May 1999
Windows NT* Technical Article
Making Changes
Many of our tips and technical articles describe changes you may want to
make to your system to help increase system performance, increase
productivity and save time. These procedures are thoroughly tested but when
they are not properly done problems can result. This article, based on the
procedures used here at Executive Software, describes how to add or change
computer hardware or software successfully and without causing difficulties
or make things worse.
1. Inspect the computer system before you start so you know what you are
dealing with and understand it: CPU type, memory size, disks, adapters,
operating system version, driver versions, settings, etc.
2. Locate the manuals (documentation) that cover the changes you want to
make and review the material before beginning. Check the relevant web sites
for the latest information, drivers, etc.
3. Decide whether you might need tech support and, if so, whether the
needed tech support facilities are open at the hour you intend to do the
work. If not, determine whether you can afford to have the system down while
waiting for tech support to open if something goes wrong. In any event, have
the tech support phone numbers available and written on paper, not stored in
the computer you'll be working on.
4. Keep a written record of everything you do, step by step, with time
noted, so it can be undone if necessary. (Every computer should have a
maintenance log kept nearby in which to record changes made to that computer
system.)
5. Determine whether any hardware and/or software you will be adding are
compatible with your existing system.
6. Before you begin, decide whether you are willing to be fully responsible
for your actions and their outcome, that is, whether you can accept the
results and do whatever is necessary to correct it or make up the damage. If
you do something that damages or destroys the computer system, are you
willing to be responsible for that? If what you do does not work, are you
willing to be responsible for that? If you do a great job and get a fabulous
result, can you be responsible for that, too? After all, if you double the
system's performance, you should be rewarded.
7. Make sure your backups are all up-to-date before you make any changes.
Then you can be sure you will be able to restore the system to a working
state no matter what happens. Please, don't ever skip this step!
8. When doing the work, before each step ask yourself what the expected
outcome of that will be. Then do the step. Then inspect to determine whether
the outcome was what you expected. If it is not, don't blame the hardware or
assume that something is broken. Take an honest look at what you did and
whether that was really the right thing to do. Check the relevant manuals
and web sites to see if there is more to the matter than you thought.
Whatever you do, do not proceed with the job until you know what went wrong
and why. Whenever there is a failure, undo the last change you made and
observe whether the failure remains or goes away. Continue backing up,
undoing each change, until you have restored the system to a known state
that behaves as expected. Then come forward again, making the same changes
and checking for the failure. What you are trying to do here is determine
exactly what causes the failure: When you do X, it works; when you do Y, it
fails. Then you know what is really wrong, and you can do something about
it. This is very important: When something goes wrong and you do something
to fix it, if what you did does not resolve the problem, undo it before
going any further. Do not try anything else until you have undone the change
and restored the system to a known state. It is entirely possible that the
change you made is causing other problems, and these problems might prevent
you from fixing the first problem you were trying to fix. So, when things
don't go as expected, undo the last change.
9. When you test a piece of hardware and it fails the test, stop right
there and get the hardware repaired or replaced or, if the piece of hardware
is really unnecessary, remove it from the system. Do not continue working on
that system and do not allow it to be used for production of any kind till
it is fixed. Broken hardware can cause all sorts of problems, and may
destroy your data.
10. When you need parts to fix a system, never cannibalize those parts from
any other system that is working. It is okay to take parts from a dead or
unused machine to keep another in production, but never disable a working
system by taking parts from it for another system.
11. If you start working on a system that is working well, don't leave it
in worse condition. If you change something that causes the system to not
work, undo that change before quitting work for the day or leaving the area.
Always allow yourself enough time to complete the job or at least restore
the system to its original status if you cannot complete the job. So if you
need an hour to restore the system, make a decision an hour before quitting
time whether to stay and finish the job or restore the system to its former
status. (Of course, this does not apply to a system that is out of
production for more than a day, requiring a multi-day repair or waiting for
parts, etc.)
12. When you are done, write a report stating what you did and what the
results were, and send this report to anyone who needs to know, and a copy
to the file for that system. Do this even if you have messed up and worsened
the state of the system. If anything, the report is even more important when
things go wrong, as people might get upset and your report will at least let
them know that the problem is known about and someone is taking
responsibility for it.
As you can see, this is mostly common sense, but it's very easy to forget a
step, so do keep this handy when you are making changes to your system.
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