Tech Support
Whether it’s for home or business, technology has become pervasive in our daily lives. We believe that technology adds value to our work and our world. It saves us hours of time otherwise spent manually doing things and it is a genuine help to the work that we do - when it works.
When technology fails however, it can really bring things to a screaming halt. It breaks our rhythm and our well formed working habits, causing other downstream issues.
Ranges Technology is a generalist technical support agency. We don't specialise in just web, or just PC repair or telephones or cloud apps. We prefer to take a broader view of technology and how it supports what you do.
It doesn't matter what kind of technology is currently standing in your way, Ranges Technology will find a way to get you up and running again quickly and show you how to prevent tech failures from affecting you in the future.
Don't just 'live with it' - Get Tech Help Now!
Our low-cost, per-ticket service is intended to create a low barrier to entry to quality technology support by removing the fear of being over being overcharged.
It has been specially created for micro-businesses and other professionals to make it less risky (and therefore more likely) for you to seek quality tech support and problem diagnosis to support your work and push you forward in your business.
Very simply, your $50 plus GST pays for your problem to become our problem.
Once you have a qualified technician assess your problem, you then have information and options. The initial fee goes towards the cost of the final repair if necessary, or if it's a simple enough fix, that's all you'll pay.
Read more about this approach on our blog.
DIY Technology Troubleshooting Steps:
Step 1 - Define the Problem:
- Think through the problem, don't panic!!
- Is this something that you can fix yourself using information from a structured internet search? If not, skip to Step 5!
- Otherwise, write down the apparent issue, try to isolate it to a component or subsystem. Find out the 'who, what, where and when' of the problem.
- What are the real world impacts of this problem? What can't you do now that you could do before? How many people is this affecting?
- How important is it to fix and why?
Step 2 - Gather more details, eliminate variables
- Write down the troubleshooting steps you take to investigate the problem - this will help if you need to contact a technician.
- Observe the symptoms of the problem, what's visibly or audibly occurring? Is it in response to a certain action you've taken? Write down or copy to a text file any error messages that have been displayed.
- Most of the time, systems errors and faults are a result of human changes to an otherwise working system - try the obvious things like check all cables, power, connections etc.
- Is your system configured the way it normally is when it's working? Have you done anything recently to change this configuration? Try to walk yourself back through the steps you took before the problem happened.
Step 3 - Try to replicate the problem and develop a theory
- Can you replicate the fault on another system? If it's a cloud app or website issue, does the problem still exist if you access from another machine? Is the problem the same on mobile as it is on desktop?
- Can you use any basic troubleshooting tools to confirm which parts of the system are working and which are not? i.e., can you confirm that your internet connection is working using a 'ping', can you send an email to yourself and confirm that the email system is working, or access webmail instead? Can you charge your device using another power source?
- The 'half-split' rule helps enormously with complex systems troubleshooting - basically, go to the midpoint of the problem and test - if it works as expected from upstream, then you know that your problem is downstream. Rinse and repeat till you can isolate the apparent problem. This doesn't work with every problem, but can help in certain circumstances.
- Attempt to define the root cause of your problem in plain language.
Step 4 - See if a simple solution can be found
- You may not be a tech guru and that's okay - you should now have enough information to go searching for a solution.
- Most tech troubleshooting internet searches are poorly worded and not specific enough so they return irrelevant results that lead you nowhere closer to your solution.
- Try searching in hierarchical order from the systems environment down, listing the parts of the system that you know contain the issue: i.e., 'Windows 10 automatic updates not working'
- Had the screen been totally blank on the laptop and there were no power indications at all, you may have searched for 'Dell laptop XPS13 won't switch on'.
- Or if the power lights came on, though the screen still didn't work, you might search for 'Dell laptop XPS13 powers on but screen display not working'
- Your search should be contextual and include as much detail as is required to narrow the results down to a managable, relevant list.
Step 5 - If all else fails, search for help elsewhere
- Not every technical fault can be solved by reading the manual or Googling for an answer.
- Almost every fault is unique in some way - some faults are complex and intermittant or don't respond to the 'normal' fixes.
- You just might not have the time!
- This is when you should reach out for help from a professional.
Ranges Technology Support:
We're technology troubleshooters with a business-first mindset.
Our approach is to attack the problem from the perspective of your greatest need.
We'll always aim to get you back on track by the shortest path possible.
Often our first piece of advice is about how to workaround your productivity issue and get back to business, so that we can create the space to address the actual technology problem.
Then we can repair your laptop, replace your gadgets, reconfigure your software or do whatever else it takes to get your business tech humming again.
