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> はい、こちらサービスセンターです。
>
> すみません。コンピューターが壊れてしまったんです。
>
> **どこ** が壊れたんですか。
>
> わかりません。

As far as I understand, the manager is asking what exactly has broken ( _which
part of the computer is broken?_ ). If we said 何が壊れたんですか in this situation,
would the answer be _the computer_?

When shall we use どこ and 何 in subject questions?
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2019-03-13T01:51:11.007
65978
2019-03-13T02:25:00.937
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questions
どこ and なに in subject questions
In this context it would be odd to ask 何が壊れたんですか？ because the answer would
obviously be コンピューターです

> **Customer:** My computer is broken.（コンピューターが壊れてしまったんです）
>
> **Service Tech:** What's broken?（何が壊れたんですか？）
>
> **Customer:** I just said it's my computer!（コンピューターだと言ったでしょ？）

A better response would be...

> **Service Tech:** How is it broken? _(What's wrong with it?)_

The way to ask this in Japanese is to use **どこが** 壊れたんですか？

  * **何が** 壊れたんですか？ → What (thing) is broken?
  * **どこが** 壊れたんですか？ → What _**(about the thing)**_ is broken?
  * **どのように** 壊れたんですか？ → How did (the thing) come to be broken?

You should use どこが when you want to know _" what part of"_ or _" in what way"_
some state came to be.

  * 何が悪いんですか？ → What's bad?
  * **どこが** 悪いんですか？ → What's bad _**about it**_?

--

  * 何が分からないの？ → What don't (you) understand?
  * **どこが** 分からないの？ → _**What part**_ don't (you) understand?
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2019-03-13T02:17:57.193
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2019-03-13T02:25:00.937
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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Yes, your assumptions are correct.

As 何 just means 'what', asking 'What is broken?' would be met with
incredulity, as you already told the rep that the computer is broken.

（～の）どこ in cases such as this these, means 'which part of'. In essence, part of
the subject is being omitted in the query from the rep. The full sentence
would be 「 **コンピューターのどこ** が壊れたんですか。」

This use of （～の）どこ is fairly ubiquitous for specifying the part or specific
location of something ('Where does it hurt?', 'Which section/area of the park
should we meet?', 'What don't you like about me?', etc.)
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2019-03-13T02:21:58.473
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2019-03-13T02:21:58.473
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