Instructor: In this lesson,
we are going to talk about step five
of the troubleshooting methodology,
which is verifying system functionality.
Now, CompTIA labels this
as verify full system functionality,
and if applicable,
implement preventative measures.
Now, when it comes to doing step five,
our goal here is to make sure
that we actually solve the problem.
Back in step one, we identified the problem.
In step two, we established a theory
of probable cause by questioning the obvious.
In step three, we tested the theory
to determine the cause,
and once we've confirmed that theory,
we moved on to step four of establishing
a plan of action to resolve the problem,
and implement the solution.
And now that we've finished
implementing the solution,
we are in step five,
verifying full system functionality,
and if applicable,
implement preventative measures.
So what does this mean?
Well, we just did some kind of a change
to our system.
We replaced the power supply.
We upgrade a piece of software.
We changed the configuration.
Whatever it was,
we did it based on our plan of action,
and we've implemented that solution,
but now we want to make sure
this actually solved the root cause.
We want to make sure that whatever component
we put in is now operating properly.
Let's say that I just replaced the power supply.
If I did that,
I want to make sure the system
is now getting good clean power
at 12 five and 3.3 volts DC
like it's supposed to.
Also, I want to check the system
as a whole and make sure
it is functioning properly and normally.
For example, if I went in,
and replaced a piece of memory
such as a RAM module,
and I now have replaced that,
and I turned the system back on,
I want to make sure the system
recognizes that RAM module,
and in addition to that,
the operating system is now working
more efficiently like it should
because I put in additional memory.
All of these are things that you're going to do
as part of verifying system functionality.
Always make sure that you first check
that the problem that was originally reported
has been solved,
but also you want to inspect
the other components to make sure
nothing else is damaged
or broken or got disconnected
while you are working inside of that system.
For example, often when you're putting
in a new piece of hardware inside of the case,
you can accidentally unplug
one of the power cables,
the fan cables, the data cables,
or one of the LED indicator cables.
All of these can be problems
that you didn't even realize were happening,
but by verifying full system functionality,
you'll identify those and fix those
before you leave that customer's area.
Another thing to look at
is making sure that anything you've disabled
or uninstalled has actually
been disabled or uninstalled.
There's a lot of pieces of software
such as services that you may disable
as part of your troubleshooting process.
and when you reboot the computer,
they may enable themself again.
So you want to verify they are fully disabled,
and turned off,
and they will not restart themselves
after you reboot the computer.
Another thing to look at
is all of your logs and diagnostic tools
to confirm that everything is working
the way it should
and while you're there,
you should check to make sure
that all the software and device drivers
have been properly updated to include
the latest software and security fixes
to make sure there's no other problems
down the road.
Remember, when you're verifying
full system functionality,
it's about making sure the system works as good
as it did before the problem started
or even better,
Now, in addition to verifying
full system functionality,
you'll also want to implement
preventative measures.
Now, this is really important
when you have an issue,
especially with malware.
Oftentimes computers get infected with malware
because end users are doing things
in an insecure manner.
As a technician, it is your job to make sure
that people don't cause harm to your systems,
and if they're doing things incorrectly,
they are bringing harm to your systems.
So take a few moments and teach that person
the right way of doing things.
If they're visiting websites,
and downloading random software
off the internet and running it,
you might want to tell 'em,
"That's not a real good idea."
Instead, they should only be downloading things
from trusted websites.
Or in a lot of organizations,
they shouldn't be downloading anything at all.
This again, depends on your
acceptable use policy,
and the organization's other corporate policies
for their end users.
Additional areas to look at
for preventative measures might be
if people are damaging the equipment.
For example, I've had people who spill coffee
on their keyboards.
So one of the preventative measures
that we've installed was that you cannot
drink coffee at your desk unless
it's in a cup that has a lid on it
that can be closed,
and ever since we've done that,
we haven't had an issue with drinks
being spilled onto keyboard,.
and this makes it so that we don't have
to replace keyboards nearly as often,
and this also minimized the amount of trouble
tickets that we got to our service desk
for keyboards not responding properly.
These are the kind of things you can look at
when you're looking at implementing
preventive measures.
Now, in some cases, you're not going to have
the authority to create
a new preventative measure.
For instance, if you work in an organization
with 10,000 people,
you're not going to be the one
who's going to be able to make the rule
on coffee cups having to have a lid.
But if you notice
something is an ongoing problem,
you can bring this up to your management,
and they can then institute it
as part of your corporate policies
across the board,
and this will stop the same issue
from recurring over and over again.
So keep in mind when you get to step five,
your goal is to verify full system functionality,
and prevent future issues
by implementing preventative measures.