OIT Help Desk

Before you contact the Help Desk: A checklist

If you are experiencing computer problems, take a few minutes to check the following before you contact the Help Desk.

  1. Is everything plugged in?
  2. Do you see any loose cables?
  3. Do you have power?
  4. Is the brightness and contrast turned up on the monitor?
  5. Is the power strip plugged in and turned on?
  6. Has anything changed over the last day that may have caused this problem?
  7. Many machines now have "Energy Star" power saving features. After a certain time they will "blank" off. If you hit the space bar the power will come back on and you will see your image appear on the computer monitor.
  8. Are other people experiencing the same problem?
  9. Can you get the problem to reoccur after you have rebooted (restarted) the machine?
  10. Are you typing your username and password correctly?  Passwords for the remote access, web publishing, and GroupWise accounts are case sensitive. Web publishing account usernames may be different than your network server/GroupWise account username.
  11. How long has the problem been occurring? When was the last time everything worked correctly?
  12. Search the web site for information about this problem. 
  13. Take a few minutes to re-read the documentation.  You may have missed a few steps.