Lab - Troubleshoot issues at beginning of lab

I had a hard time writing the title but I think my question will yield more clarity.

At the beginning of labs, you may see "There area 2 or 3 issues with the initial configuation that need to be resolved."

For me, this is a shot in the dark that appears to take precious time. Does anyone have an approach these initial tasks? Where is the certainty that the configuration you're modifying is considered the problem? It would seem possible to alter the configuration in the wrong way or modify something that isn't broken.

Thanks,

Mike