Rawns

Not actually available until the end of the month when my new rig will be up and running, but when that happens, I shall be selling my existing CPU, mobo & Ram as a 'package'. My existing case is broken and I shall be keeping my GPU for the time being so just to be clear, it's the CPU, Mobo and RAM only . AMD Athlon X2 5200+ @ 2.60GHz CPU ASUS M2N4-SLI Motherboard OCR DDR2-6400 400MHz RAM Worked a treat since I've had it. Could be stuck into a case and used as a server, media center etc. Picture to follow soon... Sensible offers welcome.

I'm on the scrounge for 4 SATA cables. Anyone have any going? I'll happily cover P&P.

I have a similar one at home for the mornings. Set up the night before, enable timer, wake up to hot coffee. It's also a great way to kickstart the weekends! If your super lazy, and like white coffee, mix two teaspoons of coffeemate with the ground coffee.

Did "Nutgobbler" ever find you?

Seems to be quietening down on the DayZ front. Other people just playing other games at the moment I guess? Found an awesome Scaro Lingor 2.0 server yesterday with a high population and vehicle count. Had some great battles on there yesterday!

...and your posting on EduGeek?!

Exactly. Morrisons are going to be creating their own brand of "Tesco Local" stores using these bought Blockbuster stores.

Update: the new case arrived and the quality difference between the Antec Three Hundred Two case and the faulty pile of rubbish is simply astounding! It's rock solid, neat, and looks the business. I'm dead chuffed with it, plus it came with an extra free 120mm case fan!

Or hunt down the rogue user logged in and scream "WHY ARE YOU IN SIMS?! I SENT X NUMBER OF E-MAILS SAYING STAY OUT OF IT TODAY!!!"

You can do this, but there is always ONE user who's connect.ini points directly to the server, and logs in during the migration process! Detaching the databases ensures everyone IS out of SIMS/FMS, and that no one will be able to get back in either!

I've not had an issue where it's gone Pete Tong, but it can be challenging at best. It also depends if the new server has the same name and IP address as the old server. Here is what I do (similar to Capita's solution): Server with the same name: 1. If not present, download and install SQL Management Studio (I usually connect from my own workstation) 2. Restore the latest SOLUS3 BACKUP via SQL management Studio (SOLUS3 cannot be restored using DBAttach) 3. In Management Studio, expand the SOLUS3 Database > Security > Users and delete the 'domain\servername$' user. 4. Manually install the SOLUS3 service on the new server. 5. Manually install the SOLUS3 UI on the new server. 6. Run the SOLUS3 UI & re-register the site in the new UI. 7. Now to get the SOLUS3 agent installed onto the new server. In Management Studio, expand the SOLUS3 database > Tables, right click and select edit top 200 rows for the SOLUS3.Agent table. Find the old server in the list and in the agent_status cell for the old server, change the value from 2 (Offline) to 16 (Install Failed) and save. 8. In the SOLUS3 UI, under the SOLUS3 Agents screen, the old server's status should now be listed as 'Install Failed' allowing you to highlight it and click on Reinstall Agent. SOLUS3 will now reinstall the agent onto the new server and you won't lose any links that have been set up in the your environment. Server with a new name: 1. If not present, download and install SQL Management Studio (I usually connect from my own workstation) 2. Restore the latest SOLUS3 BACKUP via SQL management Studio (SOLUS3 cannot be restored using DBAttach) 3. In Management Studio, expand the SOLUS3 Database > Security > Users and delete the 'domain\servername$' user. 4. Manually install the SOLUS3 service on the new server. 5. Manually install the SOLUS3 UI on the new server. 6. Run the SOLUS3 UI & change the Deployment Service Host Computer and Update Repository to point to the new server. 7. Re-register the site in the new UI. 8. Install the SOLUS3 Agent when prompted. 9. In Management Studio, expand the SOLUS3 database > Tables, right click and edit top 200 rows for the SOLUS3.Agent table. Find the old server in the list and make a note of the GUID for the server name and copy this. 10. Go to c:\program files\Solus3\AgentService and edit the following file Sims.Solus3.Agent.AgentService.exe.config 11. Find where is says

I've moved various SIMS instances in schools within our LA for them (Including sites with SOLUS3 and Discover too). The basic steps are (assuming you do NOT have Discover or SOLUS3): 1. Detach all databases on old server, stop and disable the SQL and Docstorage services, disable the B2B scheduled tasks if you use B2B. 2. Raname the old server and assign it a temporary IP address 3. Get the new server online (keep the server name and IP the same as the old one if you can) 4. Install SQL on new server 5. Map a drive from the old server to the new one and copy the old Microsoft SQL Server folder to the root of C:/D: of the new server, copy SIMSAREA and DOCSTORAGE folders across to your data drive on the new server. 6. Set up the new SIMSAREA share on the new server, map the S: drive on the new server 7. Run SIMSSQLApplicationSetup.exe to install the SIMS SQL components into the new Binn folder 8. Run DBAttach and attach the SIMS database thats in the old SQL server directory. 9. Run FMSSQLApplicationSetup.exe to install the FMS SQL components into the new Binn folder 10. Run the FMS DBattach and attach the FMS database. 11. Run SIMSInst.exe and install SIMS .net and the Docstorage server components. 12. Run FMSInst.exe and install the FMS client. 13. Run both and test they work. (Update the Docstorage server name in SIMS .net if your new server has a different name to the old) That's the basics of it. Obviously there is more detail to it which I'm happy to go into, and more steps if you have Discover and/or SOLUS3 installed too.

Thanks for pointing this out @Geoff, had no idea!

Do they connect to the network at all? If they do, you can export the SOLUS3 agent installer in the S3 UI. This will allow manual installation of the agent onto the laptops in question. Once they are are plugged into the network, they 'should' connect to the SOLUS3 deployment server (firewall and DNS permitting). You can then add them to the appropriate channel (SIMS Workstation) and then deploy the client to them.

I'm getting my first SSD in a few weeks and will be doing a clean Win 7 O/S install onto it. I'm very excited as I've seen them in action and the speed machines boot up and load things is incredible. One thing I've not heard anyone talk about is the need to/not to defrag them? Does anyone know if an intermittent defrag is still needed on an SSD drive? Due to the way they read/write, does defraging actually shorten their life expectancy? And with the speed of SSD's will defraging make any noticeable difference to machine performance?

I'm aware of a few school in our LA who have put it on test machines/tech admin machines, and some who have put the SIMS client onto it. I could imagine once the spring release comes out, it could be deployed to staff. We're testing SIMS on Windows 8 at the moment in preparation for that first call of "SIMS is broken, I'm on Windows 8!"...

Can't say for sure as I'm on 5.1.1 still (Jailbroken), but when I was helping the old man set up his new iPad and I connected it to iTunes, you could choose between a local backup or iCloud backup. Maybe this is enabled on yours? Slightly OT, but where did you go to get jailbroken to 6.1? Is it a untethered jailbreak? Been waiting to do mine for a while...

Yea, really wish I went for this one first off now! Oh well, hopefully it arrives in one piece this time!!!

Some of the bits in Origins T's & C's were really worrying. I'm sure one of them was something along the lines of "You agree to let EA scan your computer and collect information on system, application and file data". That one caused an uproar and convinced Steam fanboys to completely turn away from Battlefield 3 and EA. Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-11-01-ea-denies-origin-spying-on-battlefield-3-users

I hated having to install Origin just to play Battlefiled 3... only to find my rig was not up to it. I was 'hoping' that EA and Valve would make up and shake hands. Alas that dream came to noting. I've not bought an EA game since. Close the tread. That's it - game, set and match. :

2X is an excellent RDP client that works awfully well, and is free! I use it at home to access my media centre on the occasions I need to reboot it/perform housekeeping etc.

the Antec All Black 302 Three Hundred Two Case wins. I was going to go for the Fractual case but it does not have free delivery on Ebuyer, so I may as well put the postage cost towards the Antec.

Well, it's between these to I think: Fractal Design Core 3000 Case | Ebuyer.com Antec All Black 302 Three Hundred Two Case | Ebuyer.com

I haven't actually. That piece of rubbish I originally ordered is being collected today and should have a refund by the end of the week. Need to sit down and look through the thread and pick one! ...which I'll do now whilst I'm on lunch!!!

Not of much use to you, but an idea to implement maybe? In my old place of work, our helpdesk solution had a built in knowledge base. What was really good was that users could self-log their own calls online, but before they could continue, it would list suitable knowledge base articles based on the problem they were logging. It would "advise" users to try the KB solution in the first instance, but even better was that once the call was logged, we could actually see if the user actually opened any of the recommended KB solutions. Then when we rang them and asked "did you try this KB solution?" and they said "yes", we could say "LIES!!!!!" (in a more polite way) and send them back to the original recommended KB page which would usually fix their problem.