOL AIM, Skype,
Live Messenger, etc.
Also check with the manufacturers
of your hardware to see if there are any updated drivers for your PC,
printer, webcam, etc.
Click here to
visit the Dell drivers page.
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Always keep a record of
your hardware models and serial numbers, such as in an excel
spreadsheet. It makes it easier to look-up and download the
latest drivers, plus it is also very handy for insurance and
warranty purposes. |
6. Run an
Anti-Virus scan of your computer
Open your anti-virus software and
scan your computer for viruses, malware, adware, or spyware.
7. Perform
system maintenance
Its a good idea to check your
hard-drive for errors, and to clean it up for better system
performance. Run the included Maintenance.bat file in the relevant
software installation program folder on your PC, or manually run "chkdsk"
and defrag.
You can
download Maintenance.bat here.
8. Use
LogMeIn IT Reach Remote Access
If you have our
full Remote System Access
solution (using LogMeIn IT Reach) you can remotely log into your PC
and get a wealth of information on system performance to help you
better diagnose and solve problems from the comfort of your home or
office.
Once logged in, check the
Performance Info and Events log for errors or for programs that are
busy chewing system resources.
We can get you
discount pricing on LogMeIn Remote
Access. Just click here to
find out more.
9. Visit
our Support Page for more information
Visit our
Support Page and review our
manuals, FAQs, instruction sheets, and video manuals.
10. Send us
your error logs
In Surf Easy
or Serve Easy you simply enter the
System Administration screen and click on the
Errors tab. Click on the Send Error Log button. This
will send a copy of your software logs to our technical staff so
they can review it and possibly offer assistance.
11. Re-image your computer (aka disaster recovery)
If you have an image (aka Ghost
Image, snapshot, system image, True Image or Disaster Recovery CD) of
your system then you may want to restore that image to get the system
fully-operational again. This is useful where a problem has only
just started occurring which did not previously occur, but it will not
solve issues where you are installing new software or new hardware.
Most live public internet
terminals will need to be re-imaged about once a year. If you
find you have to re-image your terminals more frequently then you
should consider installing Deep Freeze software to block software
changes on your terminals.
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We highly recommend you
partition your hard drive so that there is a partition for your
operating system (usually the C: drive), a partition for backups,
and a partition for user documents and downloads.
You should then take an
image of your C: drive and store it locally on the backup partition
so that you can easily fully restore your system at any time. You
can also store exports of your settings files and router/modem
configuration files in this same partition. |
12. If all
else fails, give us a call...
If problems persist them please
visit our Support Page, or
contact us.
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