Abstract: When troubleshooting a complex device, knowledge is king. We want, and need, to knoweverything relevant to the issue, including the proper IC revision number, where to find relevant referencematerials, and who really knows what happened at the customer's site. Failure analysis of ICs requires aquick and proper response because, of course, helping a customer is our main concern. But should weexpect the quality assurance (QA) department to test every parameter over all conditions during a failureanalysis (FA)? No, not at all. Too much of that is guesswork. It may surprise some people, but QApeople do not have crystal balls nor do they read minds. Timely and effective IC troubleshooting is onlypossible when precise technical information about an IC failure is available from the customer.