Wii Icon

As a computer geek, I’m often consulted by my friends, family, and neighbors when anything electronic fails. People assume that because I wear glasses, I have some magic ability that has me more capable of fixing their microwave then they do. And they are right, I do. I have one valuable piece of information that fixes most electronic problems, more on that in a bit.

People in the computer industry are often hounded by those around them to fix their computer/electronic problems. Some guys get admired for their height, or their dashing good looks, the car that they drive, and how their hair seems to always be perfect. Girls look at them and say "Ooo, look at his hair, I bet he will take care of me." or "He’s got big muscles, I bet he’s good in the sack".

Me? Sigh. No. Girls look at me, a computer geek with glasses, and say, "Ohhh wow, I bet he can help me fix my computer!"

If they are hot nice enough, I usually will. I’m not looking for extra work or anything, but I do like helping people. Sometimes it does get tiring though, and the last thing we want to do after working with computers on fun stuff all day is to fix your broken computers. This sentiment is captured well by a T-shirt from ThinkGeek.com, which states, "No, I will not fix your computer".

I have noticed that this has gotten better in recent years. Why?

  • Electronics are more reliable then they used to be. The bar for reliability in electronics continues to rise, although it’s still far below what it should be.
  • Computers are more reliable. Microsoft Windows sucks less than it used to, and more people are using Macs instead of PC/Windows. Macs are more reliable and easier to use. Often times when people come to me now with Windows problems, I’m obligated to remind them that I don’t have problems like they do because Macs "just work".
  • The Geek Squad can be called.

So enough background, what is my secret? What is the most effective cure for fixing electronic problems? It’s a two step process.

  1. Turn it all the way off.
  2. Turn it back on.

Yep, that’s it. That’s my secret. A good portion of the time when electronics fail, simply resetting them to their original state will have them start working again. Now notice that I say "Turn it all they way off". This includes unplugging it from the wall, or taking the batteries out. I mean all the way off.

I’ve had this be very successful on a number of different electronics.

  • Microwave that wouldn’t turn on
  • Printers with various issues (5+ times)
  • Fax machines that wouldn’t work
  • Washing machines with strange error codes
  • Televisions that wouldn’t turn on
  • DVD players with strange messages
  • Xbox and Xbox 360 that wouldn’t turn on
  • Playstation (1, 2, and 3) that were acting odd
  • Car navigation systems
  • Ipods that weren’t playing correctly
  • And of course, Microsoft Windows computers - rebooting Microsoft Windows has fixed 100+ problems for me. Linux and Apple also need to be occasionally rebooted, but 99% of problems can be fixed by restarting services, so there is no need to reboot the whole computer.

My family and friends know that before asking me to fix anything electronic, that they better have done this, because it will be the first thing I ask them: "Did you turn it off and back on again?". ;-)

The next time you have something electronic fail, before calling up your friendly computer geek, try turning it all the way off, and then back off again, and see what happens. Comments and success stories welcome.

Update on February 3 2010: Saw this on Southpark last night - Kyle uses my technique to fix the internet. http://gizmodo.com/381088/how-to-fix-the-internet-according-to-south-park