Troubleshooting Tools and Strategies
System Information is a Windows-based tool that collects and displays configuration information to help diagnose and correct problems. This tool can quickly find the required data to resolve problems, about the following categories:
System Summary displays basic information about the system, such as version number of the operating system, the NetBIOS computer name, the manufacturer and model number, the installation folder of Windows 2000, locale and time zone information, as well as information about the amount of installed physical memory and virtual memory.
Hardware Resources displays hardware resource settings such as direct memory access (DMA), interrupt requests (IRQs), I/O addresses, and memory addresses.
Components displays information about the Windows 2000 configuration and determines the status of peripheral devices, ports, and universal serial bus (USB) connections.
Software Environment displays a snapshot of drivers, environment variables, tasks, and services loaded into computer memory. This information can be used to check whether a process is still running or to check version information.
Internet Explorer 5 displays a list of configuration settings related to Internet Explorer, including install location, cipher strength, build number, a list of associated files and version numbers, and settings for connectivity, file caching, and security zones.
Applications displays a list of installed Microsoft applications that support System Information. Microsoft Office 2000 applications are currently supported. Additional Microsoft applications might be included in the future.
The Tools menu in System Information also provides links to several tools used for troubleshooting, including the following:
Disk Cleanup
Dr. Watson for Windows 2000
DirectX Diagnostic Tool
Add/Remove Hardware wizard
Network and Dial-up Connections
Backup
File Signature Verification Tool
Update Wizard Uninstall
Windows Report Tool
To use System Information, from the Start menu, click Run , and then type:
msinfo32
System Information categories are displayed in a tree structure, as shown in Figure 31.3.
.gif "Cc938990.pref03(en-us,TechNet.10).gif")
Figure 31.3 System Information
You can print or save System Information to a text file to send to support personnel. These files are stored in the My Documents folder by default.
.gif "note-icon")
Note
A full System Information report printout can total more than 80 pages depending on the hardware and software installed.
System Summary
System Summary provides a general profile of the system, including the version of Windows, the installation folder, virtual memory, locale and local time zone, and system hardware, such as BIOS, CPU, memory, and other system resources. Use this information at the beginning of the troubleshooting process to develop a basic picture of the environment in which the problem occurs.
Hardware Resources
Hardware Resources, as shown in Table 31.14, displays hardware-specific settings, such as assigned or used IRQs, DMA channels, I/O addresses, and memory addresses.
Table 31.14 Hardware Resources
Section |
Definition |
|---|---|
Conflicts/Sharing |
Identifies resource conflicts between multiple Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) devices or Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) devices. Use this information to identify hardware conflicts or troubleshoot a nonworking device. |
DMA |
Reports the DMA channels in use, the devices using them, and those free for use. |
Forced Hardware |
Lists hardware devices that have user-specified resources, as opposed to system-specified resources. This information is useful when troubleshooting Plug and Play resource conflicts. |
I/O |
Lists all I/O port ranges in use and the devices using each range. |
IRQs |
Summarizes IRQ usage, by identifying the devices using the IRQs and showing free IRQs. |
Memory |
Lists memory address ranges in use by devices. |
Components
Components displays information about your Windows 2000 system configuration, as shown in Table 31.15. The Components view includes information about the status of peripheral devices, ports, and USB connections. There is also a summary of problem devices.
Table 31.15 Components
Section |
Definition |
|---|---|
Multimedia |
Lists sound card information, audio and video codecs loaded, and the drive letter and model of the CD-ROM drive. With a data CD-ROM in the drive, System Information performs a data transfer test. |
Display |
Lists video card information and current video configuration. |
Infrared |
Lists infrared device information. |
Input |
Lists keyboard and pointer device information. |
Modem |
Lists modem information. |
Network |
Lists network adapter, protocol, and Winsock information. |
Ports |
Lists serial and parallel port information. |
Storage |
Lists information about hard disks, floppy disk drives, removable storage, and controllers. |
Printing |
Lists installed printers and printer drivers. |
Problem Devices |
Lists devices with problems. Each device flagged in Device Manager is displayed, with the corresponding status information. |
USB |
Lists USB controllers and drivers installed. |
Software Environment
Software Environment, as shown in Table 31.16, displays the software loaded in computer memory.
Table 31.16 Software Environment
Section |
Definition |
|---|---|
Drivers |
Lists all installed drivers, whether they are currently running, and their status. |
Environment Variables |
Lists all system environment variables and their values. |
Jobs |
Lists all open jobs, including print jobs. |
Network Connections |
Lists all mapped network connections. |
Running Tasks |
Lists all processes currently running on the system. |
Loaded Modules |
Lists loaded system-level DLLs and programs, along with their version numbers, size, and file date and path. Useful for debugging software problems, such as application faults. |
Services |
Lists all available system services, showing current run status and start mode. |
Program Groups |
Lists all existing program groups for all known users of the system. |
Startup Programs |
Lists programs started automatically either from the registry, the Startup program group, or the Win.ini file. |
OLE Registration |
Lists OLE file associations controlled by the registry. |
Internet Explorer 5
Internet Explorer 5, as shown in Table 31.17, displays configuration information for Internet Explorer 5.
Table 31.17 Internet Explorer 5
Section |
Definition |
|---|---|
Summary |
Lists a summary of Internet Explorer 5 information, such as the version and build numbers, installation path, cipher strength, and so on. |
File Versions |
Lists all files associated with Internet Explorer 5, as well as version numbers, file sizes, file dates, installation paths, and manufacturer. |
Connectivity |
Lists all the connectivity settings used by Internet Explorer 5. |
Cache |
Lists a general summary of cache settings and of cached objects. |
Content |
Identifies whether Content Advisor is enabled and lists all installed personal certificates, other people certificates, and their publishers. |
Security |
Lists the settings for Internet security zones. |
Applications
Applications, as shown in Table 31.18, displays configuration information about the installed applications that are compatible with System Information.
Table 31.18 Applications
Section |
Definition |
|---|---|
Microsoft Word 2000 |
Lists information about the active document, the number of fields used, installed file converters, available fonts, headers and footers, number of hyperlinks, mail merge information, number of sections and page numbering schemes used, page setup data, styles used, Word settings, and number of tables. |
Microsoft Excel 2000 |
Lists information about the active workbook, installed add-ins, and charts in the active workbook. |
Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 |
Lists information about the active presentation. |
Microsoft Outlook 2000 |
Lists summary information about Outlook 2000. |
Microsoft Access 2000 |
Lists summary information about Access 2000. |
Microsoft Publisher 2000 |
Lists summary information about Publisher 2000. |
Microsoft FrontPage 2000 |
Lists information about the active Web project, the active Web page, installed Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, and installed themes. |
Microsoft Office Environment |
Lists information about the last Web connection error, installed local Web server extensions, installed data transport technologies, installed open database connectivity (ODBC) drivers, and OLE DB providers. |
Note
The Applications module is installed into System Information whenever any version of Office 2000 is installed. By default, this module lists all of the applications included in the Microsoft Office 2000 Premium Edition, regardless of whether any particular application listed is installed.
Other than the Summary pages, the data fields for the configuration information of the individual applications in Office 2000 are not populated unless the particular application is running at the time that System Information is active.