Problem Page

A problem page helps users assess the state of their broken/damaged device. Your problem page will be a wiki page with specific formatting guidelines. The document will present a common problem with the device and describe possible causes and solutions, with more probable (or more-easily-eliminated) causes generally coming first.

Any number of things may be wrong with a specific device, complicating problem diagnosis. As you can see in the MacBook troubleshooting guide, the MacBook may not turn on, it may have a flashing question mark on startup, or it may have a non-functional trackpad/keyboard. Often, several solutions exist for any particular problem.

It is important that the information in this article be as accurate as possible. This requires substantial research, like scouring forums, product manuals, and enthusiast sites. Your problem page should comprise the most common causes people encounter for this particular problem with this device and what solutions have previously worked to resolve the problem.

• Click here to start a new page.
• Select "Wiki" from the list of options.
• Enter [Your Device Name] [Problem] into the title field.
  • The iPhone Troubleshooting section provides a good model of how to name problems. Some examples:
    • iPhone Battery Draining Fast
    • iPhone is Charging but Won't Turn On
    • iPhone Home Button Not Working
    • iPhone Keeps Restarting
  • Be sure to use correct spelling, capitalization, and spacing when creating your problem page. For instance, the second 'b' in Blackberry is not capitalized, while the 's' in PowerShot is.

Below is an abridged version of the iPhone Battery Draining Fast page.

We all want to think our phone's battery will last long enough to get us to a charger…

== First Steps ==

Before undertaking any of the more time consuming solutions below, these are a few fundamentals to get you started.

* Perform a force restart…
* Update software…
* …

[comment]solutions[/comment]

== Heavy Use ==

Advertised battery life and battery life in practice often vary wildly…

* Check to see what is using your battery…
* If you tend to get a lot of notifications…
* …

== Buggy Software ==

Poorly optimized or buggy software can be a battery killer…

* Check to see if any apps have updated recently…
* Quit any app which seems a likely offender…
* …

…

[comment]conclusion[/comment]

== Related Pages ==

* [[iPhone Keeps Restarting|iPhone Keeps Restarting|new_window=true]]
* [[iPhone Overheating|iPhone Overheating|new_window=true]]
* …

The basic structure of the page is:

• Introduction: Everything up to a solutions comment is the introduction, displayed before the solutions.
  • This is a good place to describe the problem in more detail, provide some background on the relevant mechanism, and suggest some first steps to take.
  • This section can contain multiple level 2 headings, and it's also fine to nest level 3, 4, … headings under those.
• Solutions: After the solutions comment and up until a conclusion comment, each level 2 heading introduces a new cause and its solutions.
  • Although we call this section "solutions", each solution starts by identifying a cause, and so the heading should be written as a cause rather than a solution. For example, "The battery is dead" rather than "Replace the battery".
  • Each solution can contain nested level 3, 4, … headings. One reason this might make sense: one cause of a problem may have multiple solutions that naturally break down into subsections.
  • Wherever appropriate, link guides, products, and product collections that will help with implementing a solution.
  • Wherever appropriate, directly embed images or videos that will help with diagnosing a cause or implementing a solution.
• Conclusion: Everything after the conclusion comment is the conclusion, displayed below the solutions.
  • This is a place to suggest next steps if nothing among the causes and solutions has worked.
  • Related Problems: if there is a level 2 heading named "Related Problems" in the conclusion section, we expect it to be followed by a list of links to other Troubleshooting problems. This section (everything up to the next level 2 heading) will be hidden, but the linked problems will be displayed on the problem page.

Our Formatting help page can instruct you on the different formatting options we have available; this link is visible when editing your problem page. You could also do much worse than to look at the iPhone problem pages for examples and inspiration.

So far, you've created a Wiki page with a specific structure, but that isn't sufficient for our system to recognize it as a problem attached to a device. There are two more steps to do that, both accomplished from the problem edit page:

• Add the problem tag.
• Relate the problem to the appropriate device. In the example above, that would be iPhone.

Save this step until you've created a problem page that you're confident is useful, as it will now start showing up on the associated device page, where people looking for help will easily discover it.

If you've identified other problems that may be related to your problem, this is the time to go and edit those problems to link to your new problem. You can do this using normal wiki linking syntax or by copying your problem's URL (it will automatically be converted to a wiki link).

This is an important step because someone facing a problem with their device may not be familiar with the device mechanism and the standard terminology used around troubleshooting the device, so they may end up on the wrong problem page for their actual problem. Suggesting other potentially-relevant problems can be a helpful way to guide problem-solvers to the right information.