Missing question #576: 'And when did this start?'

It's fashion-show week in New York City, and for this apparel maker's IT department, that means all the users will be in one place, according to a pilot fish who has to support them.

"This is one of the few opportunities we get to work on their laptop computers in person," fish says.

"One user reported that her laptop would randomly shut down. I ran the usual hardware and software tests, and checked event logs, but I couldn't find a cause or replicate the problem. I did find the BIOS was out of date, so I updated it and called it 'fixed.'"

But it's not. A few minutes later the user calls back: The laptop has just shut down again.

Fish returns and combs through the event logs but, again, finds nothing unusual. So he has her log back in and use the laptop while he watches.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here