I will first determine if I am following the documentation (examples, testsuite...).

If I am familiar with the subject (say HTTP), I will trace the code execution and compare against the RFC (what is supposed to happen, what actually happens. Eventually (an hour) I will find where the error lies(which code is responsible, what assumptions were made...).

If I can narrow it down to a few function calls, I will search for related bug reports.

If I can find none dealing with my problem, I will submit a bug report, and ask for help (on perlmonks, or a dedicated mailing list).

I will usually keep working on it while waiting for help. Sometimes this means learning a new protocol (reading RFC), though I try to do that only under under deadline (unless its really fun).

Luck only determines how fast I finish (fix, circumvent, wait, or yield).