Dealing with tech issues can test your patience.

In this story, an employee received a frantic call about a new docking station that wasn’t working at all.

He spent an hour troubleshooting drivers, firmware, and cables, but nothing worked.

When he and the customer realized what the problem was, they were both humbled.

Let’s take a closer look!

My favorite tech support story is the one where I was the problem

I got a frantic call from a user saying their brand-new, expensive docking station wasn’t working.

No video output, USB dead… the whole thing.

I ran them through every standard fix for an hour.

Driver updates, firmware, different cables, different ports.

Nothing.

This man asked the customer to read the model number of the docking unit.

I was about to escalate an RMA for a defective unit.

As a last resort, I asked them to read the model number off the bottom.

They said, “It says ‘AC/DC Adapter’.”

Turns out they had plugged the laptop’s power brick into the USB-C port on the dock.

The actual dock’s power supply was still in the box. The docking station was just… unpowered.

He paused for a minute as they both realized what the problem was.

We’d been troubleshooting a device that was functionally turned off.

The silence on the phone after they realized it was profound.

I didn’t even say “I told you so.”

Sometimes, the solution is so stupid it humbles everyone involved.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.

This user has a similar story.

Most folks have those moments, says this one.

These questions may come in handy.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Finally, here’s a valid point.

Sometimes, the most complicated tech issue is the one that’s unplugged.

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