system
October 15, 2011, 8:48pm
48
radman:
Excellent! Thank you.
The slight change I wanted to suggest was that some of the text in step 8 should be removed
Nope. Not going to happen. My Tech-Com II professor stated repeatedly: You tell it to them three times. You tell them what you are going to tell them in the introduction. Then you tell them in the body. Then you tell them what you told them in the conclusion. After working in technical support for a few years, I strongly agree. Some people get it the first time they read something. Some people barely get it the third time they read something. Troubleshooting instructions need to be written for the latter group; lots of repetition.
and instead there should be a short introduction saying why you would do the test and what it would achieve
I agree. It needs an introduction / cover.
Suggested text at the start (removing equivalent text in point 8 );
The loopback test will prove that your host computer hardware driver, USB cable, and USB to serial converter are all working.
Is it necessary to perform a loop-back test after first installing the system?
So treat everybody like dummies because there might be one or two in a dozen !