The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) has made available a new tool for technicians servicing personal computers and related equipment. The Standard Error Codes developed by CompTIA and its members aim to help manufacturers of computers and peripheral equipment and their service personnel to gain better insight into service issues and trends affecting their products.
It is expected that greater use of the codes will also allow manufacturers to reduce the volume of "no problem found" service incidents, when parts are replaced even though it is subsequently determined that they are not defective.
Service technicians use a series of numeric codes to identify the attributes of the service incident, including:
- Primary operating system installed on the device being serviced
- Mode of failure (intermittent, continuous, etc.)
- Actions taken by the services technician
- Symptom of failure mode that caused the customer to request service.
The new codes were developed with the involvement of more than a dozen companies, including Best Buy, Canon, Cisco Systems, CompuCom, DecisionOne, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Gateway, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Packard Bell, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, Unisys and Xerox. Many of these companies require service technicians who repair their equipment under warranty to use the Standard Error Codes, while others strongly recommend that they be used.
For more information, visit http://www.comptia.org/sections/services/error_codes.aspx.
