Question
We moved into our new home 8 mths ago. Know nothing about irrigation systems as we came from the wet coast of Canada.  Had an irrigation handyman in to start it up 2 mths ago but now we have 1 zone not working at all.  We do not know where to begin to look to find the problem. See no leakage.  Hear no strange noises at either of the 4 ground boxes that hold the taps and no problem at the control box.  And have no diagram as to what taps/knobs correspond to what zone.  How do we begin to fix this?  I have called 3 irrigation companies and over 5 days haven't heard back from any to come out to fix this.   Thinking we are going to have to fix this ourselves and need advice.  Normally we'd let it go if it was the lawn but we moved to the desert and this zone is the 20' shrubs and all the tree and flower beds.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
You need to locate the valve that serves that area, and do a few things to check its operation.  First, on the top of the valve should be 2 knobs, one bigger than the other.  The smaller one should be the manual operation for the valve.  Open it and water should flow.  This means you have water to the valve, so it is probably an electrical connection that is bad.  There should be two wires connected to a round device on the valve.  Make sure the connections are good, redo them with new waterproof connectors.  In the meantime, you should be able to water the shrubs manually.