What to do when you can't troubleshoot the problem?

ccnxjr

Generally,

Start with a Hypothesis
2) Test
3) Observe
4) Revise hypothesis
5) Repeat

That's the brute force way.
It helps if you knew what the inputs to a system are and what the expected output is.

Of course, when all else fails, you ask for help.
Customer support (if available)
Discussion boards,
IRC,

Occasionally you will run into an issue where the answer won't be found on Google and your stuck with a "First principles" type situation.
When these arise you simply have to break down each component of a system, understand how each is supposed to behave and what factors, external or internal will affect it.
It helps if you can construct a mock-up and attempt to reproduce the issue.

In some situations, the variable in question might be outside your scope of influence, in which case you should have documented your troubleshooting steps before you approach external entities for their assistance.
(eg, bug reports)
The most annoying thing to most it folk are bug reports that turn out to be misconfiguration.
Of course, you can also argue that poor documentation exists .

This of course, can be annoying and time consuming, I've seen many orphaned requests for help.
Occasionally someone will post that the issue was resolved without describing the resolution , which can be frustrating if the post is over 3 yrs old!

Devilry

cyberguypr wrote: »

The secret to a succesful IT career is:


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If we were allowed big picture signatures, I would be required to use this. I am going to frame this in my office

jibbajabba

Reminds me of a day where three people tried to fix an NTLDR error on a server for 5 hours until I came to the shift, removing the floppy from the drive to find the server boots up fine

So yea - break it down

Hypntick

Reminds me of something my dad told me about when he was teaching at the Torpedo-man's school in Orlando when the base was still there. He said they would set up their equipment in some elaborate fashion, tell the students a breakdown of the symptoms and let them have at it. Very rarely did anyone think to check the power cable...

PPforLife

Hypntick wrote: »

Reminds me of something my dad told me about when he was teaching at the Torpedo-man's school in Orlando when the base was still there. He said they would set up their equipment in some elaborate fashion, tell the students a breakdown of the symptoms and let them have at it. Very rarely did anyone think to check the power cable...

OR the PSU on/off switch!!!

griffinalice29

Google is the only solution in last to your queries, when you don't find any solutions. Just google it.

JockVSJock

Use your resources, like Google and forums, like this one.

Psoasman

If you are not sure, ask.
Don't make it worse.
Take notes so you can refer to it in the future.
Google
Try and keep it simple. Is it plugged in? Is it turned on?
For networking issues, knowing the OSI model is very helpful.

Abdul201288

Hi there.

When I learnt ComPTIA A+ my Teach told me a Technique called "process of Elimination", Basically what I do is test EVERYTHING and then find out what the problem is. I know it can be long but it does the trick!

Mrock4

I usually take the team out to a long lunch which MAY or MAY NOT include beers. I always fix the problem after.