"What to try" lists for various issues

Been thinking for a while now that there might be a place in some of the fora for some "What to try first" lists, being lists of all the initial and/or easy things you might try first to fix a given issue. Purpose being to avoid having to repeat the same advice many times to each new posting of a question that's been posed many times already. Something along the lines of the "Read and Run This First" (forgotten the exact Subject Title) post in the Malware forum.

An example where this might be useful is for the "I have no sound" problems, which seem to regularly pop up.

I realise there is something of this in the "similar threads" that are suggested when a new thread is started. I have found that useful (and I actually find it's a good way to search the fora, rather than using the Search option, as well), but wondered if something a little more precise might not be in order.

Even better would be an interactive list that interrogates the person with the problem, and narrows down the things to try. I guess that's the sort of thing MS has in its troubleshooting software, although I don't think I've ever had success with those things - I guess I've always had the wrong problem! :confused

 

Been a bit busy lately and haven't had the time to give to this that I had hoped. However, I have put below a few of the sorts of things that one might look at for the "no sound" example. They're just jottings at the moment. Maybe someone with a bit more time could have a go at it. Otherwise, I might get to it some time in the future.
I am thinking that if a good list like this was put together, it could be added to whenever another cause is identified.

WHAT TO TRY
Sound not working
Go to Device Manager – look for yellow ? or !, or red X
Laptop/PC/Mac?
OS?
Speakers on monitor?
USB speakers?
Anything installed recently?
Look in Sounds and Audio Devices (XP)
Muting on anywhere?
Reboot.
Turn off at computer and turn off at switch, then reboot.
Update audio drivers.
Try another headset.
Try other speakers.
Try your speakers/headset on another computer.

 

As another example, here's a bunch of questions I just posted for someone with an internet connection problem.

Has this just started out of the blue?
Any recent hardware or software changes?
The blinking screen makes me wonder if it's your graphics card messing things up. Try re-seating it and make sure it's clean. Do you have another one you can try? Or have you added the card, in which case you might have an integrated graphics card you could try.
Can you try another monitor?
What is the blinking like? Is it like twice a second and you can't see anything, or once every 30 seconds or so, and other than that it's fine? When did this start?
What sort of internet connection - ethernet/wireless? If wireless, can you try ethernet?
Could be your router/modem settings. Can you contact the manufacturer and check?
I assume you have the same problem on Firefox and IE8.
Is your email accessed online (like Hotmail)? Looks like it would be.
Try turning off AVG and any firewall, and see if that changes anything - only try safe sites that previously wouldn't work though.
Are there other computers in your network? What's happening with them?
Do you have a PC or laptop?

 

That's what they used to call "Artificial Intelligence". :-D

Probably too ambitious for the forums.