Monday morning, nothing works
Nobody attacked the office. No storm came. But the Wi-Fi drops every ten minutes, one laptop will not start and the shared files will not open.
Equipment fails by itself. A good risk assessment lists these faults too.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can name common technology faults and sort them into device, system and link faults.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Fault | something wrong that stops a part working properly | |
| Failure | the part stops working | |
| Misconfigured | set up wrongly | A wrong setting on a switch |
| Dropout | a link that keeps stopping and starting | Wi-Fi that drops |
| Peripheral | a device plugged into a computer | A keyboard or a printer |
| RAM | the memory a computer uses while it works | |
| VPN | a safe tunnel over the internet to computers at work | |
| Corruption | data or software that is damaged and will not work |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Starter
Have a go
Starter
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Three groups of fault
Device faults are in the machine: a hard disk that fails, RAM that fails, a damaged peripheral.
System faults are in the software: a program breaks or its data is corrupt.
Link faults are in the connection: Wi-Fi dropouts, a VPN that will not connect, a system that cannot be reached.
Faults and what they cause
| Group | Fault | What the user sees |
|---|---|---|
| Device | Hard disk failure | The computer will not start, files are lost |
| Device | RAM failure | Crashes and freezing |
| Device | Damaged peripheral | A keyboard or printer does not work |
| Device | Power problem | Sudden shut down, damaged files |
| System | Software breakage or corruption | A program will not open |
| Link | Wi-Fi or cable dropout | Pages stop loading, calls cut off |
| Link | VPN not connecting | Home workers cannot reach files |
| Link | Inaccessible system | A service does not answer |
| Setup | Misconfigured device | It works wrongly, or not at all |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Why list these in a risk assessment?
Every fault has a probability and an impact. A disk failure is likely in an old computer. The impact is high if the files are not backed up.
A misconfigured device is a fault made by a person, so careful setup and a checklist lower its probability.
Check: sort the faults
Have a go
Check: sort the faults
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.