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AN INTRODUCTION TO LOGICAL TROUBLESHOOTING

William L. Call
As published in Electronic Servicing and Technology magazine, August 1996
Troubleshooting shouldn't be just dumb luck--or a
"shotgun" approach of trial & error swapping of
parts--but logical
1. As all working technicians know, "time is money" is a true adage in the servicing field. The
successful servicer will be able to quickly and efficiently diagnose and repair a failed product.
Experience is a wonderful teacher in servicing--but even an experienced troubleshooter will work best
if the diagnostic work is approached in a logical, rather than haphazard, manner.
The purpose of this article is to describe a logical approach to troubleshooting. Likely the
experienced technician will recognize (and hopefully agree with) the suggestions given, and perhaps
seeing them named and described will help in his future work. The novice should benefit considerably
by becoming more organized and capable in his approach from the outset--like a "pro". I certainly
take no credit for originating these suggestions--I've learned from the work of others--but have
confirmed the value of the logical approach through years of my own experience.
My favorite way of describing an inefficient approach to troubleshooting is to use as an example a
shop where I used to take my car. The mechanic wouldn't any take notes as I described the
symptoms--he would just seize on a key word or two and say, "O.K.; we'll replace this part, and if this
doesn't fix it we'll replace that part, and if that doesn't fix it we'll replace....". Of course, he would
leave all the new parts in and charge for them even if they weren't needed! (We call this method the
"Substitution" method, preceded with a little bit of "Symptom Analysis", and it is valid and even most

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appropriate in some circumstances-- but it seemed to be the only approach this shop knew).
Eventually the problem would be fixed, but often at much higher cost and longer time than necessary.
I now use shops that take a more logical approach, and they usually only have to replace the one bad
part.
2. It's the same with electronic work. Troubleshooting shouldn't be just dumb luck--or a "shotgun"
approach of trial & error swapping of parts--but logical. The more you understand a circuit or
product, the easier it is to fix, so training & experience become important factors in your speed and
success. But good logical trouble-shooting techniques increase your speed, and make it possible to fix
many things that you haven't seen or been trained on before, and in some cases even without diagrams
or the powerful instruments often called for. (This is not to lessen the importance of any of these
things, but to state how significant the proper troubleshooting techniques are).
3. There are several different basic techniques that are used in troubleshooting electronic equipment;
I'll define and discuss 6 in a moment. Which you use depends on the circumstances. It is possible to
begin work on something by measuring DC voltages, for example, or by swapping parts; but we need
to best fit the technique we use to the problem at hand! (Advanced techniques requiring specialized
equipment are not discussed in this article.)
Before troubleshooting with instruments, there are some preliminary steps.
a. STEP ONE IN LOGICAL TROUBLESHOOTING: GET AND NOTE ALL THE
INFORMATION ABOUT A UNIT'S FAILURE THAT YOU CAN. It's important to ask the
customer questions about a unit's failure so that you know how the failure appears, and begin
formulating ideas of how to begin work. Realize, of course, that the customer isn't (usually) an expert
on electronic systems; he may not describe symptoms accurately or completely, may even be wrong on
some, and may be reluctant to admit doing something foolish to the equipment. However, get all the

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information you can; usually it is a big help. If you're not going to be working on the equipment right
away, write down all significant facts. There are two areas in which troubleshooting is very difficult
without customer observations: when the failure is an intermittent or is caused by external
interference. Unless you have data to correlate circumstances and failure symptoms, you may not be
able to duplicate the failure in the shop, or know when you have fixed it. So if a problem is not
continuous, make sure you get full details about the circumstances of failure.
Suggested questions to ask:
1. What is really wrong, and how is this defect apparent?
(Describe fully what isn't working properly--a statement of "it's broke" isn't very helpful)
2. Is it always this way, or if it's intermittent, under what conditions? (If failure is related to
movement, for instance, you might have a mechanical failure to look for, such as a loose
connection or dirty contact in the set; if external circumstances are indicated, realize that
the set might even be good, and the problem elsewhere, such as external interference) 3.
Was there any abuse? (Vibration or sudden shock that might have broken connections,
or extreme heat or nearby lightning strike that could have burned out semiconductors,
etc.)
4. Did the defect occur suddenly or gradually? (Gradual failure may indicate adjustments
are needed to correct for aging, whereas sudden failure usually means a part is defective)
5. Did the defect occur during equipment operation? (If a set worked before being stored
and later doesn't, components such as electrolytic capacitors might have deteriorated, or
control contacts might have oxidized)
6. Any additional details? (Look for anything related, such as other functions that don't
work, or other circumstances that might have contributed to the failure)

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7. Has anyone tried to fix it? (If they have, realize that the first effort may have produced
additional problems that you will have to find and fix--unusual problems such as parts in
backwards, or wires connected wrong)
8. Is any service literature available? (Not many systems these days come with service
manuals or even a schematic diagram, but it's worth asking for)
b. SECOND STEP: MAKE YOUR OWN CAREFUL OBSERVATIONS. Try to duplicate the
failure yourself, to improve and refine the reported symptoms, as well as confirm them. Particularly in
the case of intermittents, try to make the failure symptoms come and go with pushing, shaking,
twisting, etc., of the set and circuit boards and cables. Check the operation of panel controls.
4. THIRD STEP: APPLY THE MOST EFFICIENT TROUBLESHOOTING TECHNIQUE. There
are six basic troubleshooting techniques; usually several will, in fact, be utilized during the course of
the job. These are:
a. Symptom-Function analysis: analyze the failure symptoms, considering the function of each
stage of the system while doing so and how a failure of that stage would be evident in symptoms.
Usually this technique is used first to narrow the scope of the problem and to decide which technique
to use next. The "input" to this analysis comes from the reported failure symptoms and your
preliminary observations, and your knowledge of the system--the only "instrument" used is your mind.
For an easy illustration of what is meant by Symptom-Function Analysis, consider a home stereo
receiver with no output from the left speaker, but good output and normal radio reception from the
right speaker: the observed failure symptoms point to a defective left-channel audio amplifier, since all
other stages are apparently working properly and only that stage's failure would produce this set of
symptoms. In other words, your analysis of the failure symptoms would lead you to next perform

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additional testing on the left-channel audio amp, bypassing other sections. In this example, SymptomFunction analysis quickly narrows the scope of troubleshooting. It's not always so easy, of course;
suppose a similar receiver produces output on both speakers, and the AM reception is normal but in
FM mode only a few nearby stations are weakly heard. Symptom-Function analysis would tell you
that all stages used for AM reception are probably good, and that the problem is in a stage only used
for FM, and is likely a "low gain" situation somewhere; but there are quite a few stages and
components with this function. The scope of your troubleshooting is narrowed, but not to one stage
yet.
b. Physical Observations: using the symptoms and the reasoning from Symptom-Function
Analysis to guide you, use your eyes, ears, nose, etc. to physically inspect the set. Often during this
examination you can fix a problem with little thinking or instrumentation work, or need for diagrams;
sometimes you can actually spot the failed component! Several times when I have skipped this step, I
have eventually tracked a problem to a bad component, which was visibly bad--I could have spotted it
with a quick inspection if I had just taken the time to do this. Concentrate on the portions of the
equipment containing the stages most likely to be involved. Look for burned components, broken
components or wire leads or PC foil, bad solder joints, foreign objects, anything abnormal. Often it is
helpful to next power the set up and again use your senses to look for abnormal behaviors such as
smoking or too-hot components, popping or arcing noises, etc. A rough test for excessive
temperature is the "five-second rule": you should be able to hold your fingers on most electronic
components comfortably for five seconds or more. Be careful when performing this test, both for
electrical hazards and for being burned: keep the other hand behind your back, and touch gingerly at
first. You can try feeling for heat using the back of your hand or your upper lip from some distance
away. Remember that some components are designed to operate quite hot; suspicious ones might be

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compared with a good set, or you might look for other signs of excessive temperature near them such
as scorching or melting of materials.
c. Signal-tracing and/or signal injecting: either start at one end and follow the signal path to
the other, using suitable signal-monitoring and signal-injecting instruments; or start in the middle to
sectionalize, which is called "half-splitting" or the "divide & conquer" approach. The answers to the
Questions, and considering Symptom-Function Analysis, help you to know where to start. As you are
tracing, when the signal disappears or has an improper change in level you have located the area of the
failure; additional testing or substitution is used to find the actual defective component. For audio or
low-frequency AC circuits, an oscilloscope is usually the best instrument, since voltage level and signal
quality are both quickly known. Sometimes a "signal tracer", which combines an AC voltmeter with
an audio amplifier and monitoring speaker, is a good choice. RF signal tracing is more difficult, and
often signal injection with a modulated signal generator coupled through a DC-blocking capacitor, and
monitoring the output of the set, is easier. Especially well-equipped shops find a spectrum analyzer
with a high-impedance probe a very powerful instrument for RF signal tracing. While measuring AC
amplitudes through cascaded stages, keep in mind that impedance level changes produced by
transformers or transistors may produce level variations that are normal. Digital signal tracing is done
either with a DC-coupled oscilloscope, a "logic probe", or in advanced shops, a logic analyzer.
Signal-tracing through systems with feedback loops calls for careful consideration; a failure anywhere
in the loop causes all measurements in the loop to be abnormal. There are two approaches to
signal-tracing feedback circuits: (1) if possible, disable the feedback so the circuit can be treated as an
open-loop system, keeping in mind that this may raise the gain or alter operation significantly; (2)
break the circuit into small subcircuits that you can predict the behavior of and check each subcircuit's
output for a known input (which you may need to inject). Circuits with feedback are really quite

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common: audio amplifiers use negative feedback to reduce distortion, radio receivers use AGC to hold
the output level constant, frequency synthesizers use feedback to reference the output frequency to a
master standard, etc., and these circuits can be quite challenging to troubleshoot.
d. Voltage-Resistance measurements: making measurements of DC voltages or AC signal levels,
or resistances in the circuit, and comparing them to service data or to another set. Testing
Power-supply voltages (including the outputs of any low-voltage regulators) should be among the first
measurements made. Use the results of Symptom-Function Analysis and/or Signal Tracing to narrow
the search for abnormal voltages or resistances to a particular stage, as this testing can be tedious.
Resistance testing can be tricky, since different sets (assuming solid-state) often respond differently to
different ohmmeters (their excitation voltage & current levels differ). It's possible to make rough tests
on capacitors and inductors, as well as resistors and transistor & diode junctions if correct procedures
are adopted, to test components individually. Remember that the set power must be OFF for
resistance testing! I've found that a productive method in many cases is to use a DMM set on the
"diode test" range, and to quickly test diode and transistor junctions in a suspect stage, connecting
probes to forward-bias the junctions. A normal reading for a good silicon forward-biased junction is
0.5 to 0.9 volts (also k, if your meter sets up a diode test properly), and any readings significantly
different than this should be investigated. Components in the circuit, such as transformer windings or
low-value resistors, can mask the true value of a junction's resistance, so desoldering of a lead may be
required for a final test. If you are trying to repair a set without a service manual, junction-testing to
find an open or shorted semiconductor junction may be one of the only ways to proceed. For bipolar
transistors, you should also test the collector-emitter path to make sure that a "punch-through short"
hasn't occurred; you might miss this if only the base-emitter and base-collector junctions were
checked.

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e. Substitution of components: swapping questionable parts with new (or known good ones).
This is easy for plug-in parts (tubes, socketed IC's, daughter-boards), but harder for soldered-in
components, so used then only if you're almost sure, or stumped and resorting to shotgun-swapping.
Remember to note the component orientation, and observe good static-electricity control measures.
f. "Statistical" or historical method: using symptoms as a start, consider likely failures from a
historical database, and jump to component testing and/or substitution. It's a particularly valuable
technique when you work on a given product often, or have access to a historical database. One of
the factors that make an experienced troubleshooter so much faster in repairing equipment that he is
familiar with is the historical database in his mind of failures he has tracked down in the past. Some
techs even compile their own written database. If you get stumped in trying to repair a product you
are unfamiliar with, it can be very helpful to consult someone more experienced; or, if available, call
the manufacturer's technical support department. For some products (VCR's, for example), "case
history" databases of symptoms/cures are available for purchase; and ES&T's "Symcure's" column is
helpful.
Another way that the Statistical method is useful is to remember that those components that are
highly stressed are the most likely to fail. Components most likely to be stressed are PA (Power
Amplifier) devices or power-handling circuits like voltage-regulators; or any input/output devices,
since their external connection wiring exposes them to external voltage transients or load shorts.
Audio PA's in receivers are therefore doubly suspect, as are many power-supply components; also, RF
PA's in transmitters.
5. Applying this logical approach should make troubleshooting more efficient. There are a number of
full-length books on the market, which discuss these techniques and others in greater detail and give
numerous helpful examples. You may find these useful for further study. The ones I have found most

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valuable are listed below.
Recommended for further reading:
Tested Electronics Troubleshooting Methods, second edition, by Walter H. Buchsbaum;
Prentice-Hall, 1983.
The Complete Guide to Electronics Troubleshooting, by James Perozzo; Delmar Publishers,
1994.
Electronic Troubleshooting Procedures and Servicing Techniques,
by J. A. Sam Wilson; Prentice-Hall, 1990.