Basic Troubleshooting

While the IT Department is able and willing to help out our users with the various issues they face on a day to day basis, often is the case that these issues are easily resolvable by the end user. For the sake of time on your part, here's a quick list of things you should try before reaching out to the IT Department.

Have you Tried Turning it Off and On Again?

That's not a joke, even though it sounds like one. With the increasing complexity of computers, operating systems, and applications, it's become more commonplace for strange, inexplicable errors and behaviors to pop up during your computing session. Due to this increasing complexity, it's often difficult to pin down the exact cause of an error, glitch, or problem. However, when the cause is determined, the fix is almost always the same: restart the program.

So, for the sake of time and effort, if you encounter an error in an application or program that is minor in nature, try restarting the program. If your issue is regarding Windows itself, try restarting your computer. As mentioned earlier, this will address the majority of the issues you'll face, and will get you back on track!

Check your Connections!

Is a hardware device on your PC not functioning correctly? Most often is the case that the hardware connections have come loose. Make sure that the connection on the PC side and the Device side are seated nice and tight!

Have you Tried a Different Browser?

We have a strong reliance at WNCC on web-based applications. These applications, while made to work for the widest-possible selection of web browsers, often run into issues that are present on one browser, but not on another. If you're experiencing an issue with a web application (such as Colleague or 25Live), It would be worth your time to see if trying another web browser generates the same results.

The IT Department officially supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome. Give each one a try, and see how it helps your mileage!

When All Else Fails...Gather Information!

If you've reached this point of the article, and you're still experiencing issues, then, first of all, I applaud you on your troubleshooting efforts! However, the problem still exists, and you're likely going to need the IT Department's help from this point on.

When reaching out to us for assistance, help us out by being descriptive about the problem you're facing! Here's some tips on information to gather:

• Error messages exist for a reason other than getting in your way! They provide great information on what exactly the problem is, along with other relevant data and metrics. Take down this information and let us know what it is!
• If your computer is just behaving weird, take note of what program the behavior is occurring in, what the behavior is, how often it's happening, etc. Ask yourself:
  • Who is the problem affecting?
  • What is the problem specifically?
  • Where is the problem occurring on your computer?
  • When was the last occurrence, or how often is it happening?

Descriptions along the line of "It's Broken" or "It's Not Working" are not sufficient in helping us to understand or solve the problem at hand. Details like what you were doing when the problem arose, if anybody else is having the same issue, or even what you were trying to accomplish will benefit the IT Department greatly by allowing us to be brought up to speed quickly, and move more quickly to a resolution to the problem!

When you have that information, reach out to us by either submitting a ticket at https://requests.wncc.edu, or by calling the IT Help Line at x6143. You've helped us a great deal to this point by performing your own basic troubleshooting on the issue, now let us help you!


- Your WNCC IT Team