Before you toss the malfunctioning equipment out the window to gleefully watch it shatter into a thousand pieces, follow some simple steps to see if you can restore it to its previous working status. You may be able to pinpoint and solve the problem without having to enlist the help desk.
 

1. Is it plugged in and turned on?  This may sound like an obvious thing to check, but you would be surprised how many ‘broken’ printers and ‘dead’ monitors were simply unplugged by the cleaning crew the night before.

2. Have you tried Ctrl+Alt+Delete? If an application hangs, hold down these three keys and then end the application.

3. Is it in the recycle bin? If you accidentally delete a file, check the recycle bin. You can often find it in there.

4. Have you recently saved your work? Be sure to save regularly, as this will prevent frustration and lost files when or if your computer freezes or crashes.

5. Is there a cable loose? If you’re experiencing a dead mouse or keyboard, make sure they are plugged in properly and then reboot. It’s quite easy to pull a cable loose accidentally with your foot or while rearranging your desk.

6. Does the problem only affect you, or is it network wide? If your email isn’t working or you cannot connect to a shared resource, check with colleagues to see if they have the same problem. If they do, the chances are that your help desk already knows about it and is now taking calls from everyone in the office.

7. When in doubt, reboot before you contact your help desk. Whether it’s rebooting because your computer is frozen, and you’re afraid to touch anything, reboot or just do your reboot on a semi-regular basis. We all know there are processes out there that wind up taking up a lot of memory. The same can be said for printers.  If the printer becomes sluggish or stops printing, try shutting down and restarting. 

9. If the sound on your computer is not working, but the computer is otherwise working fine, try checking to see that the speakers are turned on and that the audio cable is connected to the right port on the computer.

10. Before contacting your help desk, whether via phone, email, or fax, make sure you know the basics of your PC, laptop, or other device. For instance, know the OS your machine uses, the version of the OS, and the name of your machine. 

11. Avoid third-party toolbars and other widgets that can slow down your machine. Although many of them are quite functional, they can have a negative performance impact on your machine because so many of them are constantly trying to index themselves and connect to the Internet.

12. If equipment that has been working fine suddenly starts having issues, stop and consider what may have changed. Was any new hardware installed that may cause resource conflicts or may have faulty drivers? Did any new software get installed that might be affecting the operating system?  Don’t forget to consider automatic updates, such as those for Microsoft Windows or those for antivirus and other security programs.

13. If you’re unable to successfully enter a password, double-check that you didn’t leave the CAPS LOCK key on by mistake.  Memorize your password. Leaving a Post-it reminder in your desk—or worse, on your monitor—is not a good idea.  If you must write it down, use a reminder of what it is, rather than the password itself.

When all else fails - contact the LCIS Help desk at 419-213-4037 or Email Us