“there is an error… help!”
this is the most common “call for help” message i receive. users expect system administrators to automagically know what the error is about and are usually expected to fix the problem a few minutes after the error comes up.
well, i got some disappointing news to computer users out there. sysadmins are not clairvoyant nor are we telepaths. we probably would know the solution to your problem if we know exactly what the problem is.
to help us track down the problem and find a speedy solution, you should write down answers to the following questions:
- what program was running when the error occured?
- what exactly was error message that the program give you?
- what were you doing before the error occured?
most of the time, answers to numbers 1 and 2 is enough for me to diagnose a problem and provide at least two solutions. sometimes there are no answers to 1 and 2 so an answer to number 3 would help me to diagnose the problem.
that’s it.
