Troubleshooting Guide
Having trouble with your PC? We have documented the most common issues our customers encounter below. Before contacting us, please check below to see if your issue is listed as it may save you time and get you up and running faster than waiting for our reply.
Unlike consoles or smartphones, computers are not always so straight forward or user friendly and require a little setting up.
Troubleshooting is about the process of elimination, so make sure you have tried everything listed below related to your problem before contacting us.
Even the most experienced users can easily overlook the simple things so be sure to read every step below.
My computer won’t power on, what can I do?
- Check the power cable is securely connected to both the wall and the back of your PC.
- Check the power switch on both your power point and the back of the computer is in the on ( I ) position. Be sure NOT to tamper with the red voltage selector switch on the back of the PC however, as if set to the wrong voltage, this will blow up the power supply and cause physical damage to the rest of the computer.
- Try a different power cable if you have one and also try a different power point.
I have no video signal to my monitor what should I do?
- Check all cable connections from your monitor to your system to make sure they are not loose and are connected securely.
- Confirm that you are not connecting the monitor to the on-board video outputs usually located on the upper half of the computer and are instead connecting the monitor to the dedicated video card outputs located on the lower half of the computer. If your monitor does not have the same connection, then you will need to purchase an adapter. Note: you only require one (1) data cable to connect between the computer and your monitor do not connect multiple cables between your monitor and PC. You are not required to use every cable that comes with your monitor.
- On the monitor make sure to change between the input sources, most monitors will have the feature for selecting the input that the monitor is receiving a signal from. Make sure you have selected the proper input.
- Try a different monitor cable if you have one. More commonly than you might think a faulty cable may be the issue.
- After you power on the computer, does the numlock light on your keyboard turn on? If yes, double check the above steps. If no, please see the last step of this article. The numlock light tells us if the computer has successfully initialized and is outputting a video signal. If it turns on, then the issue is usually not to do with the computer itself.
I have no sound coming from my headset/speakers or my microphone isn’t working
- Check all cable connections from your headset/speakers to your system to make sure they are not loose and properly connected to the correct ports.
- Confirm that you are NOT using a SINGLE ended connection. These connections are becoming more common and featured on most new headsets, however they are designed for gaming consoles and will not work on most PC’s. You will need a splitter adapter for it to work. You need one headphone and one microphone plug.
- Ensure that you have selected the correct input and output device in Windows sound settings AND in your games audio settings. Sometimes your headset will not be automatically detected and you will need to manually select the input and output source.
- If you want to avoid the trouble of the above all together, we highly recommend purchasing a USB audio adapter. These are universally compatible, plug and play, have clearer sound and are much more reliable. They are available in our store under Cables and Adapters.
These USB adapters take the analogue signal of your headset and convert it to digital.
I cannot connect to my WiFi or the internet.
- Your desktop PC does not have inbuilt wifi or bluetooth like a laptop or other portable device. Unless you chose to add a WiFi adapter as an extra option during system configuration, you will need to purchase a WiFi adapter to connect to wireless networks.
- Confirm your WiFi adapter is securely inserted into one of the usb ports of the computer. If you only just inserted it, you may need to restart the computer for it to be detected. Try another USB port as well.
- If other peoples WiFi networks are showing up, but you cannot connect to yours or to the internet, then there may be additional configuration needed to be done to your access point which is beyond the scope of this article or our support. Please contact your Internet Service Provider for additional help and setup instructions.
- If you can see other networks but not yours, then your access point may not be broadcasting in Dual band mode. By default our wifi adapters only support 2.4Ghz and NOT the newer 5ghz band. You will need to log into the settings of your access point to make sure its broadcasting in 2.4Ghz.
My computer Blue Screens when I connect to the internet and I receive a “DPC Watchdog Violation” error?
A cause of windows Bluescreen error “DPC Watchdog Violation” is due to a bad modem configuration. The bluescreen only occurs when connected to WiFi. This can be confirmed by connecting the computer directly with an ethernet cable, where the issue does not occur. This can be fixed by:
- Log into your Router/Modem.
- Select ‘Advanced’ and then locate the 2.4Ghz Wireless Settings. In here you will find a settings called PMF (Protected Management Frames). Disable this feature, save and restart the router to fix your problem.
My computer did not come with any physical recovery media and I need to reinstall Windows. What do I do?
Because of the progression of technology, most computers these days do not include a recovery disk like they did in the old days and most even lack a CD drive in general.
Microsoft has created an official “Media Creation Tool” available for free download from their website. This will allow you to make a Windows 10 bootable installer onto a blank 8GB or larger USB flash drive.
You can download the tool here.
Run it and follow the prompts to create your free recovery media.
Once completed, you can insert the USB stick into any computer, boot from it, and it will run the Windows 10 installer.
My Hard Drive or Solid State Drive is not visible
As some systems are new, some drives may not be initialised or partitioned. This can be easily fixed in a few simple steps.
Follow our step by step guide to solve this problem located here.
I can’t find my Product License Key and I need to reinstall Windows. What do I do?
Your Windows Product Key can usually be found stuck to the top or side panel of your computer tower.
If your Product Key is for Windows 7 or Windows 8, it will still work to install Windows 10. This was a free upgrade scheme Microsoft implemented as a way to get people to upgrade to Windows 10.
If you do not have a physical Product Key stuck to your computer, then your computer has an embedded License. This means its an electronic License that is built into the motherboard itself. Microsoft started doing this from Windows 8 on-wards with a lot of PC’s.
If you have an embedded License, simply choose “I Do Not Have A Product Key” in the Windows installer. Then on the next screen, choose the exact same version of Windows that was installed on the PC when you got it from us. Choosing a different version of Windows than what was distributed with your PC will result in you not being able to Activate your Windows installation.
After installation and connecting to the internet, your computer will automatically connect to the Microsoft servers and Activate by itself without you having to do anything.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Whether you have a Physical Product Key or an Embedded License, it is usually almost ALWAYS locked to the motherboard of your computer. This means if you ever change or upgrade your motherboard, you will need to purchase a new Windows License as Microsoft sees the change of a Motherboard as an entirely new computer.
How to fix no video signal to your monitor (Experienced Users Only).
If the numlock light does not light up after turning on your pc, it means the computer has not initialized properly. The most common reason for this is loose or dusty ram. Loose ram can happen as a result of being bumped in shipping. Here are steps on how to fix this issue. Please do not attempt unless you have some basic knowledge of computers and their components as you may risk damaging the system which is not covered by our warranty.
- Power off your pc and unplug it from the wall.
- As a precaution, touch something metal thats grounded to discharge any static electricity you may have in your hands before handling components.
- Slide off the left side panel of the computer if you’re facing the front of the pc. It will usually be simply held in place by two or four screws.
- Locate the Ram slots on the mainboard of the computer, usually 2 or 4 long slots to the right of the main center processor fan.
- You will see the ram sticks held in place by one clip on each end. Simply unclip each stick of ram and pull it straight up and out of it’s slot.
- Next, blow into each now empty ram slot to make sure it is clear of dust or any tiny particles of dust.
- Next, clean the gold contacts on each ram stick. This can be done using a pencil eraser or simply your shirt or a cloth.
- If your computer came with multiple sticks of ram, insert just ONE ram stick back into one of the slots. Leave the other sticks out for now. Line up the ram stick with the slot and securely push it straight down into the slot. You will feel a solid click on each end once it’s properly inserted.
- Plug the computer back in and turn it on. If you still do not have a signal, turn it back off, take out the ram stick currently inserted and try a different ram stick in another slot.
- If you now have a signal to your monitor, turn off the computer again and proceed to repeat this process by inserting the other sticks one by one, powering back on and checking after each stick that you still have a signal to the monitor.
Try different sticks of ram in different slots one at a time to narrow down if there is a problematic stick of ram or an issue with one of the slots on the mainboard.
