Although it is a a short week, it has been a very educational week already especially for getting back to the basics.
We have found ourselves dealing with come complicated issues lately that may have caused us to over-think some problems and get frustrated.
Many of the computer related problems this week have been solved by stopping and going back to the basics.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
Printers work better with paper loaded in the paper tray.
While helping many users with network printer issues, one user could not print to a network printer. Assuming that she had the same network issues, it was several minutes until I discovered that the printer was out of paper. I put paper in the printer and it started printing. Duh!
Keyboards work better when they are plugged in.
User says her keyboard won’t work. After doing some trouble shooting, “Hey, I wonder if the keyboard is plugged in”. That’s right, the user had unknowingly unplugged the keyboard, another Duh!
Printers work best with ink cartridges inserted properly.
Another user is trying to print with Sony DPP-SV55 Digital Photo Printer. The ink cartridge warning light was lit and the ink cartridge has just been replaced, so I had the user put another new cartridge in to see if the other one was bad–no luck with the new cartridge. So after messing with the printer, it turns out the ink cartridge was not inserted fully. Duh!
Printers work best with ink cartridges inserted properly, still.
Same user, can’t get a HP Deskjet 870cse to print with either one of the computer connected to the printer. One tech worked on the issue the day before, checking drivers, connections, and reinstalling the printer–no luck. The next day I’m troubleshooting the printer, checking cables, ports, A/B switch, drivers etc. I started to looking closely at the printer and took the ink cartridges out and guess what? Both cartridges had the protective tape still on the cartridges. Double Duh!
Sometimes we over think computer issues think the worst when often it is the easy stuff. Been one of those weeks I suppose. I’m glad Thanksgiving is almost here.
