Technical Support: "Troubleshooting Methodology"

troubleshoot.md

Troubleshooting Methodology for Technical Support and IT Professionals

This Troubleshooting Methodology is based on Jason Dion's Udemy course, "CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1101) Complete Course & Practice Exam"

This is a guide demonstrating how to troubleshoot and resolve technical support issues using the scientific method.

1. Identify the problem. Ask questions such as:

• “What is the issue you are experiencing? What are the symptoms? What is happening and what may have caused the issue to begin with?”
• “What was the status before you had the problem? What was the status after that?”
• “Have there been any changes to your system? For example, was the system updated recently?”
• “Did any specific error messages appear? If so, can you read that error message to me now? Can you take a screenshot of it and send it to me?”
• If the customer says: “The internet isn’t working” to determine the scope: “Is this issue only impacting you? Or are other people around you experiencing the same problem?”
• “How long has this been happening?” If the system was previously working and then stopped working, the next step is to find out what changed. Recent application changes, operating system changes, environmental changes, other changes may have caused this new problem to occur.
• Before proceeding, in some cases it might be a good idea to perform a backup before making any changes or taking any action.

2. Establish a theory of probable cause

• If necessary, conduct external or internal research based on symptoms
• There could be three or four different possible ways to explain why the problem is happening based on the preliminary analysis of identifying the problem. So start with the most likely one first.
• Next conduct:
  1. Internal system diagnostics and review the logs
  2. Research by exploring internal knowledge base
  3. Complete external research with Google if necessary

3. Test the theory to determine the cause

• Once the theory is confirmed, determine the next steps to resolve the problem - If the theory is not confirmed, re-establish a new theory or escalate. If:
  1. The theory is confirmed, implement solution
  2. The theory is not confirmed, test a different theory
  3. I lack skills or authorization, escalate to next level
• After making a change to configurations or to a setting, then try to reproduce the original problem. If the problem doesn’t happen again, then the issue may be solved. If the issue persists, proceed to the next step.

4. Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and implement the solution

• Implement a solution. Complete:
  1. Configuration change
  2. Repair
  3. Replacement
  4. Workaround
• Refer to the vendor’s instructions for guidance if necessary

5. Verify system functionality

• Determine whether we have actually solved the problem
• Inspect the other components to ensure nothing else is damaged, broken, or disconnected
• Check the logs and diagnostic tools again to confirm everything is working the way they should.
• Proactively check all services and device drivers are up to date with security fixes

6. Document the findings, actions, and outcomes

• What was wrong, what we did, how to prevent in future
• Documentation is usually facilitated by a comprehensive ticketing system. This can enable post-resolution trend analytics impacting the organization as a whole over time