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When I handle support problems like this where unplugged cables are likely, I make the user triple check everything is plugged in and bet a coffee on it. I've g
by phreack 2y ago
When I handle support problems like this where unplugged cables are likely, I make the user triple check everything is plugged in and bet a coffee on it. I've got it a couple times and I feel it makes people actually check their cables!
- pflenker 2y agoNot sure if this holds true any more in the day and age of laptops, but back when I was working in tech support it was the cables 9/10 times.
- EnigmaFlare 2y agoIn an environment where you can't trust them (phone support), you can tell them there might be dust on the connectors and ask them to unplug it and plug it back in again. Only when they go to do that, they realize it was never plugged in and they don't even have to admit they were lying.
- lproven 2y agoI like the bet-a-coffee idea. I used to tell them that what they should do is unplug the cable, and plug it back in again but the other way round -- in other words, with the ends reversed. From end A in port 1 and end B in port 2, to A/2 + B/1. This, of course, forced them to check both ends and in the process made them ensure it was the same cable. I made up some BS about corrosion patterns on the connectors to justify it, but it worked often enough to keep using it. Sir Terry Pratchett might have called it "headology".