School & College

Section 3

3.16 Troubleshooting hardware and software

Troubleshooting hardware and software

The difficulties school library clients experience using networked services fall into two main categories:

They need help because of inexperience or lack of confidence or over confidence with computers
There is something wrong with the network, an individual machine, an application or a network connection

General assistance

All school library staff should be able to provide general advice, such as which area of the library has computers connected to the network, or how to access CD ROMs. Students may occasionally need help using the computers and there should be clear signage near them, with instructions on how to log onto the network and how to use the digital resources. Students may not be familiar with using the library catalogue (TALIS) and all new students should be given an introduction to using TALIS with a set of notes to help. Although the TALIS system is user friendly, it is important that clear instructions on the various search options are also included near the Public Access Catalogues (and since the library catalogue can be accessed from any PC in the school, instructions should be provided in all classrooms, staffrooms, etc).

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Networks

The school's Internet service may become disconnected. Try the following steps before rebooting the computer:

Click on the stop button on the browser's toolbar then click on reload or refresh. Reloading will actually create a new connection to the site.
Restart the browser. Click on exit, then double click on the browser's icon
Check to determine whether another network application is working. This will enable you to decide whether the problem is a network problem.
Check to see if other computers are still using the network and Internet. If this is the case you can try rebooting the problem computer.
If there is still a problem, ask the student to move to another machine while you contact network support within the school. If the problem is with the PAC you need to contact Systems Support at the state library on 6233 7939 or state.library@education.tas.gov.au. Systems can explain how to check network traffic at any given time (sometimes the amount of traffic can affect the speed of the catalogues).
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CD ROMS

Problems with CD ROMS may be isolated and solved. Try the following:

Ask the student to try a different CD and if that works you know you have a problem with the CD so supply them with a second copy if you have one. But, if the second CD doesn’t work, it is a computer problem and you should contact your school's network support officer.
If you don’t have a second copy of the CD the student wants to use, you may try cleaning it and then ask the student to try again.
Ask the student to use a different PC as some PCs have a greater tolerance for error than others.
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Printers

Printer problems are usually either because of problems with the printer itself, or with the print server network. With an individual printer the problems are usually:

Paper jams - check and correct
Lack of toner - check and replace
Out of paper - check and fill
Check power is on and try resetting the printer
Check student has sent their document to the correct printer. Look in settings at the start menus and check
Check that other students are able to print. If this is the case, the document the student is working on may be unprintable. You may wish to test the printer by printing a simple text document

If there are problems with all printers on the network you will need to contact your school’s network support officer.

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It is important that students gain confidence with information and communication technology (ICT) and by helping them to learn to troubleshoot you are assisting them to gain confidence.

Ensure signs and instructions are clear and when problems occur, try to work through the steps with the students each time. This way, next time they may not need to ask for help.

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