Workshop

deal with some of these vendors—unfortunately, though, they’re sort of rare. If you find one, buy its
product as much as you can and offer up prayers that it sticks around forever. Seriously, good tech
support technicians can be major help, so you certainly don’t want to rule out calling them.
Summary
Sometimes, the best way to solve a problem is to find out if anybody else has had the problem. Internet
search engines, Internet forums, mailing lists, and CD-ROM knowledge bases are excellent ways to
extend your troubleshooting efforts. Technical support should be saved as a last resort; if you approach
tech support with a documented reproducible problem, you’re much more likely to be treated with
respect. Brush-offs, such as finger-pointing, can be combated with good notes and a reproduction of the
problem without the component that the vendor is pointing its finger at. Working knowledge of
diagnostic gear, such as network analyzers, can really help to gather data that ends the finger-pointing
game as well.
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