The First and Best Way to Troubleshoot a Fussy Device
I’m almost surprised that I have to write this, but when my friends and roommates come to me with technical quirks that need to be solved , I always amaze them with one answer that cannot be in my head. And more often than not, this is the only thing they need to do to fix any problem they encounter.
Since we’re closing the reboot week here at Lifehacker, you can probably guess what that answer is: “Did you turn it off and on?” Sometimes I have to explain what I mean: “Have you turned it off and on again?”
While it sounds like I’m just grumpy or trying to stop my friends from pestering me when I watch YouTube or play games – sometimes it’s true – this tip is the first tool in my own arsenal when I run into a software or hardware problem. provision. … I turn off the problematic device, wait a few seconds, turn it back on and see if that fixed the problem.
Why does it work so well? Simply put, in theory, you are resetting a device and its software to a known state. Any bizarre and temporary changes you make, or any software oddities caused by you or some other external factor should go away. Nothing should be stored in your device’s memory as it will be disabled. You basically reset all of your device’s connections, whatever they are, and it should return to normal operation like it used to. This is especially true if it is a simpler device (network switch) versus a more complex one (your laptop).
As computer science professor Rob Miles wrote in a 2016 article:
If we give the computer too many tasks to complete – or a set of physical events happen in a sequence that the authors of the software did not expect – then tasks can get stuck in memory. Computer scientists talk about the “death hug” that occurs when task A is waiting for task B to do something, and task B is waiting for task A to do something, causing both of them to get stuck.
In addition, as they complete tasks, they extract and use resources such as computer memory, and over time, the location of these resources will become fragmented and more difficult to manage, like it is difficult to find something in an unkempt bedroom (which is probably why your parents so scandalous about this). A reboot can also be a temporary fix for unreliable hardware issues, especially if things start to go wrong when components get hot.
Modern operating systems are very good at detecting and removing stuck processes, and working very hard to keep things tidy, but sometimes a computer can reach a state where it’s best to start from scratch. On reboot, all tasks are deleted, and then a clean slate is rebooted.
There are, of course, a few caveats about the “reset” technique, as with any troubleshooting attempt. You may need to reboot more than one device depending on the problem you are experiencing. For example, if you see the dreaded network connection error icon on the Windows 10 taskbar due to your internet disconnecting, you will have quite a few devices that could potentially restart: your computer, cable modem, router, nearby wireless repeater. your laptop and so on.
When you reboot your device as part of troubleshooting, try turning it off using whatever “power off” or “reboot” commands it offers, rather than simply unplugging the power plug. While it doesn’t really matter for some devices – a network switch or Wi-Fi router – it can make a lot of difference, say, to your network storage device (which actually looks more like a mini-computer than anything else.) ). … Whenever possible, use your device’s user interface to turn it off.
And, as we’ve shown , restarting a device may not have the same effect as turning it off and back on completely. Usually the former is fine, but if you’re dealing with a device like a fussy Windows PC, make sure you don’t hibernate your system when you’re actually about to restart it. If you are ever unsure if rebooting your device is actually doing something, try the following: Power off your device completely, unplug it (if applicable), wait a minute, plug it back in, and then power it back on.
The order in which you reboot devices as part of troubleshooting also matters. For example, if I have problems connecting to the Internet, I usually start by restarting my desktop. Then I will try to turn the network switch off and on again. Then I go into my router settings and turn it off and then turn off the network access point that my desktop is connected to. (I connect my desktop to a mesh access point over Ethernet, and that access point connects to my main router wirelessly.)
I will wait a little while the main router reconnects to the network, and then turn on the network access point. Finally, I’ll turn on my computer and see if things have improved. If not, I go into my cable modem settings and restart it. And if that still doesn’t fix the problem, I’ll shrug and assume I’m stuck in Comcast’s penalty area indefinitely. In fact, however, I’ll probably repeat the whole process two or three more times until I feel like I’ve really exhausted my options.
As you can see, turning devices off and then back on can be an art, depending on what problem you are dealing with and what device you are using. That said, this should be the first thing you should try whenever you run into any strange technology problem, except maybe when your mechanical hard drive makes a clicking or rattling sound. (Copy your details as soon as possible.)
In fact, I’m going to restart my device right now because my Google Home app now thinks my smart speaker is missing. I bet I know what he needs.