Help with a techy question

[CLAWS]

Hi folks,

I am applying for an internal 3rd line position and have been asked to answer a number of technical questions.

One of the questions is -

A user’s laptop is docked into a docking station & each time he shuts down, the laptop appears to shutdown, but ends with a black screen & a white flashing cursor in the top left corner. What software troubleshooting would you perform in order to try to fix this?

To be honest Im a little bit stumped because I would normally associate the black screen and flashing white cursor to only occur at boot up. Am I wrong? Can anyone offer any advice?

 

[Rainmaker]

Ooh toughie... Sounds like a problem for 3rd line support mate. Oh, wait...

 

[asim18]

remove the battery, and make sure not to leave it docked the next time he shuts down.

EDIT:

What software troubleshooting would you perform in order to try to fix this?

Doh!

 

[CLAWS]

Ok thats a solution but what Software troubleshooting could I do?

 

[ConTRo13R]

i think u r right! trick question hehe

 

[asim18]

Give him a punch in the face, coz that's clearly not a software issue.

 

[ConTRo13R]

Give him a punch in the face, coz that's clearly not a software issue.

+1

 

[CLAWS]

See this is the thing. Should I be cheeky and highlight that this is not a software issue in my answer or should I just put some generic diagnostics down i.e. reboot laptop via ctrl alt del and see if it boots back into windows etc

 

[L33]

Check windows hardware profiles? (docked / undocked)?
Check ACPI / APIC mode setting in BIOS? Thats more hardware setting than software though...

 

[asim18]

Check windows hardware profiles? (docked / undocked)?
Check ACPI / APIC mode setting in BIOS? Thats more hardware setting than software though...

Maybe the words "hardware" and "software" have been mixed up, just like L33's post above