Tuesday in Bradley

I spent 1/25/11 in Bradley, working on several issues:

Before heading to Bradley, I set up the conference room for a presentation that day.

They recently switched to Vexira Antivirus and were having problems with the software.  Specifically, it would not auto-update.  Since the tech is also a classroom teacher, she could not stay on the phone with tech support for long durations due to class conflicts.  That's where I stepped in.  The tech on the phone was very helpful, fixed a few configuration issues and got the software up and running.

Sidenote here: *MANY* districts in the state of Arkansas employ the services of one of their teachers in the role of Technology Coordinator for the district.  Part of what I do as a State Technology Coordinator helps offset the times the tech is teaching classes.  I am not the only State Tech Coordinator that does this, either.  Without folks like us, small, rural schools would have ZERO support for thier teacher/techs.

After getting the AV fixed, I went to the elementary library to work on their book circulation software.  Turns out the software is not Windows 7 "supported."  They can try to run the software, but there is no support for it on Windows 7.  The issue I ran into was a bit weird.  They have a hand scanner for barcode reading.  The device lit up and would scan a code (acknowledged by an audible BEEP" but nothing would show up on screen (the read code would not transfer).  I called tech support, which is how I found out about the lack of Win7 support, and decided to replace the new machine (Win7) with thei old one (XP) until we could figure something out.  That's when I saw the problem.  The hand scanner is PS/2, as is the keyboard and mouse.  There is a Y-Adapater that connects both the scanner and the keyboard together into the PS/2 slot.  When moving things around, evidently the mouse and scanner had been plugged into the Y instead of the keyboard and scanner.  Once I took care of that, the thing worked as designed - Windows 7 and all!

Next on the list, a pair of computers in one of the elementary classrooms.  Dell had replaced a power supply and motherboard, but the computer would still not boot correctly.  The tech said the problem was software related because the computer reported that Windows system files were corrupt.  I booted (or tried to) from a Recovery CD and when the system got to the "searching for pervious versions" screen, things would come to a halt.  I booted the computer to Dell's Diagnostics system and immediately received CMOS error messages.  Once I got through those, the system reported that the hard drive was not functioning.  Looks like another call to Dell.

The other computer in the room had malware on it.  It wouldn't let users go anywhere online or access resources on the local network.  On another machine, the local tech downloaded Malwarebytes and I installed it on the infected machine.  After a full system scan, I cleaned the computer of the malware.

Several smart boards had issues that needed addressing.  Unfortunately, removing the light bulb and blowing out the dust did not cure these ones.  The projectors will have to be swapped out for new ones.

A couple of the laptops in the Distance Learning Lab were not working correctly, so the local tech and I worked on those to get them working again.

Once user has a new wireless inkjet in her classroom and wanted her laptop set to print to it.  I installed the software and had her printing wirelessly.

During the day, I fielded a couple calls from the office about technology issues related to the presentation happening in the conference room.  Luckily, I was able to find a spot outside where the cell signal managed to come through.  You won't see the little Verizon guy anywhere near Bradley!  No, he can't hear you now.