California Career and Technical Education Standards

• IT.B.B4.1 Use a logical and structured approach to isolate and identify problem sources an...
• IT.B.B4.2 Know the available resources for identifying and resolving problems.

California Academic Content Standards (Reinforced)

• ELA.8.R.CAGT.2.6 Use information from a variety of consumer, workplace, and public documents to e...3
• ELA.9-10.R.CAGT.2.6 Demonstrate use of sophisticated learning tools by following technical direction...2

• Hook/Setup/Drama TIME! - Hooks / Set

  Set this up with a teacher or other person (grab the drama teacher - it's great!) and have him/her run into your classroom just as you are going through roll. Have him/her dramatically announce that he/she can't get his/her computer to work and he/she has some type of report/whatever due for the district/government/whatever you can come up with and he/she needs the computer NOW!

  Calm him/her down and tell him/her that you will look at the computer after you get the class going. (He/she starts squirming and eventually buts into your roll taking with a, "But I can't wait!" response. (Ok, this is hokey but the kids get a kick out of it.)

  Ask the class if it would mind if you looked at the computer now. (Oh, the kids won't mind...it gets them out of whatever work they 'might' have to do....) Prep the classroom for the document camera - (have a couple of kids do that, if possible.) Complete taking roll. Now you and the customer can sit in front of the class (ok, drama time!) and you can interview the 'client' about the computer. Using the doc camera, pull out a copy of the Computer Repair Customer Service Form and continue with next activity.
• Customer Service - Demo / Modeling

  Instructor pulls out copy of the "Computer Repair Customer Work Order" and shows it to the class on the doc camera (so that students can watch him/her fill out the work order as he models interviewing/gathering info from the 'client'. Begin by modelling listening skills. Have the client tell you his/her story about what happened with the computer.

  Instructor has the 'client' give him his info and all data while completing the form. This is to model the form that would be filled out on receipt of a computer from a customer at a service desk.

  (Of course, the 'rigged' problem is a possible virus. - hey, if you have enough friends, someone is ALWAYS having issues with viruses - just ask around!)

  After dealing with the client, he can leave and you can then discuss just what went on between you and the client. You can also instruct the class that this, too, is part of the A+ exam. You must learn to work with clients (hey, they pay YOU to work on a computer!) and deal with them in a positive manner.

   

     Of course, Of

  • Computer Repair Customer Service Order [ Download ] This is a generic form that I have created for you to use in the classroom.
• The Form - Demo / Modeling

  This is the time to discuss the form with the students. Go over each section of the form and talk about it and possibilities as to what might be wrong with the computer. Then review curriculum regarding customer treatment and care with them at this time.

  Once the form has been discussed, then the real show begins!
• Removal and Scanning of the Hard Drive (alternative 1) - Demo / Modeling

  In this instance, the perceived problem is a virus on the client computer. But, just to makes sure it isn't a fan gone bad or too much dust in the computer, you check for that, first, since symptoms are similar. The client computer 'cannot' get onto the internet and has other problems. You can discuss the possibilities with the class. I have found most often than clients believe their antivirus program has been updated and most of the time, it has never been renewed or was rarely updated. This step, while time-consuming, is the last step I take before totally reformatting the hard drive. I will do a restoration after I scan the drive if the scan doesn't turn up anything, but I like to try this step to see if I can preserve data (because, you know the client never has backup!)

  The steps I take to do this part are (alternative 1 - see alternative 2 below):

  1) take out a usb to ide/sata adapter. It is not an external drive bay (although I have used those before but you must purchase one for each type of hard drive). With the adapter, there is no drive bay - the adapter connects to the hard drive with a cable and a USB cable on the other end. It is also connected to a power source. (See picture of USB adapter.)

  2) take out hard drive of troubled computer and turn on 'good' computer.

  3) connect hard drive to USB adapter. I usually use a laptop for my 'good' computer but a desktop is fine, too. Make sure you have an up-to-date antivirus on your good machine. I like McAfee but it is my personal preference.

  4) after connecting the hard drive up to the adapter and electrical source, I plug the usb connector into the good computer. The computer will sense it as another drive. Do not access the drive. Instead, right click on the drive letter and scan it. Your good computer's antiviral program will scan the drive and you will be surprised at what it finds. This is the time-consuming part of the demo. It may take some time to do this. Be prepared.

  5) If the scan is successful in finding viruses and the like, you can reinstall the drive once it has finished the scan. See if the computer will boot up and possibly behave enough to get online to update the antivirus program. From there, software can be updated, other software that has issues can be removed and/or reinstalled, and this step just may be enough to get your client up and running. If it still does not work enough to get it up and running (and online) there are other issues and a restoration or full formatting may be in order. Sometimes, there are mechanical issues (computer turns off soon after starting up (heat issue)) or the like. That is for another lesson. This lesson was just to model the use of the external adapter for scanning.

  • KINGWINUSB2.pdf [ Download ] null
  • IMG_1922.JPG [ View Image ] [ Download Original ] This is a picture of the whole setup - the adapter to the hard drive plugged into a usb port on the 'rescuing' computer.
  • Another view of the adapter. [ View Image ] [ Download Original ] The adapter from the 'business' end of the hard drive that has the problems.
  • a closer view [ View Image ] [ Download Original ] A closer view of the setup.
• Alternative 2 - Demo / Modeling

  If your funding cannot provide for you to purchase the kits for the external drive hookups, there is another way. By using this method, you will most likely be able to have more students perform the lab at one time, rather than having to wait for a kit. 

  Students can open up the 'healthy' computers, remove the ide or sata cables from the CD Rom drives and use that to hook up to the 'unhealthy' drives. This can be modeled by you either before or after the modeling of the kit. (Of course, you will want to make sure your computer boots up to the c drive first if it does not allow you to hook up the 'unhealthy' drive while it is on (hot swap). You do not want to boot up to the 'unhealthy' drive first as it most likely will not boot up, being in a strange case and all. 

  Just see what works for you. (I hold all night LAN Parties to help raise money for occasions and needed equipment just like this.)
• Group Scan Practice - Guided Practice

  Now, you can break up your class into smaller sections. You can tell your students that the drives they will be testing may or may not contain viruses, but that there is might be other things wrong with them and you want to see if they can correct the problems (if they exist). At this point, students can just test hard drives that you have stockpiled as this exercse is just to walk them through the process of testing the drives themselves and following procedures.

  The usb adapter is not that expensive (around $19 each at Fry's) and students can practice at scanning hard drives by removing drives from working computers to practise scanning.

  Normally, there aren't problems here because of peer tutoring and group work. It's a positive lesson.

  Once the drives have been scanned, have students return the drives to the computers and make sure they work normally.

   
• Troubleshooters - Lab / Shop

  Usually, in my classroom, I will have students whose computers at home will stop working or someone (faculty, another family who cannot afford computer repair services) will bring in a computer to get back running. I will assign different teams of students each time to work and do their best to bring back the computers to working condition for the clients. They must write out shop repair tickets just as I did for the unfortunate and impatient 'client' I had in the classroom for the hook.

  I would say I nearly have 100% great work from the kids. If they cannot figure out the problem, other students will step in to 'help'. I daresay troubleshooting and repairing the problem is so fulfilling for them, they love to do it! It's a win - win situation. Many computers that have been repaired by my teams are old ones who are donated and we give them to students who cannot afford new computers. We just load a legal copy of an OS and put OpenOffice on them for students to be able to do schoolwork.