Panayiotis Christodoulou
Objectives
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The troubleshooting process and the thinking
skills required for successful trouble shooting
Communication skills for troubleshooting
Information resources to help solve computer
problems
Which tools are used to troubleshoot computer
problems
Strategies for troubleshooters
How to develop a personal problem-solving
strategy
Objectives
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•he types of common end-user computer
T
problems
How problem-solving processes are applied
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to several typical support problems
Computer problems can come in a variety of
forms, however, most problems fall into one of
six categories. Common problem categories
include hardware problems, software problems,
user problems, documentation problems, vendor
problems and facilities problems.
Hardware problems generally stem from one of
three sources. Hardware installation and
compatibility problems tend to occur when a user
purchases new hardware or upgrades an old
hardware product.
Incompatible computer components are those
that cannot operate together on a system.
Hardware
configuration
problems
are
difficulties that occur when hardware (or
software) settings are incorrect for the
computer environment in which a component
must operate.
The adoption of Plug and Play standards,
which are industry-wide agreements among
hardware and operating system vendors
about hardware installation and configuration
options, has helped to greatly minimize
hardware configuration problems. In addition
to
incompatibility
and
configuration
problems, a small percentage of hardware
problems result from components that either
have never worked or no longer work.
In an attempt to avoid future hardware problems
once a system is installed, support staff either at
the vendor or the worksite burn-in a machine
prior to the user receiving the system. Burn-in is
a 48- to 72-hour period during which a new
computer or component is operated nonstop in
an attempt to discover obvious problems and
identify any marginal or temperature-sensitive
components. Vendors also generally include
hardware diagnostic tools with a new system that
can help a user support specialist detect common
hardware malfunctions.
Software installation and upgrades are easier
today than in the past. Problems with software
occur most often during installation. Installation
software is special-purpose utility software that
aids in the installation of other software
packages.
The
installation
software
can
automatically create all of the subdirectories with
correct path names, examine the hardware
configuration to determine whether the software
and hardware are compatible, and set
configuration options in the software and the
operating system to match the hardware.
User support specialists are often called upon to deal
with installation problems or they are asked to install
older software that does not install automatically.
Another source of compatibility problems can be
shareware.
Shareware is commercial software that users can try
out with the vendor’s permission during an
evaluation period (usually 30 days) prior to making a
purchase decision. Some shareware can cause
conflicts because of the way that it is written. A
conflict is a state in which a computer component
uses systems resources (CPU, memory, or peripheral
devices) in a way that is incompatible with another
component.
Some software problems are related to the way
that software is configured to run on a system.
When software options are not set up properly it
can result in configuration problems. Starting
with Windows 95, software and
hardware
configuration information is saved in a large
system file called the Registry. It is possible to
edit the Registry with a software utility called
REGEDIT.EXE. Users and support specialists
should not edit the registry unless they are
familiar with registry entries and how to modify
them.
Bugs are errors in a computer program that
occur when a programmer writes incorrectly
coded
instructions
during
program
development. Bugs are more frequently found
in custom developed software rather than
mass-market programs. Many bugs are
eliminated during the testing phase, however,
there are updates and bug fixes for software
sometimes several years after the initial
public release.
There are different ways that software publisher classify
software. A new version of a software package contains
significant, new features and is usually the result of a
substantially rewritten program. An upgrade is a new
version of an existing program that is sold at a reduced
cost to owners of a previous version of the program. A
new release of a program is a distribution that contains
some new features not found in the original program. An
update is a bug-fix distribution that repairs known
problems in a previous version or release of a software
package. A patch is a replacement for one or a few
modules in a software package to fix one or more known
bugs. A service pack (or service release) contains both
updates and patches to fix documentation
Before a user installs a patch they should check
with a support specialist. They should remember
to keep a copy of the patch installation file so
that they can reinstall the patch or patches if they
need to reinstall the software from the original
media. Some vendors incorporate prior patches
into the next patch release. Others require you to
install prior patches before installing the new
patch. In some cases where patches are not
available, a support specialist or vendor might
suggest a workaround. A workaround is a
procedure or feature that accomplishes the same
result as a feature that does not work due to a
bug or other malfunction.
Performance problems are a category of
computer problems whereby a system is
operational, but does not operate as efficiently as
it can or should. Performance problems can be an
indication of hardware problems, however,
before a hardware component is replaced the
software problems should be explored. For
example, a slow hard drive could be an indication
that the hard drive is about to fail, however,
there are other problems that should be explored
first including checking how full the hard drive is,
defragmenting the hard drive, scanning for lost
space or there might not be enough RAM to run
software efficiently.
Users can unintentionally cause many support
problems. All users, including professional
support staff, make mistakes. Despite the best
efforts of software developers, users occasionally
press a wrong key and end up in part of a
program that they did not intend to load. Some
key sequences are invalid and have no effect on
the project that the user is working with. Other
key sequences can have drastic consequences.
Even when a user is at faculty, a support
specialist needs to be very careful to tactfully
guide a user toward training opportunities rather
than assigning blame.
Users frequently purchase an incorrect
product either due to a misunderstanding
about product features or limitations.
Sometimes users will purchase the wrong
product to accomplish a task. It is common
for someone that owns an older model PC
system to purchase a software package that
requires a later model processor or a user
may purchase the wrong version such as a
Macintosh version.
Many computer problems arise because users
are poorly trained or they do not read the
documentation for the software or hardware.
Quick start behavior is a tendency among
computer users to forego reading the
installation manual and attempt to get new
hardware
or
software
installed
and
operational as rapidly as possible. Lack of
adequate training and understanding of the
software can translate into waste and lost
user productivity.
Even when training has been adequate, users
tend to forget how to perform tasks or
information such as passwords.
Reference sheets (formal or informal notes) and
scripts are an effective aid to help users recall
how to perform infrequent tasks that are difficult
to remember.
Documentation can also cause a problem. In
recent
years
vendor
documentation
has
improved, however, poorly organized and
inaccurate
documentation
causes
many
frustrated users and generates volumes of user
support calls. The best user documentation
includes a quick start tutorial.
Many calls to help desks or hotlines are often
related to a vendor overselling a product.
Vendors often promise features to customers
during development that are not actually in the
final product. Also, vendors may release products
that have bugs due to time constraints.
Vaporware refers to hardware or software
products that appear in ads or press releases but
that are not yet available for sale.
Facility problems include support calls about
such things as viruses, back up media, security,
and ergonomic issues.
Most support problems can be grouped into
the
six
categories
mentioned
above.
Networks are also a frequent source of
problems and are among the problems that
are most difficult to solve because they
involve the interaction of hardware and
software components.
User support staff use the problems that they
solve as a bank of knowledge to solve new
problems. The more of a variety of problems that
user support specialists solve, the more
knowledge and experience they will have when
working on new or more complex problems. The
book has six problem examples that are
accounts from support specialists about how
they resolved some typical support problems.
Below is a summery of the support cases. Please
refer to your book for the examples.
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In the first problem a user reported a problem
with her sound card. The support representative
suggested that the user first try some of the
obvious fixes such as resetting the sound card in
the expansion slot and checking the connections
and cables to the sound card.
After trying
several more suggestions from his support
colleagues, he asked the user if she had made
any changes to the system around the time that
the problem started. He suggested that she
download the latest driver for her sound card.
The reinstallation of the sound card software
solved the problem.
The user specialist used communication skills
and critical questions to open up a different
avenue of investigation. He also used
troubleshooting strategies including looking
for a quick fix, obvious fix, some hypothesis
testing and module replacement.
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In problem two, a user had problems accessing
the Internet. The modem usually dialed the ISP’s
computer successfully, but occasionally it would
report that it could not get a dial tone. The
technical support representative checked the
modem and asked the user if she had any special
features on her phone line. The user reported
that it was a standard line. The modem checked
out and the support specialist decided to plug a
handset into the line to make sure that there
were no problems with the phone line. The phone
line had voice mail waiting. Once the voice mail
was cleared, the modem dialed in without a
problem.
The support representative suggested that
the user clear the voice mail on her line
before she tried to connect to her ISP. The
support representative said that he learned
that users do not always know the answers to
the questions. The user’s answers threw him
off track. He used his personal experience,
eliminated variables and hypothesis testing to
solve this problem.
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Problem three involves credit card process
software. The software vendor said the problem
was likely on the credit card processor’s end and
the credit card processor pointed a finger at the
software. The support representative installed
the software on his own machine and uses the
documentation to learn how to operate the
software. The resolution was that the operator
had entered corrupt data that caused the report
not to run properly. The support representative
used trial and error as well as hypothesis testing.
He also tried to replicate the problem.
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Problem four involves a possible hard drive crash. The
user started the machine and received an error message
“Non system disk or disk error.” When it was determined
that there was not a disk in drive A: and rebooting the
system did not solve the problem, the user wanted to
jump ahead to talking about data recovery. The support
person booted from the A: drive and looked at the hard
drive. After looking at the system files it was discovered
that the MSDOS.SYS file had 0 bytes. By copying this file
from another machine, the support representative was
able to fix the problem. The support person used a variety
of troubleshooting strategies including looking for a quick,
obvious fix, prior knowledge, help from colleagues and a
process of elimination to find the solution.
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Problem five concerns a user that deleted the
drive mappings for a network software package
while doing some system housekeeping. After
looking at the path settings for the icon and
determining that the .exe file was not deleted,
the support representative had the user reboot
the machine. By rebooting the machine the drive
settings were remapped and the user was able to
access the software once again. The user support
specialist used communication skills to listen to
the user’s definition of a problem, paraphrasing,
and asking critical questions to formulate a
hypothesis.
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Problem six involves a slow network connection.
When the support specialist checked the network
server, he found that the server light was on but the
monitor was blank. He tried switching out several
components to see if the video card or monitor was
the problem. When a known working monitor and
video card were installed in the server and it still did
not function properly, the support representative
switched the server hard drive into a backup server. It
booted without a problem. The motherboard was
determined to be the problem and the repair shop
confirmed this. The support representative relied
heavily on a module replacement strategy as well as a
knowledge of how the subsystems in a computer a
linked.
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The final problem, problem seven, involves a
computer that keeps losing time. It is important
to the user that the computer clock stay accurate
because of posting that she does in the
accounting program. The user reports that she
changes the clock manually. The problemsolving strategy used is first ask the user when
her computer is off. The support person
explained to the user that the BIOS keeps track of
the time when the computer is turned off and the
operating system keeps track of the time when
the system is running.
The support representative asked the user to
keep track of when time lapse occurred. When
the user reported that the time slippage occurred
more often when the computer was turned on for
long periods of time, the user support
representative eliminated the BIOS battery as the
cause. Because things such as office temperature
can cause problems with the clock, the support
representative suggested installing a program
that would automatically update the time from
the Internet. This solution worked and the user
was happy.