Basic Troubleshooting

I.            Diagnosing an error

        Often a client sends in an error that is very vague or doesn’t provide enough information to properly diagnose. It’s critical to get as detailed information as possible in order to troubleshoot where the problem is. Here are questions to ask to try and get better information to either diagnose the problem or find out where the case needs to be escalated to.

1.       Where is the error occurring?

2.       What exact steps did you take to produce the error?

3.       What is the exact error message?

4.       Can you take a screen shot of the error?

5.       What version of IE and/or Windows are you running?

Once you have enough information about the error, you can dig deeper into why the error is occurring.

1.       Can we reproduce the error on our side?

2.       If not, can the user reproduce the error on another computer?

3.       Can another user reproduce the error using their login on the affected machine?

4.       Is this a common error we know about, or an error that we have already documented?

With those questions answered, you should have a good idea of either a solution to the problem or where the case needs to be escalated. If not, then a remote session is likely needed.


II.          LogMeIn Rescue

When a client has an error that can’t be replicated or is difficult for them to explain, we should offer to have a remote session. This allows us to view the affected users desktop as they reproduce the error. Often you can discover that the client may be doing something different from described or you can spot why the error is occurring.

1.       You can get to the console at

2.       Log in with user name

3.       Password: N0rthlake

4.       Once logged in, hit “Open Technician’s Console” to launch the application.

NOTE: Only one user can use the application at a time.

During a remote session, view the user as they perform the task that produces the problem. Take note of any additional information you see form the session.

Go through the basic troubleshooting steps if they have not already been performed from the Knowledge Base (


III.        CoreMotives (Bulk Email Issues)

With issues related to bulk email, we need to isolate whether the problem is occurring with Enrollment Manager or with CoreMotives email functionality.

Note where the error is occurring. The HTML editor within a mailing, the quick mailing page, and the “sending” page are all examples of pages that are served from CoreMotives and not by Enrollment Manager. You can also see the address of many of the pages. When they contain something like “coremotives.databroker” in the address, that is outside of our data center.

The “Send Bulk Email” button on an address list uses the “Quick Mailing” CoreMotives function. If a user reports a problem with sending a mailing from an Outreach List, check to see if the same error occurs if you click “Quick Mailing” from the Mailings menu. This will help determine if there is a problem with CoreMotives or a problem with our Outreach List button.

If the issue is with CoreMotives, a case should be opened on the SilverPop Portal (