An Example

In this example a call has been placed by a customer that describes the fault as "Printer not working". When you arrive on site and ask the customer what is wrong they say that their printer is not working any more. The steps to be taken when troubleshooting are the same as troubleshooting anything else, if kept in a logical manner. The basic chart of fault finding shown below must be followed:

Firstly, the problem has got to be defined properly - it is not sufficient just to accept the user’s definition of the problem as ’my printer doesn’t work any more’, there are several other questions that should be asked:
Which Printer?
What Applications cannot print?
When did the problem start?
What did the user do last?
Has the user changed any configuration options in the program?
Have any of the CMOS settings been changed?
If the printer is on a network, can anyone else print to it?
These are just some of the questions that should be asked to gather the facts of the situation. It is rather like a court case, if all the facts are not to hand, how can a rational decision be made on what to do next?
Once the facts are to hand, sort them out and define what may be causing the problem, or even several things that may be causing the problem.
Formulate a plan of what is going to happen next. This should include trying to remove what may be the cause of the problem.
Carry out the plan as it has been formulated - don’t get side-tracked here with things that only might be the cause.
Once the plan has been carried out test the system to see if the problem has been cured.
Yes - great-have a cup of coffee to celebrate and clear the call.
No - re-evaluate the facts and try something else.

One of the main problems with fault finding on a PC/Server is that the user will not always give an accurate answer to the questions when trying to define the problem. This is not always on purpose. In the example the printer may only refuse to print from one specific application that the user uses all the time. If the user never uses anything else, then as far as they are concerned it must be something wrong with the printer because it hasn’t worked for a while. The actual problem may be a lot simpler than it seems at first, the printer may well have stopped when the software engineer came to upgrade the program that the user uses all the time. They may have inadvertently forgotten to re-install the print option. It may be something more serious: 2 The printer or its mains supply may be faulty - the cleaner may have used the mains socket the night before for their equipment. The printer lead may be faulty - a fault may have developed on the printer or its lead.