ABSTRACT

Detection  of  personal  computer  (PC)  hardware  problems  is  a  complicated  process  which demands  high  level  of  knowledge  and  skills.    Depending  on  the  know-how  of  the  technician,  a simple  problem  could  take  hours  or  even  days  to  solve.  The aim  is  to  develop  an  expert  system for  troubleshooting  and  diagnosing  personal  computers  thereby  assisting  personal  computer owners  in  dealing  with  their  computer  problems  especially  when  the  time  is  limited  and  human expert  is  not  available.The use of  Object-Oriented  Analysis  and  Design (OOAD)  and  UML  (Unified  Modeling  Language) are use to model the system. In  this  research work,  the method  of  fact-finding called  knowledge  acquisition  which  is  a  knowledge-based  approach  to  extract  facts is adopted. Various  sets  of  rules are also introduced  into  the  system  for  detecting  different  types  of  failures  which  can be  easily  handled  by  the  PC  owners  and  will  give  their  causes.  The  data  extracted  from  experts  is stored  in  the  knowledge-base  of  the  Expert  System  shell.  The  graphical  user  interface,  the  expert system  shell  and  the  database  of  the  model  are  developed  by  integrating  visual basic 6.0 programming  language,  Access   database  tool  and  the  dynamic  linking  library  (DLL)  files.   

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Certification----------------------------------------------------------I

Declaration-----------------------------------------------------------II

Dedication------------------------------------------------------------III

Acknowledgments---------------------------------------------------IV

Abstract---------------------------------------------------------------V

Table of Contents------

CHAPTER ONE:  INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction----------------------------------------------------1

1.2 Background of the study-------------------------------------2

1.3 Statement of problem-----------------------------------------3

1.4 Aims and objectives------------------------------------------3

1.5 Scopes and limitation-----------------------------------------4

1.6 definition of terms-------------------------------------------4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Expert systems-------------------------------------------------9

2.2 Types of expert systems-------------------------------------13

2.3 Decision making techniques in expert

 systems------------------------------------------------------------14

2.3.1 Production ruled based systems--------------------------14

2.3.2 Backward and forward chaining-------------------------15

2.3.3 Advantages of backward chaining 

over forward chaining--------------------------------------------16

2.4 Fuzzy logic----------------------------------------------------16

2.4.1 Linguistic variables----------------------------------------17

2.4.2 Early applications------------------------------------------17

2.4.3 If then rules-------------------------------------------------18

2.5 Comparison between fuzzy logic and 

Probability---------------------------------------------------------18

CHAPTER THREE: SYSTEM DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY.

3.1 Design of the ptototype system-------------------------19

3.2 Data base application-------------------------------------21

3.3 Knowledge base-------------------------------------------21

3.4 File structure-----------------------------------------------22

3.5 Database----------------------------------------------------23

3.6 Client interface--------------------------------------------24

3.7 User interface----------------------------------------------25 

3.8 Electronic Detection point-------------------------------25

3.9 Ctis Application-------------------------------------------26

3.9.1 Inference Engine------------------------------------------26

3.9.2 Membership function generation-----------------------27

3.9.3 Electrostatic discharge-----------------------------------32

3.9.4 Faulty Cmos battery------------------------------------32

3.9.5 Faulty Rom Bios----------------------------------------33

3.9.6 Faulty Ram------------------------------------------------33

3.9.7 Faulty Processor------------------------------------------33

3.9.8 Faulty power supply-------------------------------------34

3.9.9 Faulty Hard Drive-----------------------------------------34

3.9.9.1   System bock diagram-----------------------------35

3.9.9.2   Program flowchat----------------------------------35

CHAPTER FOUR :SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION AND DOCUMENTATION

4.1 System implementation- ----------------------------------36

4.2 System evaluation------------------------------------------38

4.3 System maintenance---------------------------------------39

4.4 Choice of programming language-----------------------39

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Summary----------------------------------------------------40

5.2 Conclusion--------------------------------------------------40

5.3 Recommendation-------------------------------------------41

References

Appendices