# Providing proper info when asking for help
**URL:** https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159
**Category:** Issues & Assistance
**Created:** [February 19, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159 "2021-02-19T16:34:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookieSource](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/CookieSource)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159/1 "2021-02-19T16:34:33Z")
When asking questions in the forum it is most helpful to everyone for you to provide some basic information.
When sharing information to either give or receive assistance, please be aware of the following:
- 1 ) In almost every situation not explicitly involving appearance, **Text** is preferred over **Images**.
- 2 ) When providing code or text output, please format it so the content is easy to read.
## How to Format “Code” in the Forum
**Its easy to make your text and code easy on the eyes**
First copy and paste your text/terminal/code into the post.
Then select the text/code and click the post edit toolbar button \.
Another handy way is to use 3 backticks ` at the start and 3 more at the end of the text like this:
```auto
Paste text or code here
```
## System Information ( `inxi` )
**First no matter what the problem** , provide the hardware and software with **inxi -Fazy**
Please open a terminal and type the commands as below. (Do Not type the $)
$ inxi -Fazy
please post the output 😉
## System Logs ( `dmesg` , `journalctl` , `/var/log/` Systemctl)
**These commands can be used to find errors and troubleshoot**
**systemctl** This command is used to see all running, stopped and failed services.
Use examples:
`$ systemctl`
```
this command
allows you to see the output of all services on your system and
whether they’re running, failed and or stopped.
```
`$ systemctl start, stop and restart`
```
use these
commands to start, stop or restart a service
```
`$ systemctl status servicename`
```
Use this
command to get extra info on a service that failed.
```
- `dmesg`
> This command is used to get examine kernel ring buffer logs like hardware errors.
Use examples:
`$ sudo dmesg | less`
> Pipe command to `less` so output is scrollable with arrow keys.
`$ sudo dmesg | grep usb`
> Get info on usb devices
`$ sudo dmesg -l emerg,alert,crit,err,warn`
> Print only emergency, alert, critical, error, warn messages.
- `journalctl`
> This command is used to query the (systemd) journal logs, as documented [here 13](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Systemd#Journal).
Use examples:
`$ journalctl -x -p3 -b1`
> The flags correspond to explanatory output, priority level, and which boot to pull logs from.
`journalctl -f`
> Live printing of the journal.
- `/var/log/`
> This directory can contain logs from a number of sources.
Use examples:
`$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log`
> Print Xorg log from the current session.
`$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old`
> Print Xorg log from the previous successful session.
`$ cat /var/log/Xorg.1.log`
> Print Xorg log from after the last suspend.
`$ cat/var/log/pacman.log`
> Print `pacman` (and `pamac` ) log to view package management history.
---
### Author:  [@CookieSource](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/CookieSource)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159/2 "2021-02-19T16:34:58Z")
---
### Author:  [@Rafael](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Rafael)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159/3 "2021-06-14T20:23:45Z")
---
### Author:  [@Rafael](https://rebornos.discourse.group/u/Rafael)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://rebornos.discourse.group/t/providing-proper-info-when-asking-for-help/159/4 "2021-06-14T20:23:59Z")