1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,589 In this lesson, we're going to talk 2 00:00:01,589 --> 00:00:04,410 about step one of the troubleshooting methodology, 3 00:00:04,410 --> 00:00:06,930 which is Identify the Problem. 4 00:00:06,930 --> 00:00:08,490 Now, the way CompTIA words this 5 00:00:08,490 --> 00:00:10,800 is to first identify the problem, 6 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,200 and this includes gathering information from the user, 7 00:00:13,200 --> 00:00:15,720 identifying user changes, and if applicable, 8 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:18,330 perform backups before making changes. 9 00:00:18,330 --> 00:00:20,280 Also, they say that you should inquire 10 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,040 regarding environmental or infrastructure changes. 11 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,530 So let's dig into this a little bit more. 12 00:00:25,530 --> 00:00:27,450 When we start out our troubleshooting process, 13 00:00:27,450 --> 00:00:29,880 we first are trying to identify the problem. 14 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,500 What exactly is wrong? 15 00:00:31,500 --> 00:00:32,910 What are the symptoms? 16 00:00:32,910 --> 00:00:33,930 What is happening? 17 00:00:33,930 --> 00:00:36,630 And what may have caused this thing to begin with? 18 00:00:36,630 --> 00:00:39,450 That's the whole idea of identifying the problem. 19 00:00:39,450 --> 00:00:41,100 If you're working as a technician 20 00:00:41,100 --> 00:00:42,330 and a customer calls you up 21 00:00:42,330 --> 00:00:44,400 and says, "There's a problem with my computer. 22 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,050 The internet's not working," 23 00:00:46,050 --> 00:00:48,390 you've got to now figure out what do they mean by that? 24 00:00:48,390 --> 00:00:51,120 Because most likely it's not the internet 25 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:52,320 that isn't working. 26 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,020 The internet, after all, is a series of lots of servers, 27 00:00:55,020 --> 00:00:57,420 routers, switches, fiber optic cabling, 28 00:00:57,420 --> 00:00:59,910 and lots of things connected all over the world, 29 00:00:59,910 --> 00:01:02,250 and that's probably not what your customer means. 30 00:01:02,250 --> 00:01:05,730 Instead, your customer may mean they can't get to Facebook 31 00:01:05,730 --> 00:01:08,670 or they can't upload a file into Google Drive. 32 00:01:08,670 --> 00:01:09,503 That's what they mean 33 00:01:09,503 --> 00:01:11,520 when they say the internet's not working. 34 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:13,800 So one of the first things you need to do 35 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:15,570 is really understand the issue 36 00:01:15,570 --> 00:01:17,070 that is actually occurring, 37 00:01:17,070 --> 00:01:19,740 and you do this by questioning that user. 38 00:01:19,740 --> 00:01:22,110 You always want to ask them what happened? 39 00:01:22,110 --> 00:01:24,300 What was the status before you had this problem, 40 00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:26,790 and what is the status after you had this problem? 41 00:01:26,790 --> 00:01:28,350 For example, if they say 42 00:01:28,350 --> 00:01:31,327 they can't access a certain program, you should ask them, 43 00:01:31,327 --> 00:01:33,600 "Has there been any changes to your system? 44 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:35,490 Did you get any new software updates? 45 00:01:35,490 --> 00:01:37,800 Has that program been updated recently?" 46 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:39,870 All these are things that could affect the ability 47 00:01:39,870 --> 00:01:42,570 of that user to access that program. 48 00:01:42,570 --> 00:01:45,300 This is all part of identifying the problem. 49 00:01:45,300 --> 00:01:47,460 So as you identify the problem, 50 00:01:47,460 --> 00:01:50,190 the first thing I want you to do is really spend some time 51 00:01:50,190 --> 00:01:52,320 gathering information from the user. 52 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,990 If you're working on the service desk or the help desk, 53 00:01:54,990 --> 00:01:55,823 you're going to be the one 54 00:01:55,823 --> 00:01:57,960 taking the phone calls from the users, 55 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,930 and it's your job to be able to ask them follow-up questions 56 00:02:00,930 --> 00:02:03,120 that can get you the information you need. 57 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,820 Have them describe the circumstances around the issue 58 00:02:05,820 --> 00:02:07,980 and all the symptoms that they're seeing. 59 00:02:07,980 --> 00:02:10,770 A lot of times, something that may not seem related 60 00:02:10,770 --> 00:02:12,690 will be related to the core problem, 61 00:02:12,690 --> 00:02:15,060 and by identifying that particular symptom, 62 00:02:15,060 --> 00:02:16,590 it will unlock the key for you 63 00:02:16,590 --> 00:02:19,770 to figure out what the problem is and how to solve it. 64 00:02:19,770 --> 00:02:22,957 So, when you're asking questions, ask them things like, 65 00:02:22,957 --> 00:02:25,860 "Did you see any error messages that appear on the screen? 66 00:02:25,860 --> 00:02:28,410 If so, can you read that error message to me now? 67 00:02:28,410 --> 00:02:31,530 Or can you take a screenshot of it and send it over to me? 68 00:02:31,530 --> 00:02:33,810 Or was there some kind of a noise you heard?" 69 00:02:33,810 --> 00:02:36,120 For example, if your hard drive starts to fail, 70 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:37,740 it's actually going to start making clicking 71 00:02:37,740 --> 00:02:39,120 and grinding noises. 72 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:41,880 So if the user says, "I heard this grinding sound," 73 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,040 you should immediately be thinking, "Hmm, 74 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:45,930 that sounds like the hard drive might be failing," 75 00:02:45,930 --> 00:02:46,980 and this is one of those symptoms 76 00:02:46,980 --> 00:02:49,050 that can help you identify the problem. 77 00:02:49,050 --> 00:02:50,820 In addition to this, there may be sounds 78 00:02:50,820 --> 00:02:53,640 coming out of the speakers, and that might be a clue to you. 79 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:55,177 Another thing you might want to ask is, 80 00:02:55,177 --> 00:02:58,590 "Is anybody else in your area having the same problem?" 81 00:02:58,590 --> 00:03:01,860 For example, I used to work in a really large organization. 82 00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:04,260 We had tens of thousands of employees. 83 00:03:04,260 --> 00:03:05,317 And if somebody called up and said, 84 00:03:05,317 --> 00:03:07,800 "I can't access the internet on my system," 85 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:09,810 I might ask them, "Can you ask your neighbor 86 00:03:09,810 --> 00:03:10,920 who's sitting right next to you, 87 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,630 can they access the internet? 88 00:03:12,630 --> 00:03:14,310 And if they can, and you can't, 89 00:03:14,310 --> 00:03:16,050 that means it's your computer. 90 00:03:16,050 --> 00:03:17,280 But if you both can't, 91 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,410 then it may be a larger network problem 92 00:03:19,410 --> 00:03:21,300 either for your office, your floor, 93 00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:22,950 or your entire building." 94 00:03:22,950 --> 00:03:24,060 And by being able to figure out 95 00:03:24,060 --> 00:03:26,220 who else is experiencing that same problem, 96 00:03:26,220 --> 00:03:28,290 this can help you figure out what the scope of the problem 97 00:03:28,290 --> 00:03:29,550 is going to be. 98 00:03:29,550 --> 00:03:30,787 Another question you should ask is, 99 00:03:30,787 --> 00:03:32,880 "How long has this been happening?" 100 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,760 For example, I had one issue where somebody called up 101 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,470 and they said, "We're having an issue 102 00:03:37,470 --> 00:03:39,480 where our computer is rebooting every day 103 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:41,970 between 10 in the morning and 11 in the morning." 104 00:03:41,970 --> 00:03:43,950 And I was like, "Hmm, that's kind of weird." 105 00:03:43,950 --> 00:03:45,900 And I asked, "How long has this been occurring?" 106 00:03:45,900 --> 00:03:48,360 They said, "Oh, it's been happening for about a week." 107 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:49,897 And so my follow up was, 108 00:03:49,897 --> 00:03:52,020 "Did anything change in the last week?" 109 00:03:52,020 --> 00:03:54,000 And they said, "Yes, our air conditioning 110 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,370 has been out in this office for about a week now." 111 00:03:56,370 --> 00:03:58,800 Well, the actual problem wasn't the computer. 112 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,440 It was that that office was heating up during the day, 113 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,260 and by sometime between 10 and 11 in the morning, 114 00:04:04,260 --> 00:04:06,360 that computer actually got hot enough 115 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,520 where it was actually shutting down to protect itself 116 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:09,510 because it wanted to make sure 117 00:04:09,510 --> 00:04:11,190 it didn't hurt its interior components 118 00:04:11,190 --> 00:04:13,080 as the temperature of the room was rising. 119 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:15,150 Now, I know that was kind of an unusual problem, 120 00:04:15,150 --> 00:04:17,100 but the idea here is that if you could figure out 121 00:04:17,100 --> 00:04:18,930 how long something has been happening, 122 00:04:18,930 --> 00:04:21,000 you might be able to tie it in with some of the symptoms 123 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:22,860 and some of the other causes to figure out 124 00:04:22,860 --> 00:04:25,560 why this problem is occurring in the first place. 125 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:26,947 Another great question to ask is, 126 00:04:26,947 --> 00:04:29,850 "Has any changes recently been made to that system?" 127 00:04:29,850 --> 00:04:32,580 This might be a configuration change, a hardware change, 128 00:04:32,580 --> 00:04:35,880 a software change, a security patch, or things like that. 129 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,560 All of these things could be something 130 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:39,390 that is now causing this problem. 131 00:04:39,390 --> 00:04:42,210 Remember, things don't generally just break on their own. 132 00:04:42,210 --> 00:04:45,570 Something usually causes it, and that something is a change. 133 00:04:45,570 --> 00:04:47,190 So we want to figure out what has changed 134 00:04:47,190 --> 00:04:50,190 because that latest change is usually going to be the cause 135 00:04:50,190 --> 00:04:51,150 of your problem. 136 00:04:51,150 --> 00:04:53,400 So if something was previously working 137 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,460 and it stopped working, let's figure out what change, 138 00:04:56,460 --> 00:04:59,610 because that user-initiated change or application change 139 00:04:59,610 --> 00:05:02,310 or software change or environmental change 140 00:05:02,310 --> 00:05:05,190 could all have caused this new problem to occur. 141 00:05:05,190 --> 00:05:07,057 And then the final thing I'd like to ask is, 142 00:05:07,057 --> 00:05:09,750 "Have you tried to do anything to solve the problem yet?" 143 00:05:09,750 --> 00:05:11,250 The reason I ask this is to make sure 144 00:05:11,250 --> 00:05:13,830 I'm not duplicating efforts that they've already done. 145 00:05:13,830 --> 00:05:16,770 For example, one of the most common things I hear IT people 146 00:05:16,770 --> 00:05:19,110 telling users to do is to shut down 147 00:05:19,110 --> 00:05:21,120 and then turn the system back on. 148 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:22,177 It's kind of this old saying, 149 00:05:22,177 --> 00:05:24,360 "Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?" 150 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:25,890 Well, the reason they ask that 151 00:05:25,890 --> 00:05:28,260 is because this can solve a lot of problems. 152 00:05:28,260 --> 00:05:29,640 And so if I'm talking to you on the phone 153 00:05:29,640 --> 00:05:31,260 and you tell me you've already done that, 154 00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:32,460 that means we don't have to go through 155 00:05:32,460 --> 00:05:33,660 that troubleshooting step, 156 00:05:33,660 --> 00:05:35,460 and it'll save us both a little bit of time 157 00:05:35,460 --> 00:05:36,900 and already know what you've tried to do 158 00:05:36,900 --> 00:05:38,580 to fix this problem. 159 00:05:38,580 --> 00:05:41,490 Another thing you want to do here in identifying the problem 160 00:05:41,490 --> 00:05:43,890 is making sure you perform backups. 161 00:05:43,890 --> 00:05:45,900 Before you do any kind of actions 162 00:05:45,900 --> 00:05:48,840 in steps two through six of the troubleshooting methodology, 163 00:05:48,840 --> 00:05:51,780 you want to make sure you have a good backup of that system. 164 00:05:51,780 --> 00:05:52,860 And the reason for this 165 00:05:52,860 --> 00:05:54,960 is that you may have to replace something 166 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:56,340 inside of that computer. 167 00:05:56,340 --> 00:05:58,770 For example, if you heard that grinding sound, 168 00:05:58,770 --> 00:06:00,660 you might need to replace the hard drive. 169 00:06:00,660 --> 00:06:03,540 And if you do that, that's now going to be a blank hard drive 170 00:06:03,540 --> 00:06:05,070 with a fresh operating system, 171 00:06:05,070 --> 00:06:07,080 which means all of that user's documents, 172 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,740 spreadsheets, PowerPoints and photos are all going to be gone. 173 00:06:10,740 --> 00:06:12,690 You want to make sure you have a good backup of those 174 00:06:12,690 --> 00:06:14,250 before you move to the new system 175 00:06:14,250 --> 00:06:16,050 and you try to implement a solution. 176 00:06:16,050 --> 00:06:18,210 In addition to this, even if you're doing something minor, 177 00:06:18,210 --> 00:06:20,070 like changing a configuration setting, 178 00:06:20,070 --> 00:06:22,320 that could have second and third order effects 179 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:24,210 that could affect the data on the system, 180 00:06:24,210 --> 00:06:27,330 and doing that backup here in step one is a great idea 181 00:06:27,330 --> 00:06:28,230 to make sure you're covered 182 00:06:28,230 --> 00:06:29,130 as you move through the rest 183 00:06:29,130 --> 00:06:30,880 of the troubleshooting methodology.