Chapter 1 Troubleshooting Answers
1. Since several users have called to complain about the network being down, you
can assume that it is a network-wide outage as opposed to a problem with a single
computer. However, always have the user define what the term “network down”
means. It could mean that everyone’s password expired or that there is a break in
the cable. In this scenario, since you are dealing with a bus network, start by
checking cable connections. The cable should be connected to each computer.
Check the cable for breaks or kinks and make sure that each end of the trunk line
contains the proper 50-ohm terminator.
2. One of your first troubleshooting steps is to determine if a network problem
affects only one or many users or computers. Since it appears that only one
workstation is affected (and not the individual user, since he can log in
successfully from other machines), you can focus your efforts on that machine.