Network admin pilot fish walks into the office one morning and is immediately accosted by a user who can't get any work done because of a network application that won't launch.
"Immediately switching to troubleshooting mode, I looked at the network cable on the back of the docking station. The user was right, the link light was off and there was no activity. I removed the cable and plugged it back again. Still nothing. Traced the cable to the back of the IP phone, disconnected and reconnected it. Removed the power to the IP phone and restarted it. Rebooted the computer. Nothing, nothing, nothing.
"Next, to the wiring cabinet. I traced the user's network point on the switch, then unplugged and reinserted the cable. The IP phone worked fine, but still nothing on the laptop.
"Just as I was about to give up, I noticed the network port on the side of the laptop -- and that the user had plugged a USB music player into it.
"Sheepishly, I quietly unplugged the offending USB device, told the user to use one of the other USB ports, and left everything working fine."
When it's not working fine, tell Sharky about it. Send me your true tale of IT life at sharky@computerworld.com. You'll score a sharp Shark shirt if I use it. Add your comments below, and read some great old tales in the Sharkives.
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