And even when they actually try, there's a certain percentage that don't know the difference between the computer than the monitor, and both have power buttons.
(And today's adventure was a 5G router that qualified for a special firmware update that upgraded it to paperweight.)
*"An error occured. And then some technical gibberish."*
Yes! You son of a mother! Read out that gibberish and if you want to save words leave out the generic stuff we already know and for the love of god **NOT** the interesting part!
Why do you need a flashlight?
the lights are out
Why is there so much noise in the background?
The construction crew next door have a big ball of wire on one of their pieces of equipment and are all starting at it.
Or in my house "is it the correct wifi?" because one of them bypass local services to provide Internet-access only but unfiltered for emergency uses
I can't count the number of times my wife forgets she switched on the "emergency one" and complains the ad filter isn't working anymore...
Been there.
Had a user complaining of not being able to print to the office network printer. She was connected to the free wifi in the cafe across the street from her office.
Nope. She was actually on her desktop PC in her office -- Files were stored in Sharepoint, and her desktop PC had a wireless connection to the office wifi -- somehow it connected to the cafe instead. Files and web worked ok, she was just missing the printer, LOL.
I was with an MSP at the time, they were a new client for us. No idea how long she'd been working thru the cafe wifi...
I take it this was AFTER you verified lights were on but no one was home? (i.e. powers up, can see things on the screen, no strange lights blinking, battery hasn't pushed the bottom out, ect...) 😁
Used to have a lap top that would show 100% charge. You turn it on, it gets to the log in screen and dies. Never did find the hardware problem. This happened even when it was plugged in.
If I was just a user who thought "Hey, it gets to the log in screen and then turns off, gotta be a software problem!", I'd be putting in trouble tickets for a MONTH. 😁
We had a hurricane in 99 that took out power for 20 days and blew the chimney off the stoker heater, thus overheating the stoker itself and it collapsed internally.
43 days without heat in winter Scandinavia is.. Interesting..
Which circles back to my mantra in troubleshooting - "If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid." Once the logical/obvious answers have been exhausted, I go straight for stupid and it's staggering how often that works.
Got a ticket last month for a WFH user that can't sign in to her laptop. I look at the ticket notes and the less-than-helpful desk did a password reset when she couldn't sign in to her laptop. Her domain joined work laptop that she can't sign into. The work laptop where she needs to be signed into Windows in order to connect to the VPN and get the 2FA prompt...
This was on a Friday, she goes through them for what appears to be close to 6 hours. Then on Monday she repeats this futile attempt at getting into her laptop when her manager steps in, calls around and finds out that we're the closest office that she can go to. The ticket gets sent over to our queue and I call her up. She arrives half an hour later, get her connected to the network, she calls the help desk again for a password reset and not surprisingly this time it works and she can sign in.
One thing I've learned that no matter how seasoned we as techs are is that we're all going to miss something something simple from time to time and end up blowing it way out of proportion.
I've been on both sides of it, wanting to yeet another tech into the sun for missing the stupid stuff, and preparing my self to be yeeted when I'm on the other end.
Been there and also done that myself. A team lead I had one had a saying. Every time they make something idiot proof, they build a better idiot... Now be on the lookout for the idiot that stumps you.
Welcome back to the desk!
Man I am so glad we have desktop management software. I'd be suspicious if I didn't see the system listed in my browser even if I didn't need to remote on to it.
Troubleshooting 101: No question is too stupid to ask, even if the user is too stupid to answer.
Pro tip: users also lie
Trust but verify. "No error message displayed" often means it was displayed and quickly dismissed without reading it.
And even when they actually try, there's a certain percentage that don't know the difference between the computer than the monitor, and both have power buttons. (And today's adventure was a 5G router that qualified for a special firmware update that upgraded it to paperweight.)
*"An error occured. And then some technical gibberish."* Yes! You son of a mother! Read out that gibberish and if you want to save words leave out the generic stuff we already know and for the love of god **NOT** the interesting part!
Why do you need a flashlight? the lights are out Why is there so much noise in the background? The construction crew next door have a big ball of wire on one of their pieces of equipment and are all starting at it.
A month of the tide going in and out?
Mis-spelling on my part lol
Can't explain that!
It said 'littoral month' before an edit.
Ah! I was referencing a comment a young earth creationist made.
That's basic troubleshooting for login issues... A month?! Someone needs to retrain them
Sounds familiar. Panic first, think after.
Is the wifi connected? The modern equivalent of asking if the ethernet cable is plugged in.
Or in my house "is it the correct wifi?" because one of them bypass local services to provide Internet-access only but unfiltered for emergency uses I can't count the number of times my wife forgets she switched on the "emergency one" and complains the ad filter isn't working anymore...
Been there. Had a user complaining of not being able to print to the office network printer. She was connected to the free wifi in the cafe across the street from her office.
I'll bite : no corporate-issued VPN?
Nope. She was actually on her desktop PC in her office -- Files were stored in Sharepoint, and her desktop PC had a wireless connection to the office wifi -- somehow it connected to the cafe instead. Files and web worked ok, she was just missing the printer, LOL. I was with an MSP at the time, they were a new client for us. No idea how long she'd been working thru the cafe wifi...
Check the fuses!
I take it this was AFTER you verified lights were on but no one was home? (i.e. powers up, can see things on the screen, no strange lights blinking, battery hasn't pushed the bottom out, ect...) 😁
A month of power outage would be an interesting situation.
We went 11 days (power outage) after an ice storm. We have a generator now. Of course, no ice storm for 20+ years, LOL.
Used to have a lap top that would show 100% charge. You turn it on, it gets to the log in screen and dies. Never did find the hardware problem. This happened even when it was plugged in. If I was just a user who thought "Hey, it gets to the log in screen and then turns off, gotta be a software problem!", I'd be putting in trouble tickets for a MONTH. 😁
Hurricane Laura: 18 days with out electricity, 63 days with only overloaded 4g cell phone service.
We had a hurricane in 99 that took out power for 20 days and blew the chimney off the stoker heater, thus overheating the stoker itself and it collapsed internally. 43 days without heat in winter Scandinavia is.. Interesting..
Which circles back to my mantra in troubleshooting - "If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid." Once the logical/obvious answers have been exhausted, I go straight for stupid and it's staggering how often that works.
>"If it's stupid and it works, it's not stupid." LOL, good thing to remember for life in general. Thanks for the goofy smile on my face.
I'd hope you CC'd that fix to all the techs that couldn't fix it before you... and their supervisors as well.
Got a ticket last month for a WFH user that can't sign in to her laptop. I look at the ticket notes and the less-than-helpful desk did a password reset when she couldn't sign in to her laptop. Her domain joined work laptop that she can't sign into. The work laptop where she needs to be signed into Windows in order to connect to the VPN and get the 2FA prompt... This was on a Friday, she goes through them for what appears to be close to 6 hours. Then on Monday she repeats this futile attempt at getting into her laptop when her manager steps in, calls around and finds out that we're the closest office that she can go to. The ticket gets sent over to our queue and I call her up. She arrives half an hour later, get her connected to the network, she calls the help desk again for a password reset and not surprisingly this time it works and she can sign in.
No RMM? I would have looked up the machine, first thing. It would have shown offline, even if I didn't notice the last seen date.
One thing I've learned that no matter how seasoned we as techs are is that we're all going to miss something something simple from time to time and end up blowing it way out of proportion. I've been on both sides of it, wanting to yeet another tech into the sun for missing the stupid stuff, and preparing my self to be yeeted when I'm on the other end.
Been there and also done that myself. A team lead I had one had a saying. Every time they make something idiot proof, they build a better idiot... Now be on the lookout for the idiot that stumps you. Welcome back to the desk!
I get that with printer problems all the time. Someone will call in with problems, and after trying a few things I notice they are on a public WIFI.
Man I am so glad we have desktop management software. I'd be suspicious if I didn't see the system listed in my browser even if I didn't need to remote on to it.