Common problems when playing
1. “THE GAME IS NOT PLAYED!”
When it comes to playing PC games, this is probably the biggest and most frustrating problem anyone can run into. I bought games before that were not working properly and had no idea why. When I have this problem, there are a few things I do to help me figure out what the problem is and how to fix it.
A. The first thing I do is go to the site systemrequirementslab.com, which has a very useful computer application to tell you if you can run the game or not. This will do a scan of what hardware your computer has and compare it to the minimum and recommended specifications of the game you want to play. This can be extremely useful because it is difficult to remember exactly what specifications your computer has, and it can help identify what to update if necessary.
B. Check your computer or graphics card drivers. Sometimes computer peripherals will have a driver update, if you don’t have the proper drivers installed, it can cause problems when running certain games.
C. Check the game settings. Some games are great at optimizing settings to work best on your computer, but they don’t always get it right. If a game does not run properly in most games, you can lower the graphical settings to see if it works properly.
D. Reinstall the game. Sometimes it is possible for a file to get corrupted while installing the game or over time. If this is a problem, it can be resolved by uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Most games can be installed through your computer’s Control Panel, but if not, you can sometimes uninstall the game from the game launcher.
E. Sometimes, unfortunately, there are random problems with games that are very difficult to identify. If this problem arises, you can contact the game company. Many companies have dedicated helplines or forums to help people who are having trouble running their games. They usually respond quickly and will do their best to help you solve your problem.
2. “The game is choppy online!”
This is another common problem when it comes to gaming, and it’s not just reserved for PC games. Sometimes your PC or gaming system will work perfectly, but you have a lot of problems when it comes to online games; fortunately, there are a few ways to try to fix it.
A. The first thing to do is verify that you are getting the correct speeds from your Internet provider. You can run an online speed test at speedtest.net that will help you identify your download and upload speeds. If speeds are slow or not what you expect, there are a couple of things you can do to try to fix the problem before calling your ISP.
B. If you have speed issues, the first thing I recommend doing is checking your router. Sometimes speed issues are due to an old or faulty router. I recently had some problems with the internet going down and decided to check my router. I was using an old router with old wireless technology, but didn’t think it was causing any problems. I ended up buying a new AC router and it doubled the internet speed that I was getting beforehand with my N router. N routers have been around for a while and AC is a newer technology that provides more bandwidth and better signal strength than N routers. With so many devices connected to home WiFi, I think it is worth upgrading to an AC router as everything will work better.
C. If you find that the problem is not the router and only your computer has speed issues, you can check for obstructions that could block the wireless signal. Sometimes it is completely random as to the causes of the interference and I have heard of people who had terrible speeds, they moved their computer a little in a different direction and everything worked fine. You can also run a malware scan on your computer to make sure a virus isn’t eating up your bandwidth.
D. There is also the possibility that your computer has a faulty wireless card. I had a desktop computer that had a wireless card that randomly stopped working, it took me a long time to identify what the problem was, but when I did it was fixed by simply buying a USB WiFi adapter. They are inexpensive and got my computer back online quickly and easily.
E. If your problem is not solved by any of these solutions, you may need to contact your Internet provider. Unfortunately sometimes there are only input line issues and it requires a technician to come out and fix it. Sometimes the IP can identify a problem over the phone and find out if the problem is on its way or if they need to send in a technician.
3. Other Quick Tips to Help PC Performance
A. I highly recommend everyone to install an SSD in their computer. An SSD is a solid state drive that can replace your existing hard drive. The traditional hard drive is a moving part hard drive that spins, reads and writes data, whereas an SSD has no moving parts and everything is stored on flash memory chips. Due to the way the data is stored, it is accessed much faster and more reliably than standard HDDs, they are more expensive at the moment, but the speed increase is worth the money in my opinion. I recently changed my computer to an SSD and it changed my boot time from minutes to seconds. Everything seems to load much faster and I can’t imagine going back to a normal hard drive.
B. RAM upgrade
A. Sometimes upgrading the amount of RAM in your computer can improve performance. However, you must first find out what kind of RAM you can use. To do this, you can search your computer’s System Information which gives you a summary of the system. In the overview there will be a system model, I used it to search online how much RAM my computer could support and what type I should use.