Pearson onscreen platform installation woes

[kennysarmy]

I got caught by the issue with the proxy being entered with the slash as shown in the example in the documentation - luckily I found this thread and fixed the issue myself by editing the xml file on the server. I'd already emailed a screenshot of the "administrator dashboard" showing an error to Pearson and this was there reply!

 

Thank you for your email.

 

After looking at your screenshot I can see that your port 443 is definitely showing as blocked.

 

You will need to speak to your local authority to open this port for you and to allow bi-directional access for this port to allow the programme to work in an out.

 

Once they have opened this for you then you will be able to run this programme.

[Boredguy]

Yeah no issues in running the exams. Just a pain you have to manually set up each client to point to the the invigilator computer.

 

Although we just have it in one room at the moment so not a massive issue at the moment.

 

We just have a single user account designed just for it and have that set up to point to the relevant invigilator account.

 

So far I've just deployed it out to a single invigilator computer and test computer, but I did not provide the invigilator computer name for the client, and when I ran the software as a student it brought up a list of the invigilator computers that they can connect to that session. Might help with automated deployment... I'll find out tomorrow once the rest of the room installs.

[mikejay]

Hi anyone else using this software with lan ranger ? as we have been having problems trying to get it working reliably ready for btec tests. We use one login account that is locked down for online testing and exams it has a mandatory group profile from ranger we are using win7 pro. But when we run demo tests 50% fail just after confirming the candidate name as it is loading the green bar at the top they fail at random percentages then the edi exe crashes. Today I have set the application data folder in ranger to redirect to the users home drive and ran 25 demo tests successfully first time. I then tried a few more demo tests on the machines with no problems they worked first time but as soon as I rebooted the machine we got them failing again on first login. Logoff and open test player and it opened correctly but already logged in to the previous failed attempt. Also deleting the local profile and doing the rediscover works again. Are we going to have to delete the local profile every time we do any tests?

[jonspurs]

We're about to do a test on Thursday and apparently they have done an upgrade over the summer - has anyone heard the same? I've already done an upgrade before...just...argh!!!

[dhoward_westexetc]

We're about to do a test on Thursday and apparently they have done an upgrade over the summer - has anyone heard the same? I've already done an upgrade before...just...argh!!!

 

There was an upgrade released last week. We have tests due in November/December so have applied it.

[mpatkts]

The last I heard from Pearson was that the upgrade had been delayed (30 Sept 2014) and I have had no information since! I have complained bitterly to Pearson several times about their continued upgrades as it involves such a lot of work but they continue to ignore me. At least our PE department are no longer doing the BTEC course which was equally abysmal as the software!

[Sam_Brown]

I don't bother applying the upgrades until a few days before the tests. We only run them every so often and seems pointless doing them as soon as they come out just to end up probably having to upgrade again just before running the tests anyway.

[dhoward_westexetc]

The last I heard from Pearson was that the upgrade had been delayed (30 Sept 2014) and I have had no information since! I have complained bitterly to Pearson several times about their continued upgrades as it involves such a lot of work but they continue to ignore me. At least our PE department are no longer doing the BTEC course which was equally abysmal as the software!

 

Yes, I had the same email, but they released it last week sometime and did not circulate an email. So it was released totally unannounced.

[Sam_Brown]

Same here. Last e-mail I have from POP is dated 26th September.

[Linfit]

The upgrade is available. For those people struggling to find it, the link for it is on page 10 of the pdf of the installation guide which is on the Onscreen testing for next generation BTEC Firsts page of the website.

Link to pdf is http://www.edexcel.com/iwantto/Documents/Pearson%20Onscreen%20Platform%20LAN%20Indepth%20Guide.pdf

I had to ring them to find this out. I did point out that perhaps putting the link and the announcement of a new version in a more obvious place on the website might be a good idea but that doesn't seem to have occurred to them. Much of the other documentation on the web site relates to the old version and if you read it to check which version number is current its still showing the old version as up to date, which it isn't.

We did manage to do a test last Friday for 20 BTEC Sport students with only one issue though - which is amazing for us. Oh, and the installation guide is well worth a read - note the requirement for the local time to be overruled, which must be a joy for overseas centres using a proper network.

[slinky]

Hi All,

Done the upgrade last week but now get error when I go and run Administrator Dashboard or Invigilator Dashboard saying "The version of ID cannot be verified error" and not having much luck with support.

 

Just seeing if anyone is ok or having the same problem.

Edited October 22, 2014 by slinky

[Sam_Brown]

As well as the clients... Is there an upgrade for the server side of things as well?

[Linfit]

You upgrade the server side and this dumps upgrades for the invigilator console and the clients on the server. The invigilator console and the clients will pick up the update from the server the first time they are run and upgrade themselves. This process worked OK for us this time.

[jonspurs]

Thanks for your replies.

"Update" went fine. For better control of the software, I didn't let them auto update from the server but I:

 

1. I just uninstalled the server and installed the new version.

2. Got the new MSIs dumped out from the server.

3. Uninstalled the old admin, invigilator and test software from PCs.

4. Deployed new MSIs from step 2.

5. Called Pearson and arranged for a test and all was fine.

[lholland421]

@slinky did you have any luck with the error you had? i have just upgraded the server and now getting the same error as you on our admin dashboard.

 

 

thanks

[kennysarmy]

I've just upgrade the Server - re-created the Apps folder - ran the Administrator Console on two clients which prompted for the new version - installed OK.

 

However when I go to logon it says:

 

"Unexpected error occured, please try again later or contact support"

 

(Note the misspelling of occurred! too)

 

Any ideas?

[deKay]

Hello. Guess what we need to install...

 

I have the server bit installed, and the admin dashboard. However, when I try to log in on the admin dashboard, I get "Unexpected error occured". Looking at our internet logs, it's because the software is trying to connect through our proxy (yes, I've set that up as per this thread - removing the slash and everything!), but can't - because it won't supply a username and password.

 

Anyone know where to configure this? There's nothing in the .config XML file to do so, and The Internet says you can't in the .Net config file anyway.

 

I've tried running the exam service as a valid username/password combo, but it doesn't seem to pick up that either.

 

Any ideas? I've tried contacting Pearson using the help form on btecng.pearson.com, but the form is submitted to an email address that doesn't exist and it gets bounced back. Incredible.

[timbo343]

I got the unexpected error when i moved from physical to virtual, i needed to install from fresh. For some reason the installed hadnt worked correctly. After uninstalling and reinstalling it was working again.

[deKay]

Pearson don't quite "get it":

 

You are not required by our software to provide the Proxy username and password just the proxy details and the port in the correct format ( the example is where you enter the proxy).

 

[CyberDrac]

It may seem obvious to many, but I just thought that I'd add it here, if your clients machines running the Test Player can't talk to the Invigilator machine (in particular the tests when you launch the player) double check the DNS entry is correct for the Invigilator machine. We're probably unusual in having a system whereby a client will pick up a quarantine address and then authenticate using 802.1x to get a proper address, and for one reason or another some of our DNS entries retain the quarantine address and don't update it resulting in a DNS entry with an invalid IP address. [discovered after installing, uninstalled, reinstalling messing around with client firewalls and all manner of other things]

[gillop]

All installed fine until I got to the last test question (the one with the video) - No Video.

 

It acts as if it plays but nothing seen, we have a Citrix XenApp estate, the video works fine on a hybrid PC, I saw the post above about this in April, and it's still not resolved.

 

I've logged a call with Pearson, but they've passed it up to the developers and that was a week ago!

 

My back up plan is to take an ICT suite out for a week and downgrade the thin clients to hybrids, I hope they resolve it before then!

[Sam_Brown]

I've just upgrade the Server - re-created the Apps folder - ran the Administrator Console on two clients which prompted for the new version - installed OK.

 

However when I go to logon it says:

 

"Unexpected error occured, please try again later or contact support"

 

(Note the misspelling of occurred! too)

 

Any ideas?

 

Getting this today. Any idea of how you fixed it?

[gillop]

It doesn't work with Citrix, so we are going with our backup plan of convert an ICT suite to hybrids, which means it's out of commission for a week! 😕

[Sam_Brown]

Getting this today. Any idea of how you fixed it?

 

Tried uninstalling, reinstalling etc and no luck. Installed a fresh install on another server and it runs fine. What a load of carp.

[Gaz]

What exactly is POP? We are still using Promissor for Functional Skills.