a method and system of detecting and reporting failures in a computer , in particular a personal computer is disclosed . event codes related to failure events are given unique alpha numeric designations , allowing universal recognition of failures related to diagnostic programs that are ran . the unique event codes are stored in an error log when a particular failure is found through the operation of a diagnostic program . the error log is parsed as to determined values and can be minimized further by eliminating redundant occurrences of the event codes . event codes can be related to frequently asked question files , the faq files can then be presented to a user . in certain cases , the presented faq files can be minimized further by a template that masks out irrelevant faq files . the faq file that are considered relevant can be predetermined per the requirements of the user .