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PrimaryTech

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  1. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, If any of you out there are still using tape drives (we are, but in conjuction with online and NAS backup storage too) how often do you use a cleaning tape on them? Currently our LTO drive gets the cleaning tape every Monday morning and the drive does 5 backups a week plus a Saturday monthly. Do I need to be cleaning it every week? I only ask as I've got to order a new cleaning tape and I don't want to order / use more than I really have to.
  2. PrimaryTech
    OK, did a bit more testing and found the following: When the PC's are turned on in the morning, after 5 minutes they will go to sleep I can tell the PC to go to sleep either at the start menu when logged in or using the power button at the login screen Once a PC is in sleep state it stays there until it's woken by a user (So I don't think it's an optical mouse issue) However, once a user logs on, does their work and then logs off, the PC will not sleep after the alloted period of time I'm a little stuck as to what to do next, any more suggestions would be great!
  3. PrimaryTech
    Yep, a quick gpresult query shows that the defined GPO is being applied. There are 2 other Group Policies being applied, but neither of these have any power settings configured.
  4. PrimaryTech
    Hi All, I'm trying to set our Vista clients to 'sleep' after 5 minutes of inactivity (cost cutting). I've set group policy under Computer config > Admin Templates > System > Power Management > Sleep Settings so that 'Specify the System Sleep Timout' is enabled and set to 300 seconds and 'Allow Standby States S1-S3 When Sleeping' is enabled. Despite this, they do not sleep. Group policy is fine as our start menus and desktops are redirected via GPO fine. Any ideas on what may be stopping them from entering a sleep state? The NICs are set up to allow WoL so I can script them to turn on / shut down, could this be a cause?
  5. PrimaryTech
    Hi All, I'm looking into our school's password policy and I want to set AD policies for staff and some KS2 classes so that their password expires / must be a certain length etc. A bit of research has told me that Windows Server 2000 / 2003 only allows 1 password policy, defined in the default domain policy. I can't use it as I don't think our KS1 pupils will cope with changing their PW every 30 days, it not being the same as the last 10 and being complex Does anyone know any good third party tools for multiple password policies, I've had a look at the Specops solution but I think it might be a tad expensive.
  6. PrimaryTech
    Cheers nephilim, I'm hoping to set up a small website for downloads, changelog, all that stuff once it's been made slightly more user friendly. The problem I have is that I developed most of it at home but I've made changes to it whilst at work using school hardware / software. Ideally I'd like to release it under GNU GPL. Do you think it would be wise to ask my LA where they stand on the issue?
  7. PrimaryTech
    Yes, from scratch. Also, I was not asked to make it, I made it to make my job of assessing ICT easier.
  8. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, This might not be the right sub-forum to post this but here goes. I've developed a simple Access database that allows pupils to self-assess their ICT work (Primary school setting). I've developed the database both at home and at work and I'm not sure whether interlectual property rights belong to me, my school or the LA? I'd like to release the database template into the public domain for others to use (non-profit), will I have any legal issues? Sorry it's a bit long and a bit fuzzy!
  9. PrimaryTech
    Cheers for the help guys, this one caused me days of pain. There was a couple of old server links on the desktop but removing them didn't solve the issue. No DNS or DHCP issues so I checked the event logs on a few PC's. Turns out the clients we're looking for the appdata folder on the old server via folder redirection (Vista clients). Had to change the path in folder redirection and then bin off any user profiles on the clients. All working nice and snappy now!
  10. PrimaryTech
    Cheers for the help guys, Managed to get a fresh install of Server 2008 installed and migrated the SIMS.net system, including migrating from SQL 2005 to 2008. And it only took one day, inbetween taking classes
  11. PrimaryTech
    Hi all I have just gone through the process of demoting one of our DC's, we used to have a 2 DC setup and now we're are down to one. The demotion went fine and the defunct server has been taken off the network, but since then opening certain programs / web links takes ages on the client PC's. The clients are Vista and they get their start menus and desktops from folder redirection. All the folders redirect fine. Has anybody else encountered a problem like this? I think it may have something to do with programs looking for the defunct server as an open / save location. Sorry it's a bit woolly but I'm at a bit of a loss!
  12. PrimaryTech
    Thanks for the support guys, spoke nicely to our SLT and they agreed a fresh install would be best so I'm doing some server juggling and I should have a server to start afresh with Server 2008 (not R2 though:) )
  13. PrimaryTech
    I do want to do it inline, Ideally I'd do a clean build but currently we don't have the time to do that so I'm looking at the 'pop-in-the-CD-and-click-upgrade' option
  14. PrimaryTech
    Hi All, My school currently has 2x 2k3 DC's and a 2k member server that hosts the SIMS.net and FMS databases. I've been told by my LA that I need to upgrade the SIMS machine to Server 2k3. I've done upgrade installs before on Server 2k member servers but never with an SQL database. Is there anything extra I should be doing before the upgrade? I'm assuming I'll have to stop the MSQL services and make sure no-one is connected to SIMS or FMS.(I'll be taking a full disk image of the server and SIMS.net backups, plus copying all data to a backup server.) Thanks in advance
  15. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, Has anybody got any recommendations of suppliers that could supply 16 netbooks and a suitable charging trolley? I've spoken to Stone and NS Optimum but could do with another couple to contact to satisfy my head / governors of best value. PS we're looking at netbooks along the line of the Samsung NB30, if anyone has any comments about them (good or bad) I'd be interested!! Thanks in advance!
  16. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, Currently at one of the schools I work at we are upgrading our classroom PC's and monitors and I've got a question about aspect ratios. Currently our PC's are connected to a Lindys VGA splitter, with a projector onto a smartboard as one display and a standard monitor the other. I'd like to get widescreen monitors for the new PC's but when I tested the setup with a widescreen it stretched the monitor image. The res needs to be a 4:3 standard for the smartboard so my question is this: Is there a piece of software out there that will put a 4:3 res on a widescreen display with Horizontal black bars either side? The intel graphics suite with the desktops does have a maintain aspect ratio setting but this only appears to be for the widescreen, IE horizontal bars??
  17. PrimaryTech
    Hi all Currently one of my school's is running 2 DC's, a W2K3 PDC and a W2K BDC. Recently the FRS has not been replicating and I've tried to sort it but have decided to demote the BDC to a member server. PDC holds the GC and all the operations master roles and is the primary DNS server. Bearing in mind that replication is not working would it be better to demote using dcpromo.exe (which will invoke a replication that will probably fail) or remove the BDC from the network and do a forceful demotion and meta data cleanup? What would happen if I just turned the BDC off (it's slated for retirement)? Any help or previous experiences gratefully welcome!!
  18. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, I've got an odd issue with a GPO missing from a Group Policy. I want users to be able to change their desktop backround, though this had been locked down using group policy. I changed all the GPO's that were linked to Display and Control Panel but still couldn't get any joy. After doing a bit of googling it looks like the 'Disable Control Panel' is disabled in User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar. Only problem is I can't find the 'Disable Control Panel' setting in User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar, or in any other part of the group policy editor. I've checked the filtering options and all filtering is off??? Would I be missing an .adm file? Any help would be greatfully received
  19. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, It's that time of year again when staff want to start playing DVD's to the class and I've got a bit of an issue with a few of our PC's. The PC's in question are P4 1.8GHz units with 512mb Ram and plenty of HDD space free. However, when playing DVD's the CPU usage is always between 90 and 100% causing the DVDs to skip. So far I've tried PowerDVD 6, VLC and Media Player Classic but they all do the same. I've also stopped the antivirus whilst playing DVD's but get the same problem. Is the problem that my hardware is not fast enough? Could anyone recommend a resource-light DVD player instead of the aforementioned? Anything else i can try to make the DVDs run smoothly?
  20. PrimaryTech
    Hi all. I've recently purchased a new desktop and I'm in the process of installing Windows 7 and XP in a dual boot configuration. I have the following partions: 200GB for Windows 7 100GB for XP 400GB for data Installed Windows 7 first, all was fine, I can boot into Windows 7, everything works. When installing XP I go through the first few blue screens, select the 100GB partition as the destination and the installation starts copying across files. Once it's copied all the installation files it says it's going to restart. It restarts and I get a 'Disk Read Error - Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart' I cannot continue the installation, so far I've tried 3 different XP disks and every different setting for the SATA mode in BIOS (Compatible, Enhanced etc). Any help would be great, googling gives me info about failing HDD's or scratched media, but all my media is fine and the HDD is brand new.
  21. PrimaryTech
    Hi all, Is anyone using the SWGfL Merlin as their VLE? I'm based in Cornwall and this is what the County will be offering to schools so I wondered if anybody had any experience of using it and any particularly good/bad points. I'm experimenting with Moodle at the moment and quite like it, but I'm concerned about having to train teachers to use one VLE and then re-train them 6 months later for a different VLE. Any opinions welcome!
  22. PrimaryTech
    Has anyone used Ink Emporium (Ink Emporium UK - Refilled and Discount Ink Cartridges) for toner before? They're cheaper than our current suppliers for compatible toner but I'd like to see if anyone can recommend them? Cheers
  23. PrimaryTech
    Can anyone recommend a portable HDD i.e completely USB powered, that is compatible with Windows Complete PC Backup? I need a portable drive to carry around backup images, around the 250-320GB capacity, but it must be compatible with Complete PC Backup. Cheers!
  24. PrimaryTech
    Cheers for the advice guys, I think I'll get a new UPS for the new server, the APC currently only shows 1 light out of 5 for the two servers but the new server is a fair way more powerful than the 2 old Viglens.
  25. PrimaryTech
    Hi All, Can anyone give me a rough guide as to how many servers I can have running on a single APC 1000 smart UPS? Currently I have two servers sat on it running fine but would also like to add our new Dell server to it (and it has 2 psu's for redundancy).
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