Formatting PC's to solve issues

sting_224

Hi All,
Currently work as a sysadmin in an IT firm and every now and then we have to troubleshoot. I've had this background of not wanting to format a faulty pc whenever theres a problem unless for very critical issues like serious virus.

The problem is, since i started working here my superior has always had this habit of formatting a pc whenever theres an issue. There was a time internet got cut off because of ISP problems, he made me format the proxy server, it was after that we found out internet was cut off by our ISP. In another instance I was told to format the domain controller controller (good lawd!!), I had to quickly look for a solution to problem before he came by to see what i was doing, turn out that the windows server was set to 'UK locale' and this messed things up, I was like 'heyyy guess what? it's ok, just like that'. So many times I've had instances like these. Even if I don't have the solution, I could easily search the internet for one, why the hell do I have to format pc's every now and then.
Just need to vent. Maybe it's just me but I'm really getting angry.

rwmidl

At times, formatting a pc is the easiest/quickest/best way to resolve issues. However, the problem needs to be researched BEFORE just saying "reimage"!

Secu

I generally format any desktop that doesn't have a quick solution or if the problem is reoccurring. Transfer data and done. When it comes to live servers formatting comes after 2+ hrs of trouble shooting.

sting_224

True, the problem lies with saying 'format' almost immediately without considering solutions on ground.

Zartanasaurus

Look at it this way... you're probably really good at installing Windows and restoring from a backup now.

ally_uk

I agree there should be a bit of leighway to troubleshoot the issue, But in a critical enviornment when you need to get systems back up to speed as quickly as possible with minimal downtime I would always ensure I have a selection of Images I could pull down and get up and running ASAP.

In a ideal world I would like to understand and log solutions to why issues are occuring and of course in order to do this you would have to troubleshoot the machine in question, is there a way of creating a image of the faulty machine in question and then doing the troubleshooting or investigating the problem in a isolated environment or when you have down time or something.

Catch 22 situation because you need the machine up and running as quickly as possible but you also want to get to the bottom of why the problem is happening.

I love troubleshooting myself so I can understand why you feel the way you do

MrRyte

sting_224 wrote: »

True, the problem lies with saying 'format' almost immediately without considering solutions on ground.

....or doing the proper research to isolate the exact cause of the problem.

Like others have said; I understand the "time is money" correlation in business but to me that's just taking short cuts to solve IT issues. And the fact that your supervisor doesn't want you to spend time researching the problem makes me wonder how truly qualified he is.....

factory81

sting_224 wrote: »

Hi All,
Currently work as a sysadmin in an IT firm and every now and then we have to troubleshoot. I've had this background of not wanting to format a faulty pc whenever theres a problem unless for very critical issues like serious virus.

The problem is, since i started working here my superior has always had this habit of formatting a pc whenever theres an issue. There was a time internet got cut off because of ISP problems, he made me format the proxy server, it was after that we found out internet was cut off by our ISP. In another instance I was told to format the domain controller controller (good lawd!!), I had to quickly look for a solution to problem before he came by to see what i was doing, turn out that the windows server was set to 'UK locale' and this messed things up, I was like 'heyyy guess what? it's ok, just like that'. So many times I've had instances like these. Even if I don't have the solution, I could easily search the internet for one, why the hell do I have to format pc's every now and then.
Just need to vent. Maybe it's just me but I'm really getting angry.

With the ability to export and import settings/profiles it is very easy to want to format now. When a client wants a machine back up and running asap and you don't want to sit and comb through the computer for the issue it can be much quicker to install Win 7, updates/drivers, vpn in, join to the domain, install Office, sync Outlook, install anti-virus, and paste their favorites, my documents, my pictures, my video, and etc back in to their user profile.

it_consultant

sting_224 wrote: »

Hi All,
Currently work as a sysadmin in an IT firm and every now and then we have to troubleshoot. I've had this background of not wanting to format a faulty pc whenever theres a problem unless for very critical issues like serious virus.

The problem is, since i started working here my superior has always had this habit of formatting a pc whenever theres an issue. There was a time internet got cut off because of ISP problems, he made me format the proxy server, it was after that we found out internet was cut off by our ISP. In another instance I was told to format the domain controller controller (good lawd!!), I had to quickly look for a solution to problem before he came by to see what i was doing, turn out that the windows server was set to 'UK locale' and this messed things up, I was like 'heyyy guess what? it's ok, just like that'. So many times I've had instances like these. Even if I don't have the solution, I could easily search the internet for one, why the hell do I have to format pc's every now and then.
Just need to vent. Maybe it's just me but I'm really getting angry.

We get tunnel vision sometimes, the proxy server had probably been blamed for issue after issue so the focus was automatically put there. On Monday I worked for hours on an issue with a new firewall not forwarding ports properly. Everyone assumed it was the F/W because its ALWAYS the firewall, and it was new. Turns out the ISP was not passing IP addresses that were anything other than the base address. We simply didn't think to look there. My buddy says "this is a comcast modem, you know how funny they are when you get a new wireless router at home...". Light goes off in the head!

Sometimes we have to avoid making rash decisions based on our experiences and actually methodically work through our troubleshooting steps.

I re-image computers all the time though. I do it so people don't start relying on their custom settings too much and become a pre-Madonna when they get a new PC and their icons are not in the exact same place. This is the company's computer, not yours!

cyberguypr

MrRyte wrote: »

....or doing the proper research to isolate the exact cause of the problem.

Like others have said; I understand the "time is money" correlation in business but to me that's just taking short cuts to solve IT issues. And the fact that your supervisor doesn't want you to spend time researching the problem makes me wonder how truly qualified he is.....

You read my mind. I will take a guess and say that this is a fairly small/informal environment. If I ever hear "go ahead and format the DC" I am positive this will come from a myopic manager and not an engineer.

There comes a time where troubleshooting PCs is just not worth it and reimaging definitely makes sense. However, with the myriad of options available nowadays in High Availability, CDP, backup/restore there's no excuse to be formatting servers. Heck, even if there's no budget free backup products have evolved in a big way.

LoMo

Depends on the situation. If you go to a user's machine who has a virus that "just got on there somehow" you shouldn't have to waste your time trying to clean it up fully.

Hypntick

LoMo wrote: »

Depends on the situation. If you go to a user's machine who has a virus that "just got on there somehow" you shouldn't have to waste your time trying to clean it up fully.

Exactly. I'll spend the time it takes to run a scan and reboot. If that doesn't fix it, it's cheaper for the company and the client to wipe and start over. Now if it came to a server wipe, that'd be a serious last resort.

sting_224

Good points you all have made. Its a small environment. I understand time is money, in our case, we've had more better saves troubleshooting than formatting. There was a time we almost formatted when the solution was just running 'ipconfig /flushdns' (jeeez)