Help Desk sees a wide variety of problems and sometimes they see very complex technical issues. But they also see a lot of the same problems again and again. Here are the most common Help Desk tickets.
1. Printers
Possibly the most common ticket. There are so many ways for a printer to break. Luckily most Help Desk staff are not expected to fix broken parts on a printer but they are expected to do a thorough investigation before calling the repair guy.
- Power-cycle the printer.
- Check that it has no jams.
- Try a different paper tray and swap the paper tray with a known good tray.
- Update firmware.
- Factory reset the printer. You may need to copy the saved address book and "scan to" addresses before resting.
2. Accounts
Lockouts
Users are always getting locked out. Especially now with harder password requirements and forced password changes every few months. Also, users now have more accounts than they ever did before.
Monday morning, especially after a 3 day weekend, expect to get a lot of calls for account lockouts. This is when most people forget their passwords.
Account Creation And Disabling Accounts
Active Directory account creation is not always delegated to the Help Desk, but often it is. A new account needs to be created for each new hire and an account needs to be disabled when a user is terminated.
Account Modification
When a user changes their position in a company they will probably need to have their group membership in Active Directory changed. If they've moved from HR to Marketing, for example, there may be an HR group and a Marketing group in AD that needs to be changed.
Another common account modification is when a user requests to have access to a network folder. They will need to be added to the correct security group in Active Directory that gives them access to the folder. You may need to check with either their Supervisor or your Supervisor to make sure that they should get access to the folder.
3. Connectivity
VPN
With more people working from home than ever before, they are all connecting to the corporate network through a VPN. This makes one more layer that can go wrong when trying to connect.
- Check to make sure that they are connected to the internet by pulling up a webpage.
- Their router may need to be restarted.
- Someone else in the home is hogging all the bandwidth.
- They might need to get closer to their router or connect to the router with an Ethernet cable.
- Check that their VPN software is up to date.
- Check that the operating system is up to date. Some VPNs check that your system is up to date before letting you on.
Wifi
Wifi connections often need to be reset.
- Make sure wifi is enabled on the wifi adapter, that wifi is turned on, and that the device is not in Airplane Mode.
- You may also need to select "forget" on the connection. Then select the connection again and re-enter your credentials.
4. Outlook
If your organization is using the Outlook application, it will crash on occasion. Accessing Outlook from a web browser is much less problematic, but the application offers add-ons and integrations that many users are not willing to live without.
Outlook is a large application with many features. This makes for a lot of ways it can fail. Add that to the fact that email is one of the most used applications in any organization. Outlook is a very common ticket.
To solve Outlook problems:
- Run Outlook in Safe Mode.
- Repair Outlook.
- Repair Office.
- Run Windows Updates.
- Make them a new Mail Profile.
- Reinstall Office.
- Check the Event Viewer for clues.
- Check if it happens to another user on that computer. If not then you should re-create their profile.
- Re-image the computer.
Remember that they can always use webmail in the meantime while you are trying to figure out how to fix their Outlook issues.
5. General Software Problems
Software freezing/frozen - Basic troubleshooting
- Reboot.
- Run alone with no other software running.
- Put the computer in Safe Mode and give it a try.
- Reinstall the software.
- Update Windows.
- Check the Event Viewer for clues.
- Check if it happens to another user on that computer. If not then you should re-create their profile.
- Re-image the computer.
6. General Hardware Problems
Computer Black Screen
Black screen can be a few different things. First, make sure it is not the monitor.
- Check that you can get to the monitor's menu.
- Test the video cable going into the monitor by connecting a known-good computer to it.
If the monitor is good:
- Power off the computer and unplug it from the outlet for a minute and hold the power button for 10 seconds while it is unplugged.
- Disconnect all USB devices except the keyboard and mouse.
- Connect the monitor to a different video port on the computer.
- See if you can boot into BIOS. If so run diagnostics either from BIOS or check if the OEM has integrated diagnostics that you can boot into.
- Find out if there have been any hardware changes just before the black screen. If so, roll them back.
Still not working, check this more in-depth article here.
Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)
Sometimes BSOD will happen once and then not ever happen again so you may not need to investigate very deeply the first time it happens. BSOD often comes up after a hardware change or a major software change. If there has been a recent change and the BSOD keeps coming back, try rolling back the changes.
You can get more information about what caused your BSOS by scanning the QR code on the BSOD screen with your phone and going to that website. There is also a Stop Code on the screen that will give you some indication of what happened.
You can also try:
- Disconnecting all USB devices except the keyboard and mouse.
- Boot into safe mode.
- Run Windows Updates.
- Run diagnostics either OEM-specific or in BIOS.
- Run DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth.
- Run SFC /scannow.
Still not working, check this more in-depth article here.
Mobile Device Batteries
- Low battery life - Old batteries that will not power a device for very long.
- Expanding batteries - Overheated batteries will expand, destroying the device it's in.
- Dead Battery - Batteries that have been drained to 0% too many times will die.
Monitors
Lines on the screen, artifacts on the screen, or no image at all.
- Change the video cable with a known good cable before blaming the monitor.
- Make sure it is getting power.
- Try it with a different computer to make sure it is not the computer's video card or video port.
Keyboard
Keyboards take a lot of punishment and are common casualties.
7. Lost File/Folder
- Check the recycle bin.
- Often when trying to click on a file they will accidentally drag it over another folder and drop it in that folder. It can happen so fast that they don't see it. It will be in a folder nearby where the file used to be.
8. Malware
Even computers protected with good antivirus can fall victim to malware.
- Disconnect the computer from the internet and the corporate network.
- Turn it off until you can get it back to IT.
- Do a full scan with your antivirus or Window Security
- Install Malwarebytes for free and run a full scan. Then uninstall Malwarebytes once the problem virus has been effectively quarantined.
9. Slow/Frozen Computer
Many users open programs but never close programs. On top of that, they may not be rebooting their computer very often.
- Start with a reboot
- Open task manager to see if there is a process that is taking all of the resources.
- Anti-virus may be doing a scheduled scan.
- Windows may be updating.
- Do a full scan with anti-virus. Viruses can slow down a computer.
- Do an internet speed test and check the network speed by downloading something from a network folder to make sure that is not what is slowing down the computer.
- Do a BIOS or onboard OEM diagnostics.
In Conclusion
Getting good at solving these most common problems will help you tremendously while working at Help Desk.
Remember, the first step is always to reboot. You can ask if they've rebooted but you really can't trust a user. Watch them reboot or you reboot it.
For more help on troubleshooting Help Desk problems or any IT problems, read my article 13 Step Help Desk Problem Solving Guide.