validation of information

Knowledge Library

Information that can assist us in solving IT technical faults

e-books: 24/7
books;OREILLY, sams teach yourself.
internet searches: clustering(webclust), listening
colleagues,
training courses- online, 121,group, cascading"train the trainer"
fault logs
solved tickets(internal company)
knowledge base(ousdide of the company archive)
hardware and software manuals
faq's
manuals
manufacturers websites
flowcharts
forums
intranet(CMS content managment system,(CMS is like shared area) repositories)
online chat IRC Internet Relay Chat Channels. MIRC(IRC channel client that you download)
email
phone support lines(first and second line support mainly use)
high street desk shop counters(e.g. techguys)

always be aware that some users dont use products for their specifications and use them for something else. for example the paperclip was designed to hold together paper but people can use them to open the disk drive of a computer.


what would we need to consider when making a product reccomendation?
what level they are working at.
Age
Cost
Profit
language barriers
possible users

Helpdesk Knowledge Library

1)      Computer seems to randomly crash without error message.

Power supply could be over heating or could be an infinite CPU loop

-Check event logs for any errors, and find out what program is causing the problem.

-Check your temperatures on the motherboard, CPU and GPU. Test your memory with memtest.

-Take all the RAM out and try to run them on a PC one by one and see if it does it again.

2)      Blue screens of death.

Forced system shutdown

-Reboot the PC.

-Go into safe mode on start-up and restore the last known good configuration.

3)      Corrupted data.

Power outage or malware.

-start the computer from a bootable CD, then scan the hard disk for errors. If the scan completes successfully, the registry can be restored by hand and the computer can be scanned for viruses.

4)      Some memory intensive programs crash on start up.

Control alt delete in windows monitor one that’s taking up all of the CPU and stop the program executing or remove the program.

-Add more sticks of RAM.

5)      The screen changes colour and flickers.

Dodgy cables/loose cables

-Check to see if the video cable is in correctly and plugged in, check for video drivers updates.

6)      The computer eventually stops booting up and makes continuous or repetitive POST beeps.

Identify the problem via the beep codes.

–Refer to POST beep codes from computer manufacturer and see what the problem is via how many beeps you hear.

roeplays

In this lesson we did roleplaying. for our assignment we had to perform a roleplay of 2 end users and 2 helpdesk professionals. we all did this in pairs. we had to choose 2 different faults from the fault log that was supplied on the assignment and create a dault log. after this we just carried on with the rest of the assignment.

IT technitions (SysAID)

ERP- Enterprise resourse planning
some companys have a built in shortcut menue that launches a ticket to the helpdesks so that you dont actually have to phone the help desk. on this shortcut it has

• category- what category of IT is the problem
• title- whats the title of the problem
• description- what is the problems details i.e has it come up with error message ect.
• urgency- this is how urgent the problem needs to be dealt with.
• asset-this is wether the problem is server, networking ect.

when writing the title its very important to make it clear what the problem is and in the details go into more description.

sometimes to fix a problem some companies can screen shot the error message and the problem and send it to the help desk people so that they can see the error message and diagnose the problem without moving from their seat. they will then email you back and tell you that they have got your request ..they will get back to you with a solution or they will give you a tracking number so that you can call them and track wether or not they have found a solution to the problem. this helps the helpdesk have more time to deal with the problem and also gives the end user some satisfaction that the help desk are trying to solver the problem.
the IT technition then tracks the problem in his own time. each technition is assigned specific tasks, so that there is enough technitions to help with various problems so that all problems get handled. the IT support will look up the problem in the knowledge base that they use. some companies have this built into their systems. they then go back into the database and find the phone number or the email address fo the end user that reported the problem,

• category-what category of IT the problem is.
• title- the title of the problem
• status-new,old ect
• urgency- how urgent is the problem needing to be dealt with.
• priority- how important is fixing this problem.
• due date- when does the problem need to be fixed by.
• asset-what kind of problem is it, networking ect.
• request user- details of the end user who reported the problem.
• assigned to- who was the technition that was assigned to this problem.
• admin group- which admin group is it.
• parent ID
• child service requests
• actions- emailed end server ect.

the technition would call or email the end user, and remote desktop or do what they think they can do to fix the problem. they would then fix the problem.
the end user would then be able to carry on as normal but if the problem occured again they would need to go back through the helpdesk service to fix the problem again as because the technition remote controlled into the end users computer and they wouldnt know how they fixed it. when the probelm has been fixed the end user would then recieve a call back or an email from the technition saying that the problem had been handled and that the tracking number they was issued is now void and can not be used again.

1. submit SR through end user
2. email confirmation
3. notify assigned IT admintistrator
4. search knowledgebase
5. retrieve information
6. remote control
7. email conformation.

some helpdesk companies have ONE email address. so companies would email the helpdesk and the email would go to any IT technition instead of having individual email addresses for each technition they are all on one email addres.. this then triggers off a service request.



vpn- vertual private network.

you can change the level of priority on the service request so that they fix the problem quicker.

most technitions have emails on their phones, this is so that they can recieve problem requests when in meetings and things.

some problems with systems are permissions this means the techntion might have to simply change the permissions of an end user this means they can then access the information they couldnt access.

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http://www.ilient.com/

technical support faults

faults
1.strategic senior managment.
2.tactical middle managment.
3.operational knowledge/workers
loss of service
. lockup- a computer is not responsive
.crash-when the whole system goes down
.a peripheral that no longer works.
.networking failures
.error message faults
when you are experiencing faults it is very important to think about who these problems are going to affect.
10 common faults
1.slow computer- cluttered hardrive?spyware?old pc?
2. poor internet connection-virueses?faulty network card?
3. computer freezes or lock up-BSOD(blue screen of death)-drivers out of syn and crashes the system?
4. browser/homepage/default searche ngine changes. spyware?
5. computer connects to the internet on its own-diallers?
6. computer turns itself on by iteself- wake on LAN set in the BIOS?
7. computer clock seems to lose time- new cmos
8.randomly reboots- hardware problem
9. refuses to boot completely- driver isuues? spyware?
10. noisy computer- dirty fans/hardrive on the way out.
diagnostic tools
categories
.hardware
.network
.software
.remote(putty and vnc)

Device manager
you can use the device manager for looing into he properties of all of the decices and settings of all of the components. you can look up when the component was made and designed and how big the
component is. this means you can troublesshoot the system for any problems. it will aslo tell you all of the processer information in the device manager.
event viewer
event viewers are used for reporting errors and can look up the event IDs of events. this will give you detailed fault logs and detailed system faults. this has dates and time of when things have
been done on the system.
error-checking
error checking is an application that scans the hardrive for errors such as lost sectors, bad sectors and corruption.this tells you the security settings, the properties,harware,tools,sharing
quota,previous versions and general settings. you can check for errorsin the system, defragment your system and back up files using the eroor-checking.
remote access
remote access helps support users in distant locations. helpdesk agents can dot he things below by using remote access.
. view a remote users screen
.enter commands on a users system
different type of remote access are:
1. symatec pcAnywhere
2.logmein
3.TightVNC/RealVNC
disadvantages
bad internet connections
you can discover things you are not supposed to.
advantages
helps you to connect and help other users from the support office.
monitoring tools.
. network trafic, i.e. bandwidth,speed
.hard drive quotasof user files
.server performance-CPU,disk space
.user internet usage
.printing-papercut in k college
. e-safety monitoring used in schools/eg. securus.

Fault logs

The role of fault logs.
Fault logs can be recorded systematically and this therefore helps with diagnosing and preventing
problems. Fault logs can be good at identifying reoccuring faults, which could highlight
problems with the computer system itself.

Example of a fault log:
Staff Name and Date - Ian / 31/7/03
Problem and description (including any error messages) - Mouse stopped working.
Time taken to fix problem - 30 mins
 Attempted solution and suggestions for next step -  Checked mouse device settings in control
panel / system. No properties found. Turned off PC and Swapped over mouse. Mouse started
working again.

Person who fixed it  - Jo
Contact information - Central Services IT co-ordinator


 An Example of fault logs within a company:
The fault logs need to gather certain information and this information can be judged on:
Within the company EGS, an example of their fault log:
They have to discover the:

The name and the role of the organization
Company
Equipment make, model and the serial number
Description of the fault
To tackle the fault, the EGS engineer takes the information listed in the fault and
will then talk directly to the customer about the fault and enlist them with a reference
number. The reference number is used throughout the process and the customer can refer to this
at any time.
Further support is offered if the fault cannot be determined and this support comes in the form of emailing through
further information about the fault, or if the fault is hardware, then possibly
sending back the damaged hardware. Once the fault is all sorted out, then the case is closed.

IT support

IT support helps you fix problems with computers and systems.
there is 4 levels of IT support.
level 1: front-end support so its for helping people with the basic computer and system problems.
level 2: administrative level support so its people helping with a litlle buit more than the basic problems.
level 3: back end support- high end support so mo more experienced.
level 4: corporate managment so really high up help.

faults
hardware
software
networking
malicious faults(used to help fix faults and prevent them)

IT support is neccesary because it helps make sure that everyone knows how to use computers and systems correctly and effectively.