MARK PARVIN
Three things go missing for roving IT support technician Mark this month: a webcam, a touchpad and a whole bank of USB ports…
Three things go missing for roving IT support technician Mark this month: a webcam, a touchpad and a whole bank of USB ports…
One of the main reasons I enjoy my job is the variety. I get to visit different places, meet people from different walks of life and deal with pretty much anything to do with technology.
The work can sometimes be repetitive as I see the same problems again and again: forgotten passwords, wireless printers not connecting and loss of internet, to name but a few. Other issues may have me stumped for a while, such as a slow or non-starting PC. And some issues have a brick wall around every turn ready for me to bash my head against.
That latter category certainly fits the assortment of issues I’ve seen in the past few weeks. The first problem I encountered echoed one I mentioned four months ago ( see issue 311, p118). That involved a microphone issue on a Lenovo laptop. But this time, it’s a webcam issue on, you guessed it, a Lenovo laptop.
The computer in question belongs to Marjorie. She’s a talented musician and avid churchgoer, but a terminal illness has kept her from going out to enjoy her passions. On the back of lockdown, both the church and her musical friends had tried to stay in touch using Zoom. Unfortunately, while the webcam kicked into life by lighting up its “I’m on” LED, everyone just saw darkness where Majorie should be. And it only happened on Zoom: her son in America could see her on Skype, and the camera app worked as it should.
I started by checking Zoom, but an uninstall, reinstall and update later, the test video still showed the same issue. It was time to look further afield, and the webcam driver seemed the best place to go next. I usually deploy a three-pronged attack on drivers: update, uninstall or rollback. The version listed on the Lenovo support website was the same as the one installed, but I downloaded it in potential readiness for the next stage. I uninstalled the webcam via Device Manager, but left the driver in place. That didn’t help, so I uninstalled again and this time removed the driver. In these cases, Windows usually reverts to an older version it has stored, and it did so with a great result; out of the darkness came light, with my face staring back at me.
My next step was to tempt fate. I prefer to have the latest driver installed so reintroduced the version downloaded earlier from Lenovo. Did it still work? Did it heck. To quote
Amy Winehouse, the camera went back to black. I took my third option of a rollback. I’m always concerned with rollbacks that Windows will simply update it again and bring back the problem. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded, and it stuck with the older driver. With the laptop now returned, Marjorie has the companionship of like-minded friends once more.
The missing touchpad
My next laptop conundrum arrived a few days later. Trevor dropped it off when he came to York on business. We both thought this would be easier than an on-site visit, especially as his tale of restarts and lockups pointed towards a lengthy hardware check. He lives and works in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales so, as beautiful as the scenery may be up there, not having to tackle the sheep, tractors and treacherous roads was no bad thing.
The hardware check told of a failing hard drive. I could still extract the data, so did so as a priority. Once completed, I rang Trevor to tell him about my findings. The laptop wasn’t that old, meaning a replacement drive seemed a sensible way forward. He agreed. I also recommended, as is nearly always the case these days, he switch to an SSD. So far, so good. It being a more modern laptop, though, I didn’t have the convenience of an easy-access hatch to remove the drive. This repair started by removing all the screws from the bottom base – including the ones hidden under the rubber feet. The next step was to use a spudger to release the clips holding the top cover in place. Once that was done, I had to lift the top carefully from the front – much like a car bonnet – to ensure I didn’t pull and tear the delicate ribbon cables that still connected the two halves. With the cables then removed from their sockets, I was, at last, able to replace the hard drive.
Reassembling the laptop wasn’t without its difficulties. Reconnecting the ribbon cables for the keyboard and touchpad isn’t much fun while also trying to balance the top cover at the right height. I needed to have it sat low enough so I could attach the (never long enough) cables but high enough that I could get my hands in. My ageing eyesight also didn’t help. The ZIF connectors were at a distance where my short and longsightedness meet: I couldn’t see them clearly with my glasses on or off and I couldn’t get my head any closer. With much fiddling and cursing later, however, the laptop was back together and ready for Windows. And it was at this point that things went downhill.
The install of Windows went well until I needed to use the touchpad, which refused to work. A hastily connected USB mouse had no such issue and allowed me to investigate
“Did it work? Did it heck. To quote Amy Winehouse, the camera went back to black”
“It’s a lesson I learnt many years ago: make sure everything works before reassembling”
further. The touchpad didn’t show up in Device Manager, and this led me to the suspicion that my eyesight had let me down: I hadn’t fitted the cable correctly. Thankfully, the l aptop wasn’t screwed back together. It’s a lesson I learnt many years ago: make sure everything works first before fully reassembling. It meant I had the pleasure of removing, checking and reattaching the cable for a second time, but, once satisfied, I tried again. Still no luck, and I was beginning to wonder if I might have damaged the cable with all of my fiddling. Everything looked okay, though, and my gut feeling was that the problem lay elsewhere. In those situations, I always follow my instinct and get in touch with one of my best friends: Google.
A web search told me I wasn’t alone. Many people had experienced the same issue when performing a clean install of Windows 10 on this particular Asus laptop. A potential answer also appeared in the form of a setting within the BIOS: if you change it from the default of “Advanced” to “Normal”, the touchpad works. Things were looking up but, when I checked, that option didn’t exist on Trevor’s machine. A scream and some swearing later, I went on the hunt for a BIOS update. The Asus support site had one available and, once updated, the setting appeared. I changed it to the recommended option, saved and rebooted. Much to my relief, the touchpad worked once more and I could complete the job. Mission accomplished, but all that just to change a hard drive.
Missing USB ports
Margaret runs a caravan site on the outskirts of York. She has been a customer for many years and has owned the same all-in-one computer for most of that time. It wasn’t that long ago that I had updated the machine from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and this, inadvertently, caused my next headache.
Margaret contacted me to explain her wireless mouse and keyboard had suddenly stopped working. I ran through the usual culprits with her on the phone, such as new batteries, but nothing helped. So, armed with various wired input devices, I went to see her the very next day. After a few insertions and restarts later, however, it became apparent that no USB device would work. It needed further investigation, so I returned to my office with the PC in tow and started on it straight away.
I could get into the BIOS boot menu by tapping the correct key, so this eliminated a hardware issue. I then remembered a fleeting comment from Margaret before I left: a significant update for Office had occurred not long before the problem arose. Having dismissed this at the time, I realised that she had likely meant a Windows update. It’s surprising how many of my customers mix up Windows and Office: have they Windows 2013 or is it Office 8?
Anyway, that gut feeling returned once more, and I booted up the Windows 10 recovery environment from a memory stick. Once in, I used it to uninstall the latest feature update. A cup of coffee later and all the USB ports worked like a dream. I thought it might have been a corrupt update, but reinstalling just brought back the issue. There was definitely something upsetting the drivers in this latest version, and the dilemma I had was how to fix it: I needed to take a look at Device Manager while the USB ports weren’t working, but I had no functioning mouse or keyboard.
Another cup of coffee and the answer came to me as I took my first gulp. With the working version of Windows in place, I installed the unattended access version of Zoho Assist. After checking it all worked, I updated to the latest Windows and, although I couldn’t use the local USB ports, I did have mouse and keyboard control via my remote computer. I checked Device Manager and, as I expected, it reported corrupt drivers. I removed them and restarted but without success. The thought of yet another coffee crossed my mind, but I visited the Asus support site instead. From there, I obtained the chipset drivers and unzipped the contents ready for action. I then manually updated each of the USB controllers using the downloaded drivers. To see those little yellow triangles disappear was fantastic and, with a final restart, the ports were back in action and local control available once more.
These types of jobs may be frustrating, but if all tech support were straightforward, I’d either be bored senseless or out of work – or both. Variety is the spice of my working life, even if I don’t always enjoy it…