EXPERT SYSTEMS :

COMPUTER HARDWARE PROBLEM

MAZLINA BINTI MD MUSTAFFA

 ABSTRACT

This study introduces a method that will reduce the troubles to in diagnosing the computer
hardware failures. An expert intelligent system using the rule-based technique is introduced
to diagnose computer hardware failures. User or computer technician no need to check a part
of computer hardware, one by one to diagnose computer hardware failure. User or computer
technician just need to select category and the symptom or fact into a system, then a system
will diagnose a computer hardware failure. The implementation includes types of computer
hardware failure, computer condition, rules, and the solution that used in the flow chart
technique and rule-based expert systems software. There are nine categories of computer
hardware failure: power supply, hard drive, video, monitor, ATA drive, DVD, CD and Blu-
ray playback, sound, motherboard, CPU and RAM. The results and analysis presented are
computer hardware failure, conditions, rules, and solutions that used in the decision tables
technique. Besides that, an analysis of the outputs and explanation about data mining by
Weka engine are included to evaluate results. The testing for outputs is from black-box test
and user acceptance test to evaluate the capability of study in diagnosing computer hardware
failures in all conditions. Besides that, this study also showed that time is less to diagnose
computer hardware failure when used expert system, than diagnose computer hardware
failure manually.

i
 ABSTRAK

Kajian ini memperkenalkan kaedah yang akan membantu dalam mendiagnosis kegagalan
perkakasan komputer. Sistem pakar menggunakan teknik berasaskan peraturan
diperkenalkan untuk mendiagnosis kegagalan perkakasan komputer. Pengguna atau
juruteknik komputer tidak perlu untuk memeriksa sebahagian daripada perkakasan
komputer, satu demi satu untuk mendiagnosis kegagalan perkakasan komputer. Pengguna
atau juruteknik komputer hanya perlu memilih kategori dan gejala atau fakta ke dalam
sistem, maka sistem akan mendiagnosis kegagalan perkakasan komputer. Pelaksanaan
kajian termasuk jenis kegagalan perkakasan komputer, keadaan komputer, kaedah, dan
penyelesaian yang digunakan dalam teknik carta aliran dan berasaskan peraturan sistem
pakar perisian. Terdapat sembilan kategori kegagalan perkakasan komputer: bekalan
kuasa, pemacu keras, video, monitor, pemacu ATA, DVD, CD dan main balik Blu-ray, bunyi,
motherboard, CPU dan RAM. Keputusan dan analisis yang dibentangkan adalah kegagalan
perkakasan komputer, syarat, peraturan, dan penyelesaian yang digunakan dalam teknik
jadual keputusan. Selain itu, analisis output dan penjelasan mengenai perlombongan data
dengan enjin Weka dimasukkan untuk menilai keputusan. Ujian untuk output adalah dari
hitam-kotak dan ujian penerimaan pengguna ujian untuk menilai keupayaan pengajian
dalam mendiagnosis kegagalan perkakasan komputer dalam semua keadaan. Selain itu,
kajian ini juga menunjukkan bahawa masa adalah kurang untuk mendiagnosis kegagalan
perkakasan komputer apabila menggunakan sistem pakar, daripada mendiagnosis
kegagalan perkakasan komputer secara manual.
.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

ABSTRACT i
ABSTRAK ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
LIST OF APPENDICES xi

CHAPTER

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Research Background 2
1.3 Problem Statement 5
1.4 Research Objectives 5
1.5 Research Methodology 6
1.6 Expected Outcomes 7
1.7 Conclusion 7

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 9
2.1 Introduction 9
2.2 Computer Problem 10
2.2.1 Categories Of Computer Problem 11
2.2.2 Computer Hardware Failure 12
2.3 Expert Systems 13
2.4 The Current Expert System Approaches 17
2.4.1 Hardware Problem Diagnostic Expert System 17
2.4.2 Expert Pc Troubleshooter 19
2.4.3 Expert Computer Fault Troubleshooter 21
2.4.4 Pcdiashoot (Pc Diagnosis And Troubleshooting) 22
2.4.5 Comparison 23
2.5 Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure Using Expert System 25
2.5.1 Rule-Based Expert Systems 25
2.5.2 Inference Techniques 26
2.6 Conclusion 27

iii
3 METHODOLOGY 29
3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Expert System Development Stages 29
3.2.1 Research and Review 30
3.2.2 Conceptualisation 31
3.2.3 Problem Assessment 31
3.2.4 Knowledge Acquisition and Analysis 31
3.2.5 Design and Implementation 32
3.2.6 Testing 33
3.2.7 Documentation 33
3.2.8 Management 34
3.3 The Proposed Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure Using Expert
34
System
3.3.1 Modelling the Current Practices 34
3.3.2 Overview of the Proposed Diagnose Computer Hardware
37
Failure
3.4 Modelling with Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure Using Expert
38
System
3.4.1 A Framework Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure Using
39
Expert System
3.4.2 Conceptual Framework 40
3.4.3 Rule-Based 45
3.4.4 Requirements of a Rule-Based System 45
3.5 Conclusion 52

4 IMPLEMENTATION 53
4.1 Introduction 53
4.2 Categories of Computer Hardware Failure in DComHaFa 54
4.2.1 Flowchart of DComHaFa 55
4.2.2 Power Supply Failure 56
4.2.3 Hard Drive Failure 57
4.2.4 Video Failure 58
4.2.5 CPU and RAM Failure 59
4.2.6 Monitor Failure 60
4.2.7 ATA Drive Failure 61
4.2.8 DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback 62
4.2.9 Sound Failure 63
4.2.10 Motherboard Failure 64
4.3 Implementation with eXpertise2Go’s 65
4.3.1 The Development Process 66
4.4 Component of DComHaFa 69
4.4.1 Knowledge Base 69
4.4.2 Inference Engine 71

iv
 4.4.3 User Interface 72
4.5 Conclusion 77
5 ANALYSIS 78
5.1 Introduction 78
5.2 Overview of DComHaFa 78
5.2.1 Hard Drive Failure 79
5.2.2 Power Supply Failure 80
5.2.3 Video Failure 81
5.2.4 CPU and RAM Failure 82
5.2.5 ATA Drive Failure 83
5.2.6 DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback 84
5.2.7 Sound Failure 85
5.2.8 Monitor Failure 86
5.2.9 Motherboard Failure 87
5.3 Analysis of DComHaFa 88
5.3.1 Analysis for Different Types of Computer Hardware Failures 88
5.4 Data Mining by WEKA Engine 91
5.4.1 Refreshing Dataset 91
5.4.2 Classification (Bayes Network, BF Tree, J48 Pruned) 92
5.5 Summaries and Conclusions 94

6 EVALUATION AND TESTING 95

6.1 Introduction 95
6.2 System Testing: The Box Approach (Black-Box Testing) 96
6.2.1 Hard Drive Failure 96
6.2.2 Power Supply Failure 101
6.2.3 Video Failure 104
6.2.4 CPU and RAM Failure 106
6.2.5 ATA Drive Failure 109
6.2.6 DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback 112
6.2.7 Sound Failure 115
6.2.8 Monitor Failure 117
6.2.9 Motherboard Failure 119
6.3 User Acceptance Test 123
6.4 Summaries and Conclusions 124

7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 125

7.1 Introduction 125
7.2 Summary 126
7.3 Summaries and Contributions 127
7.4 Limitations of Research 128
7.5 Further Research 128

REFERENCES 129

v
APPENDIX 134

vi
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Comparison 24
3.1 Production Rule (Hard Disk) 46
3.2 Production Rule (Sound) 47
3.3 Production Rule (power supply, processor, start up,ATA, USB device) 48
3.4 Production Rule (printer, motherboard, CPU, RAM, peripheral) 49
3.5 Production Rule (BIOS, Video Monitor and adapter) 59
3.6 Production Rule (DVD drive, DVD or CD recording) 51
5.1 Hard Drive Failure Table 79
5.2 Power Supply Failure Table 80
5.3 Video Failure Table 81
5.4 CPU and RAM Failure Table 82
5.5 ATA Drive Failure Table 83
5.6 DVD, CD and Blu-ray Playback Table 84
5.7 Sound Failure Table 85
5.8 Monitor Failure Table 86
5.9 Motherboard Failure Table 87
5.10 Analysis Different Types of Computer Hardware Failure 88
6.1 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure 101
6.2 Testing Power Supply Failure 104
6.3 Testing Of Video Failure 106
6.4 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure 109
6.5 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure 112
6.6 Testing Of DVD, cd AND Blu-ray Playback 114
6.7 Testing Of Sound Failure 117
6.8 Testing Of Monitor Failure 119
6.9 Testing Of Motherboard Failure 122
6.10 User Acceptance Test 123

vii
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

2.1 Components of Expert System (Kishan, Chadha, & Maini, 2012) 16

2.2 Program Hardware Problem Diagnostic Expert Systems (Saad, Al,
Hussaini and Jilani, 2013) 18
2.3 Expert PC Troubleshooter (Bassil, 2012). 19
2.4 Architecture of Expert PC Troubleshooter (Bassil, 2012) 20
2.5 Sample Screenshots of the Output (Mandal, Chatterjee and Neogi, 2013) 22
2.6 Forward Chaining Method 27
3.1 Expert System Development Methodology 30
3.2 Computer Technician Daily Operation 35
3.3 The Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure Manually Process 36
3.4 The Proposed Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure 38
3.5 A Framework Diagnose Computer Hardware Failure 39
3.6 DComHaFa Architecture 40
3.7 Process of DComHaFa 43
3.8 Rule-Based System 44
4.1 Flowchart of DComHaFa Expert System 55
4.2 Power Supply Failure 56
4.3 Flow Chart of Hard Drive Failure. 57
4.4 Flow Chart of Video Failure. 58
4.5 Flow Chart of CPU And RAM Failure 59
4.6 Flow Chart of Monitor Failure 60
4.7 Flow Chart of ATA Drive Failure 61
4.8 Flow Chart of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Failure 62
4.9 Flow Chart of Sound Failure 63
4.10 Flow Chart of Motherboard Failure 64
4.11 Interface of E2grulewriter 66
4.12 The conditions for the proposed system 67
4.13 The steps used to define "the recommended actions” 68

viii
4.14 Steps used to build the rules 68
4.15 The last steps of an implementation with eXpertise2Go's 69
4.16 Design Expert system for in DComHaFa using e2gRuleEngine 70
4.17 Inference engine is between user interface and knowledge base
71
(Fleih and Younis, 2014)
4.18 Index page for DComHaFa 72
4.19 The first PROMPT appear after user clicking button "Start the
73
consultation"
4.20 The inference engine's explanation when we click on the button ‘Why
74
ask?’
4.21 Process of input value in DComHaFa 75
4.22 The result we obtained after giving the input values to DComHaFa 75
4.23 The explanation procedure of the proposed DComHaFa 76
5.1 Total Conditions, Rules and Actions 89
5.2 Relationship between Conditions, Rules and Actions 89
5.3 Relationship between Conditions and Types 90
5.4 Relationship between Actions / Rules and Types 90
5.5 Bayes Network Classifier 92
5.6 BF Tree Decision Tree 93
5.7 J48 Pruned Tree 94
6.1 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Menu) 97
6.2 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Condition 1) 97
6.3 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Condition 2) 98
6.4 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Condition 3) 98
6.5 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Condition 4) 99
6.6 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Condition 5) 99
6.7 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Solution) 100
6.8 Testing Of Hard Drive Failure (Explain) 100
6.9 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Menu) 101
6.10 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Condition 1) 102
6.11 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Condition 2) 102
6.12 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Condition 3) 102
6.13 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Solution) 103

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6.14 Testing Of Power Supply Failure (Explain) 103
6.15 Testing Of Video Failure (Menu) 104
6.16 Testing Of Video Failure (Condition 1) 105
6.17 Testing Of Video Failure (Condition 2) 105
6.18 Testing Of Video Failure (Condition 3) 105
6.19 Testing Of Video Failure (Solution) 106
6.20 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure (Menu) 107
6.21 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure (Condition 1) 107
6.22 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure (Condition 2) 108
6.23 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure (Solution) 108
6.24 Testing Of CPU and RAM Failure (Explain) 109
6.25 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure (Menu) 110
6.26 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure (Condition 1) 110
6.27 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure (Condition 2) 111
6.28 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure (Condition 3) 111
6.29 Testing Of ATA Drive Failure (Solution) 111
6.30 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Menu) 112
6.31 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Condition 1) 113
6.32 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Condition 2) 113
6.33 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Condition 3) 113
6.34 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Condition 4) 114
6.35 Testing Of DVD, CD and Blu-Ray Playback (Solution) 114
6.36 Testing Of Sound Failure (Menu) 115
6.37 Testing Of Sound Failure (Condition 1) 115
6.38 Testing Of Sound Failure (Condition 2) 116
6.39 Testing Of Sound Failure (Condition 3) 116
6.40 Testing Of Sound Failure (Solution) 116
6.41 Testing Of Monitor Failure (Menu) 117
6.42 Testing Of Monitor Failure (Condition 1) 118
6.43 Testing Of Monitor Failure (Condition 2) 118
6.44 Testing Of Monitor Failure (Solution) 118
6.45 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Menu) 119
6.46 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 1) 120

x
6.47 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 2) 120
6.48 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 3) 120
6.49 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 4) 121
6.50 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 5) 121
6.51 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 6) 121
6.52 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Condition 7) 122
6.53 Testing Of Motherboard Failure (Solution) 122

xi
 LIST OF APPENDICES

APENDIX TITLE PAGE

A Coding OF DComHaFa 134

xii
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Hardware in a computer include the CPU, speakers, motherboard, keyboard, RAM

mouse, modem and anything in the computer system that we can touch physically. According

to Han et al. (2012), computer hardware failure is the basic reason for several computer system

failures in other industries. The majority of errors encountered on a computer are caused by

hardware, and not a software or hardware device. According to Nightingale et al. (2011), rates

of computer hardware failure on a personal computer is high when do the first large scale

analysis.

Angeli (2010), has built a system to troubleshoot a problems, provides a method to

solve problem both software and hardware. An expert system works by applying deductive

principles to data contained in its knowledge base. This study could help consumers, especially

computer technician in computer hardware problem and can save time in resolving hardware

problems. This proposal providing expert system on how diagnosing of computer hardware

problem. Furthermore, the expert’s system users can help in saving time to find solutions in

identify and track computer hardware problem.

Expert system can be used to help computer technician in solving problem relating with

diagnose computer hardware failure quickly. A computer technician is a person who is

13
responsible for repair the computer problem. A computer technician or maintainer must check

every computer and one by one computer with classifying the computer hardware failures.

Usually, a computer technician will take a long time to detect and identify a cause of computer

hardware failure.

1.2 Research Background

Today, the demand for reliable computer systems continues to increase and people

faced computer problems but are unable to diagnose the actual problem. The widespread use

of computers makes computer hardware maintenance become a problem that cannot be

ignored. Combining many years of computer laboratory management and maintenance

experiences, the causes of computer hardware failure are summarized and the specific

maintenance methods are provided (Lechner, 2011).

The development and popularization of computer education causes computer

laboratories are being utilized in higher frequency. Computers hardware failure is inevitable

when the device has been used for a long time, or been incorrect used, or been damaged by

accident. A computer technician or maintainer should have certain maintenance methods to

correctly remove the failure quickly. Usually, a computer technician or maintainer must check

every computer with classifying the computer hardware failures. Therefore, a computer

technician will take a long time to detect and identify causes of computer hardware failure.

According to Mandal et al. (2013), to detect hardware problem, expert system have

been develop. Mandal et al. (2013), proposed expert system called expert computer

troubleshoot to determine knowledge and diagnose the computer system problem.

Isa and Sidek (2000), created expert system named PCDIASHOOT to help new

technician in diagnosing computer hardware failure for IBM computer. PCDIASHOOT

14
proposed to train new technician to troubleshoot computer software and hardware failure. But,

this system limited for IBM personal computer only and not suitable to other computer brand.

Saad et al. (2013), develop expert system to assist a user to detect computer hardware

failure for example motherboard, RAM and CPU. The system explains step by step on how to

troubleshoot computer before deal with computer technician. Bassil (2012) proposed a rule-

based expert system named Expert PC Troubleshoot for diagnose computer hardware faults.

Disadvantages of Expert PC Troubleshoot are not in flow chart or decision tree. Besides that,

the motherboard is not including in Expert PC Troubleshoot.

This study will introduce the methods of solve the troubles to diagnose the computer

hardware failure and a causes on all kinds of problems. For example, include the trouble of

turn on the computer and turn off the computer, the trouble of crash, the trouble of display, the

trouble of sound, the trouble of storage equipment, the trouble of CPU, the trouble of memory,

the trouble of mainboard. Besides that, this study will introduce how to classify the problems

and solve the hardware failure, and how to avoid the trouble.

The advantages of an expert system are to improve a quality of an output or result, can

save costs and money, to increase a productivity and improve timelines of a results. There are

many problems can be solved by using expert system such as classification, diagnosing,

scheduling, design, monitoring and configuration.

Expert systems have benefits to assist human in making good decision, can save budget

with low cost expend to make a decision, to achieve objectives and not bias to make a

consistency decision (Gupta and Singhal, 2013).

According to Akram et al. (2014), human cannot memorise a large data size in a short

time compare to expert system and that is a limitation of human expert. According to Brenkel

and Makhubele (2012), advantages of expert system are:

a. Accessibility:

15
The knowledge based of human experts is combined for more knowledgeable system as

compared to a single person’s knowledge. Expert systems are always available for use when

human experts are not readily available.

b. Consistency:

Expert systems are less likely to contain provided the expert system has knowledge

representation. Inaccuracies or errors can be easily prevented.

c. Time constraints:

The number of copies of an expert system can be made whereas, the training process of new

human expert is time consuming and expensive.

d. Stability:

It can assist a human expert in problem solving and is more likely to consider all possibilities.

e. Efficiency:

An expert system is capable of reviewing all the transactions as compared to a human expert

who can only capable reviewing a sample.

1.3 Problem Statement

The purpose of this project is finding a technique to diagnose computer hardware failure

and help a user especially a computer technician. Besides that, usually a user or computer

technician takes a long time to identify computer hardware problems.

A computer technician is a person who is responsible for repair the computer problem.

A computer technician or maintainer must check every computer and one by one computer

with classifying the computer hardware failures. Usually, a computer technician will take a

long time to detect and identify causes of computer hardware failure. This is a main reason on

why computer technician need this expert system to help them in managing daily operation. Besides

16
that, a computer technician or maintainer should have certain maintenance methods to correctly

remove the failure quickly.

In view of the foregoing, it is of great necessity to provide an expert system to assist

computer technician in diagnosing and identify computer hardware failure, which this research

is focused on designing and creating a flowchart. The aim of this research is, will diagnose

computer hardware failure, suggest a solution and provide necessary information on computer

hardware failure for computer technician and individuals.

1.4 Research Objectives

Main objectives is to find a technique that help to diagnose computer hardware failure.

The research objectives can be summarised as the followings:

a. To explore the computer hardware problems with the current solutions using expert

system techniques.

Do a survey on previous studies in expert systems. The objective is to find and gather

some information about the past.

b. To customize expert systems that can be used by groups that is often faced with the

problem of computer hardware.

The second objective is, mainly, one of the modules from the expert system will be

develop as the baseline in this thesis. The computer technician can use this expert

system to diagnose the computer hardware failure.

c. To evaluate those expert systems can reduce time to identify computer hardware

problems.

The third objective is to demonstrate an expert system technique that able to diagnose

computer hardware problem in a short time compare to other technique.

17
1.5 Research Methodology

In this section presents several method of achieving research objectives used as outlined below:

a. In chapter two, literature review is used to explore information on expert system, computer

hardware failure, how to diagnose computer hardware failure and current approaches to

diagnose computer hardware failure.

Through the literature review we also justify the use of an expert system to diagnose

computer hardware failure. The literature review is from the relevant literature in journal

papers, websites, theses, books, academic search engines, electronic databases and other

sources.

b. The development of the diagnose computer hardware failure using expert system is based

on the expert system development methodology consist of stages; research and review,

conceptualisation, problem assessment, analysis, design, implementation, testing,

evaluation and documentation.

c. The proposed of conceptual model to diagnose computer hardware failure is designed using

the rule-based technique. The expert system software of rule-based (e2gRuleWriter) is use

to simulate and develop the conceptual model of proposed system.

d. To testing the expert system, this study will use two ways. The testing and evaluation of the

results from system test (black-box test) and user acceptance test.

1.6 Expected Outcomes

In this thesis, we take the opportunity to help computer technicians in diagnosing

computer hardware failure and provide optimum solutions within a short period of time. The

proposed system aims to help computer technician in the sense of minimizing time and being

quick to diagnose computer hardware failure for everyday operation. Furthermore, the experts

18
system can help users in saving time to find solutions in identify and track computer hardware

problem.

1.7 Conclusion

As a conclusion, many techniques are available to detect hardware problems and one

of the techniques is using expert systems. In this thesis, we will help a user’s to reduce their

time in diagnose a computer hardware failure. Besides that, an expert system technique will

help a computer technician to find a solution in identify and track computer hardware problem.

In overall, this research is divided into six chapters including an introduction chapter.

Next chapter will provides a brief history of earlier work in computer hardware, computer

hardware problem, expert systems and components of expert systems, followed by a small

section about applications of expert system.

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

The thesis proposed for diagnose computer hardware failure, how to see current

approaches and understand computer hardware failure in detail for diagnose computer

hardware failure. The key elements of this research are computer problem, categories of

computer problems, computer hardware failure; diagnose computer hardware failure, expert

systems and current approaches.

To implement an approach, this research are justified the choice of expert systems as

suitable techniques. To find information on computer hardware failure, we do a literature

review to achieve the objectives and evaluate approaches to use of an expert system. Basic

methodologies and a few fundamental concepts are also introduced. The five key elements of

this research are computer hardware, computer hardware failure, expert systems, component

of expert system and applications of expert system.

This chapter presents about the computer hardware failure and how to diagnose

computer hardware failure. Some previous work is briefly described finding from literature

review on diagnose computer hardware failure will be present in Chapter Four.

20