Getting Help

Can't get connected? Eudora broken? Lost a file on tigger? Here's how to get help.

No matter what your problem is, chances are you're not the first person to have it. So you might want to look around a bit on your own before you contact us. For example, check the ACCC's online tutorials and other Web-based resources. Start at the:

• ACCC home page, http://www.accc.uic.edu/, and, in particular, its Search link (in the yellow area on the left of the ACCC home page) and the links on the Help page (click the purple Help button at the top of most ACCC Web pages).
  
  
• Troubleshooting page, http://www.uic.edu/htbin/accc/inform, or click the Troubleshooting "Quick Start" link in the yellow area on the ACCC home page.
  
  
• FAQs, http://www.accc.uic.edu/home/faqs.html , or the List of FAQs "Quick Start" link. The frequently asked questions pages cover pretty much the same territory as the troubleshooting pages, but it's easier to browse through them when you're just looking for inspiration.
  
  
• The alphabetical list of ACCC "core" Web pages, http://www.accc.uic.edu/home/list.html , or the Alphabetic "Document List" in the yellow area on the ACCC home page.

Your roommates, colleagues, and in particular your department's REACH representative are also good and quick resources. You might find that they've seen the problem you're having and know how to fix it. No matter how fast we could answer your question, getting the answer on your own or from your next-door neighbor is faster.

When getting help on your own doesn't do it, the ACCC's Client Services Office -- the CSO -- is there to help. Here's how to get in touch with us:

Email or the AHEAD Web page:

Send your question by email to consult@uic.edu or enter your question directly into ACCC AHEAD (ACCC HElp and Answer Database) via the AHEAD Web site: http://consult.accc.uic.edu/

Walk-in:

East side: the Client Services Office, room 2267 SEL, 950 South Halsted. The CSO is open 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays, except Wednesday when it closes at 4 p.m. Walk-in hours are extended until 7 p.m. during the first two and last two weeks of the semester. West side: room 181 BGRC, 1940 West Taylor, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. weekdays, except Wednesday, when it closes at 3:30 p.m. There are also lab monitors in BSB, CCC, LIB, SSB, SRC, and SEL. The current schedules are on the Web:
http://www.accc.uic.edu/cso/
http://www.accc.uic.edu/pclabs/hours.html

Telephone:

(312) 413-0003; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, except from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. We have six incoming lines, but since each call might take five to ten minutes, if you call at a peak time you might find that our "consultants are currently busy." If you're put on hold, please stay on the line.

AHEAD is best for most problems.

AHEAD lets you describe your problem in detail (see You Can Help Us Help You for a list of useful "details"), automatically keeps a record of all your questions and all our correspondence about it, and makes it easy to refer your question to an expert if necessary. We get a lot of email, so we probably won't answer your question right away, but we try to get back to you within 24 hours.

Using the AHEAD Web page is in some ways better than submitting a problem by email, because you'll know right away that your question has been submitted. And the AHEAD Web page allows you to check the status of your problem (or revisit previous AHEAD questions) any time you want, even if you don't have access to a working email system. That's really convenient when your problem is that you can't get to your email.

When you visit the AHEAD Web page, you'll be asked to login with Bluestem -- that's to make sure that only you see your problems. To submit a question, click the Report a Problem link at the bottom of the page. After you fill in the required fields (select General as the Subject: if you can't choose or if none of the others apply), describe your problem in the Long problem description: box, then click Submit Help Request.

You'll return to the list of your open problems. Click your browser's Refresh icon and you'll see the problem you just opened included in your list.

Regardless of how you submit your problem, you'll receive an email response in a short while acknowledging that your message was received. It will be from consult@uic.edu and its subject will be: [ProblemDB] nnnnn: followed by the subject of the email message you sent or the text you entered in the Short problem description: field on the New Request Web page. The nnnnn is your "AHEAD problem ID." You will also receive an email message from AHEAD when we reply to your problem.

When writing us about an AHEAD problem, please use either use the AHEAD Web page (click on the the problem's Description) or use your email program's Reply function to send your reply back to AHEAD with [ProblemDB] nnnnn: in the subject. Your reply will then be automatically posted to your problem in AHEAD and will be emailed to everyone involved in handling it. Please don't open a new problem, send a new message to consult@uic.edu, or reply directly to a ACCC staff member.

Walk-in for account problems or to demonstrate your problem directly.

If you're having a problem with your account, we'll take a quick look at your photo ID, just to make sure we're fixing the right account for the right person.

You might also drop by to discuss a problem that you find difficult to explain (the consultants know the questions to ask to zero in on what your problem really is), to pick up a quick start handout, or when you're just in the neighborhood.

Phone in when you have a fast question that requires immediate assistance or to report a systemwide problem.

If you're phoning to report a systemwide problem, including problems with the UIC campus networks, dialin telephone connections, and printers, call Network Operations at (312) 413-8080; Operations is staffed 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Otherwise, call the CSO at (312)413-0003 during its telephone hours.

A major portion of the CSO's and our consultants' job is helping you troubleshoot the computer-related problems that you experience, whether you're on campus in your office or in our labs or you're connecting via an ACCC dialin line from home. Problems using a commercial connection should go to your ISP.

But please help us help you by being prepared.

First, please select the most appropriate contact method for your particular problem; usually that will be AHEAD, either:

• by email to consult@uic.edu or
• on the Web at http://consult.accc.uic.edu/

Next, please include as many details as you can when you describe your problem. Let's say, for example, that you're having trouble with Eudora.

Don't say: "Help, my email isn't working!" There's not much information there.

Better: "Eudora can't download my mail from tigger." This is better because it saves all of us from our first set of questions: "Where do you get your mail?" and "How do you read it?"

Better still: "I'm running WinMe with Eudora Pro 5.1, on campus with a UIC-Net ethernet connection. My POP server is tigger, and I repeatedly get the error message 'POP server busy.' I'm sure my password is correct, because I can telnet to tigger and log on. What's up?"

That's a lot more like it! Though you could mention whether it ever worked, and if it did, when it broke.

To sum it up and add a few more while we're at it, some useful details to include in your note are:

• What operating system you're using, and if it's UNIX, whether it is borg or icarus or tigger.
• How you're connecting to the Internet.
• What program you're using.
• What the exact error message is.
• What the conditions are when you get the error.

Don't worry about giving us info that we don't need; the more you tell us, the more likely we are to be able to answer your question or at least to figure out which ACCC group we should refer it to.

Comments are welcome; please send them
to Margaret Bird, mbird@uic.edu