My Wireless Connection Is Gone!

The other day I was reminded of my days in "corporate America" when I would have to call one of our tech guys to help me with a problem.  They would usually ask everyone the same questions - regardless of their technical skill level - "is it turned on?" or "is it plugged in?", or some other question, which at the time I thought was ridiculous.  Now that I am providing tech support services, I fully understand why these questions were asked.


One of my favorite clients (they are all favorites, but don't let her know that), called very upset.  She said she had been cleaning her new notebook computer, and her wireless connection was gone.  I did not ask her any of the questions I mentioned in the paragraph above, because I knew her to be pretty tech savvy.  I knew if she was calling it probably was a serious problem.



First I had her check her network connections.  She said she had done that, but kept getting a message saying there was no connection, and she did not see a place where she could view her network connections or refresh her network list.


I asked her who her Internet service provider is.  She said it is Comcast.  I said, that makes it easy since I have the same provider - I had a visual.  I went to where my router and modem are and asked her how many lights were on each box. All that were supposed to be on the modem were on, but only three of four were lit on her router.  I asked her to see if everything was connected to the back of the boxes, and plugged into her surge protector.  Everything was fine.  When I told her to unplug the power for 30 seconds and plug it back in, she said she had tried that.  She had also tried turning the computer off and turning it back on.


I asked her what she was doing when she noticed the connection was gone.  Again, she said she was cleaning her computer.  My light bulb went on.  I said, look at the wireless signal button on your keyboard (which is between the f4 and f5 keys), is the light on?  She said it was yellow.  I told her to push it.  And voilà!  It was blue again.  What do you know, my light went on and then her light went on. :>)  She had inadvertently turned the button off while cleaning.


I say all of this to say, it doesn't hurt to ask those "ridiculous" questions first.  Now, when your tech guy (or gal) asks you what seems like a ridiculous question understand they are asking you for a reason. Be patient and thank them.  When it is all over, you can even say, "I love you man!"


Learn how to become your own tech guy (or gal) read: Laptops For Dummies