Restart Magic: Why it helps

Many times I arrive at a site, restart a device, check that it fixed the problem, and leave.  Usually the site owner is too busy to talk it over or review restart procedures, but they always say they restarted the device when first troubleshooting.  While restarting hardly cures all issues, let's review restart procedures to best move forward from step 1.

Restating a router:  Many times a router can be restarted remotely by the ISP (i.e. Spectrum, AT&T).  Call them and have your bill so you can give them the security PIN.  If they don't offer to restart, please ask them to.  If they say they cannot see their own router on their side, the internet outage is their problem to handle.  

Restarting an internal router:  Sterling Tech can often restart an internal router, switch, or wifi access point remotely.  However, not all the time.  If the device is malfunctioning, a manual restart is required.  Simply unplug the switch or router, wait 30 full seconds, and plug it back in.  Check the outlet and wait for lights and fan noise (up to 10 minutes with a router). For a wifi AP, most require a ethernet cable unplugged from a switch.  Make note of the port number and location beforehand.  Then wait 30 seconds, plug it back in the same port, and wait for lights and stronger wifi to appear on your device.

If these steps do not work, Sterling Tech will come to check on the outage in person.

For user devices, a restart is different from a shut down, log off, and sign out.  Let's go over each.