At 11:14 PM 5/5/98 +0100, you wrote:
When I call Tech Support I will have made some
attempts to check the
obvious, gather evidence, and solve the problem. In particular :
I'll have checked the 'bleeding obvious' - that it's plugged in, that I
am running the program I think I am running, etc
Ah, but you are (especially for mainstream stuff) reasonably rare. The
average I-bought-my-computer-at-circuit-city-and-got-a-free-hair-dryer
idiot has done none of that. Most likely, he's tripped over the power cord
and unplugged it, or tried to install a pirated game that had a virus and
his hd is toast or...
Then there's the person who says, "And don't even ask me if I've turned
it on--YES I'VE TURNED IT ON..." Only after a few minutes you determine
that, YES, the computer is turned on, but alas the printer that's not
working _also_ has a power switch which needs to be flipped ;) Happened
to me just yesterday while helping a friend out. She was utterly
certain she'd done everything right and this HAD to be a serious
problem... This is of course a variation on the classic case where the
user is turning the monitor on and off, thinking that's the power switch
to the "computer"...
--
mor(a)crl.com