Before you call me and cost yourself some money, there are a few basic troubleshooting ideas you can try out for yourself. Even if you do end up having to call me, or someone like me, you can take some steps that will make it faster for me to figure out what’s happening. If I can fix it in less time, you pay me less.
One major mistake many people tend to make in learning to deal with computers is to try to learn what to do in every situation by rote. Computers are too complicated. You can’t possibly learn enough that way. You have to learn how to look at the problem and solve it.
Solving a problem with a computer is much like solving any other problem. What is happening? What are you trying to do? How does the process generally work? What are the connections? How does each separate device work, and can you independently verify the function of each device, or rather, which devices or components can you eliminate as the problem?
The Start of a Series
Toward that end, I’d like to create a bit of a troubleshooting series. In this series, I’ll go over several common problems and how to solve them, but the goal isn’t to have you learn by rote what to do in each situation, but rather how to approach the problem. How to think about it, and what kinds of things to try.
I won’t do anything computer-related in this introductory article, instead, I’ll use a simpler example you’re already familiar with. The troubleshooting process is much the same whether you’re trying to troubleshoot a bent straw or the human body.
Now a lot of troubleshooting guides will tell you to start with the most likely and work your way down. I don’t like that method. I tend to start with things that are easy to eliminate or fix. Sometimes, I can confirm or eliminate a dozen or more possible causes that aren’t the “most likely” in a couple of minutes, and if it happens to be one of those, I’m done troubleshooting rapidly and can move on to repair.
An example we all understand
Let’s start with a simple example you already know about. What if a lamp won’t turn on? Well, it could be the lamp, the bulb, the power cord, the outlet, the switch, or the power to the building.
In the case of a lamp not working, the first thing I’d generally do is check to see if the power to the building is on. Often all I have to do is look around and see if there is anything else on. Usually, I don’t have to actually take any action here. If other lights are on, or a TV, or a computer, I’ve confirmed power to the building. At most I might have to flip a light switch somewhere.
If I have power to the house, I’ll check the cord to the lamp. Is it plugged in? If it is, let’s try changing the bulb. It might be blown. If it isn’t, try plugging the lamp in somewhere else. If it still doesn’t work, it’s probably not the outlet.
Next, try plugging something else into that outlet. That makes sure the outlet is working. If the outlet isn’t working, does it have a switch to turn it off and on?
Could there be a problem with the switch? Could there be a problem with the cord, maybe the light socket? Now we’re getting into things that are harder to test and harder to fix. You will most likely find the problem before that, if not you might need to fix the lamp or get a new one.
The trick then becomes testing each point of failure to determine if that is the problem.
You know all of this because you understand how lamps generally work and use them a lot. Computers are significantly more complicated, but the general principles of troubleshooting still apply.
What to do when you’re troubleshooting something more complicated
When you try to troubleshoot your own device there are several things you should do. These will help you when you’re trying to find the answer yourself and will help any tech you take it to immensely.
Know how to recreate the problem if at all possible. Sometimes errors are intermittent and just happen. You can’t make them happen, but they just kind of randomly happen. Intermittent errors like this are almost impossible to track down and fix. Other times, everything is broken and nothing works no matter what you do. Generally however things kind of work, and if you do specific things, you get an error or some other type of issue. Know what steps lead to this issue, so that it can be recreated. Write these steps down so you can explain them if you need to
In the same vein, write down any error messages or other symptoms. Google is your friend here, and googling that error message will often give you an exact step-by-step process to fix it. If that works, you don’t need me.
As you work, you will do a lot of different things. You might change some things. Write everything you’ve tried or changed down. If it works, you have instructions for the next time it goes wrong. If it doesn’t, you can undo what you’ve done, and you can tell me what you’ve tried.
Take note of what has changed recently. That means any software you’ve installed. That includes screensavers or cute apps. Write it down in case you have to call someone. It will help your tech isolate the problem. Even if you don’t think it should cause a problem, sometimes things that don’t seem related to the novice can cause problems.
Finally, Google is your friend. While I can generally diagnose a common problem in a few seconds, for more complex things, I may take longer. I may even need to go to Google. For a lot of things, I’m not really that smart. I’m just really good at using Google.
Coming Up
In future installments, we’ll talk about some specific examples. Remember the idea isn’t to learn what to check out by rote, but rather how to approach the problem. Computers are too complicated to learn about every possible thing that can go wrong and how to fix it. You have to learn how to solve the puzzle.
However, if the solution to the puzzle still eludes you, give me a call. I’ll help you solve what’s wrong with your computer.