Troubleshooting and Workarounds

(image from colourbox.com)

Spent part of the day today working at one of our early childhood sites.  The teacher had two main issues to be addressed: the IEP program (SEAS) was acting erratically and she had a computer in another classroom that needed to be able to print to the multi-function imager in the main classroom.

I upgraded Adobe Reader, which is what the IEP software is based on. We had switched her to Firefox earlier because IE was having issues with SEAS (computerautomation.com). In my opinion, the folks at SEAS need to get away from using Acrobat forms online as their primary tool. It's an ugly mess.  In any case, I updated java as well, just for grins.  The issue with Firefox appears to be that the program wants to open the PDF but it also wants Reader to open the file. Either way, it's ugly.

So, I switched her back to IE until that breaks. Not pretty, but it works.

The other issue was supposed to be straight forward: install a printer that resides on the network.  Popped in the CD, ran the install, and came to a screeching halt.  The installer acted as if I didn't have permissions to install, but never quite came out to say that.  I checked the user permissions, and this user is a local admin on the machine.

Time to regroup.

I opened the CD and found the 'CLIENT' folder. Inside, I found the various flavors of printing languages.  I opted for PCL6 since that is what we usually run.  In that folder, I found my friend, SETUP.  I ran it without incident. After printing a test page, I confirmed that everything was working as planned.  Why I had to run the setup for the specific language, I have no idea.

I spent a pretty nice chunk of time on the phone with one of the area school techs. One of the services I provide is that of sounding board. I have to say, it is a great feeling to know that the people I work with in varying capacities trust my input and insight. I think it is partly due to my ability to think of ideas and possible solutions in ways most folks never dream. Some would say, "Thinking outside the box." I prefer to call it, "Thinking outside of the ballpark."  That is, sometimes, I approach problems from such a wild direction that the ideas actually make sense once they are brought to light.  Naturally, this is not foolproof. There have been plenty of times where the "idea from left field" flies very far foul.  I am very blessed that the folks I work with often see those mistakes as "learning opportunities" and/or discovering ways NOT to do something.

Tuesday, Feb 21, 2012

Restarted the Firewall. Having issues with ISA Server 2006.  Put in a HEAT ticket with DIS.  They called and said problem looked to be local.

Went to Hope ECH and ran new network wire. Will install wireless later this week.

Answered phone calls and emails.  More troubleshooting on ISA Server.  Restart Firewall service.

Spent 20 minutes on phone with woman from Connecticut regarding technology department restructuring. She got my name from AESA contacts during the Colo Springs conference.  VERY cool conversation!  I hope my thoughts were helpful. 

More troubleshooting ISA.

After poking around, I managed to come across a weird situation another admin had whereby the UPS into which the core switch was plugged had errant power flow problems.  We have been having a battery issue with one of our UPS units, so I moved the plug from that UPS to another. So far, so good. I'm not holding my breath, though. We'll just have to see.  In the meantime, I had already ordered a replacement battery, so that's now on my priority list for Wednesday!

I just hope that was the fix.  If not, it looks like the NIC in that server may be going out. That won't be fun.

I swapped a telephone set in early childhood - theirs was showing the worng button programming. usually that is a software issue. In this case, though, the phone itself is.. wonky.

This afternoon, I am heading to Prescott to help with IDEAS logins, etc.  Then tonight, I am talking to the Prescott school board about e-rate.

Thursday and Friday, maybe

October 21 and 22

Thursday, I met with the tech who helps out with our phone system.  He showed me how to re-record our "night mode" greeting, but more importantly, he fixed our voicemail system so that when it is in "night mode," the calls go to the primary phone instead of the extension that USED to be the primary phone.

We also discussed the voicemail system.  We have an original hard drive-based system, and the hard drive is making unpleasant noises.  That just means it is a matter of time before it finally dies and we have to replace it with an updated flash drive-based system.  He's getting me a quote on that.

General daily duties followed, so far as I can remember.

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Friday - I met with our DL Coordinator, Trish, at Prescott to look at their DL issues.  They had a lot of packet loss, but AT&T said the problem was local.  After classes ended for first period, we unplugged the switch in the telco cabinet and we unplugged the power to the codec.  After a few moments, we restored power to both places and let things run.  Since there was no second period class, we asked the facilitator to take notes and see if the problems persisted.

From Prescott, Trish and I drove to Genoa to look at their television.  After a power outage, the TV would not display the distance learning sites.  When we arrived, we met for about 30 minutes with the HS Principal about the system, Target Testing, and a brief talk about classroom walkthroughs using the iPad.  He has one now, and wanted help getting it set up.  We couldn't do that (did not have login info) but we said we would find out the info and get back to him!

After that, we went to the DL room and I was able to get the TV working after playing with the menus a bit.

I spent part of Friday afternoon working on my boss' home set up (same cable modem issues) to work remotely.  After a bit of troubleshooting, we knew it was a cabling issue.  Turned out to be an INSIDE cabling issue, which is a bummer since I could have fixed that had I thought about it for a few moments.

Monday, Monday, Monday!

After spending the weekend feeling as if I had been run over by a monster truck or two (read, sick!), I got to work this morning, checked in for the layout of the day, then headed to Texarkana for a supply run.

I never really thought buying some "knick-knack" shelves (for video cameras) and a few cables would be such an adventure.  I started the trip at Home Depot.  Did you know Home Depot does not carry anything shorter than 23.5" in the way of shelves?  I didn't.  In fact, I think they used to.  Oh, well. I figured I would try another store.

I went to Best Buy to look for an S-Video extension cable, a couple of VGA extensions, and to see if *they* happened to have shelving for speakers (that I could use for video cameras).  They did not have an S-Video extension.  In fact, they only had a 6-foot standard one.  So, I bought two VGA extensions I needed and a small switch for the Sympodium cabinet (way too many network connections wrapped up in one unit for me!). 

After Best Buy, I drove over to Lowe's to look for shelving. I actually found a two-pack for $20 that had two black shelves with hardware for mounting it "bracketlessly" to the wall. Very slick!  I picked up two of those and headed for Radio Shack.

I arrived before Radio Shack opened, so I checked my phone messages and had one from an area tech.  I returned the call and he was having trouble getting some users to log in to his Novell network.  He said users could log in to "Workstation Only (WSO)" mode. I suggested that he have one of the WSO users login in using the Novell system tray icon once they were logged in to WSO mode.  It worked - the users could read mapped drives and get to Groupwise.  Now that we had a way for users to function, the next step was to isolate the problem.  I said that I thought the problem was either in a login script or was happening as part of the login process.  He told me that some users had received an anti-virus message that a couple files on the server were infected.  It's important to note that not all users were having trouble logging in.  Because the users could login through WSO (which runs scripts as part of logging in), I had eliminated the login scripts as the culprit.  The tech said he would call me back later.

Though Radio Shack did not have an S-Video extension cable, they did have an S-Video coupler, which would serve the same purpose. 

I got back to the co-op and worked with Josh to install the shelves in the Conference room, do some cable management and get wires ready for the Panduit I have coming.  After that, we worked on the Distance Learning room.  From there, I began moving telephone lines around in the telco closet.  We've been having trouble with the fire alarm/security system and the elevator not playing nicely with each other.  So, like a teacher in a classroom, I separated everyone.  The elevator is now on its own line and the security system is on two completely different lines than it used to be.  I had never used a 66-block punchdown tool before.  It's not quite the same as a 110-punch.  I kept getting the wire turned sideways, so it wouldn't cut.  I finally showed it who was in charge.  It wasn't me.  Just kidding.

I spent the rest of the day checking email and answering phone calls (which amounted to about 30 minutes total.  It was a full day!)

08/14/2010

7a-7p - Moved items from old location to new.

On Saturday, the 14th, a TON of folks showed up at the co-op (both sites) to help get things moved.  We started at 7am and worked all day with a pizza break for lunch (Thank you, Lindy and Phoebe!) and then at 3pm, everyone was released to head for the house.  I stayed on in order to work with BCS (phones).  Though my plan was to patch in phone and data, things took a little longer than I had anticipated, so by 7pm, I simply ran out of steam.

By far and away, the hardest part of Saturday (for me) was dismantling the equipment in the old Conference Room.  We have an original Smart Sympodium cart.  It has been around so long, I can't even find an accurate picture of one online! I need to take  picture for posterity.  It is big and bulky and weighs a TON!  Okay, maybe not a ton, but a good could hundred pounds.  Good thing it is on casters.  The cabinet not only houses the electronics for the Sympodium (a Smart Board in a lectern, basically) but it also houses the distance learning equipment for the conference room.  The weight of the thing doesn't compare to the sheer number and bulk of the wiring attached to it.  And all those wires (cameras, power, video, sound, data, etc) ran through the ceiling grid.  Over the years, other wires had also been strung up there, so everything was "a hot mess," as some folks say.  With my assistant's help, though, we eventually got everything we needed (for the most part. I plan to have our Smart rep move some of the other equipment).

There is still lots to do, but I cannot believe how quickly the majority of the equipment, furniture, and "stuff" got moved.  Amazing.