Help-Desk: Troubleshooting Questions To Ask

Been 6 months since my transition to help-desk. My time spend here I’ve come up with common questions to provide me with information to solve the problem. Which they could ask you in an interview, I got the “Talk me through as if I was the customer, how would you diagnose a slow computer” question.

Hardware Issues: Monitors, Ports, and Cables

• Compatibility Checks:
  • Does it work with your colleague’s laptop?
  • Can you try a different monitor and see if it works?
  • Can you try a different port or cable?
• Troubleshooting:
  • When did it stop working? Was there an update or did something happen?
  • Can you check the connections at both the laptop and monitor ends to see if they’re loose or dirty?
  • What does the monitor say or display?
  • Is the power light on?
• Warranty and Device Info:
  • Can you check the warranty on the laptop using the serial code?
  • In the search bar, can you write “View PC properties” and find the laptop name?

Phone Apps

• Basic Troubleshooting:
  • Can you refresh the app?
  • Can you turn the phone off and on again?
• Reinstallation and Activation:
  • Can you reinstall the app? If a new activation code is required, can you submit the form or find it?
  • Does it need to be activated by an endpoint system (e.g., Intune)? Escalate this to the level 2/3 team if required.

Application Issues

• Access and Functionality:
  • Do your colleagues still have working access? (Trying to see if it’s a system-wide or application-specific problem.)
  • When did you lose access? Could be that account is expired, or lost access group in Active Directory, or there’s an issue with MFA.
  • If you never had access, could the automation to provision the access have failed? Can you check the provisioning ticket?
  • Could be a firewall access problem.
• Error Messages:
  • “Username and password incorrect”:
    • Can you use these credentials somewhere else and see if you get the same error?
    • Can you double-check the username?
    • Can you click the “eye” symbol to check your password or type the password out and copy and paste it in?
    • Does the password normally look this long? Did you recently change your password?
  • “Authentication denied/unable to sign in”:
    • Check access group issues in Active Directory or a firewall issue.
    • Do you need to use a VPN or virtual desktop, or connect to the office network?
    • Is the user locked out of the system? Check Active Directory or the Security MFA system
  • “Connection timed out”:
    • Is your internet connection up? Can you check Google and search for cat pictures?
    • Can you click on the WiFi or network symbol and see if it says you have internet or no internet?
    • Can you use your personal hotspot to try to access using another network?
  • “Could not find username”:
    • Could the username not be added in the database system for the application? Escalate this to the appropriate team.

Computer Performance Issues

• Diagnosing Slow Performance:
  • When did this start happening?
  • In the search bar, can you type “storage” and click on “storage settings” to see a breakdown of what’s taking up space?
  • Can you open the task manager and tell me the CPU and memory percentages?
  • Can you go to the performance tab and show me the uptime and CPU and Memory percentage?
  • Can you check for Windows updates?

Internet Connectivity Issues

• Troubleshooting Connectivity:
  • Can you try connecting at another desk using a different cable or port?
  • Can you use WiFi instead of a cable (USB-C or Ethernet) and see if it works?
  • Can you use your personal hotspot and see if it works?
  • Can you click on the network or WiFi icon and tell me what it says?
    • Is it usually connected to network but no internet connection
    • I normally get them to google “cat” to test internet connection
  • Can you try a different browser?
  • Can you run an internet speed check?
  • Do your other devices work when connected to the network?
  • When did you start having this problem? Are other people in the building or network having the same problem?

It’s not an exhaustive list but for people transitioning to IT, help-desk will most likely be your first job and here is a head start on questions to ask which really helped me!