SteveB_NI

Sorry I should also explain that the fibre connection ports are working perfectly at present - it just seems to be the RJ45 ports that are having probs

I was directed to this thread by Aaron (who I've replaced in this school) - your advice Cybernerd was fantastic thanks, but just wondered something I hope someone can help with. This switch suffered a series of power cuts over the stormy weekend, and as such I lost the ability to use the Cat 5 ports on it. I have checked the switch config using putty & found them set to "shutdown" - so I set them to undo shut down & saved changes. Unfortunately still no lights on these ports when I connect a cable to them. Can you advise if there is anything else I need to check? Thanks!

Unfortunately I can't have a trust set up between the managed service network & our own internal network. I can't scrap the managed service network as it's government provided & as such is used for SIMS etc within the school, not to mention the provision of an allocation of workstations / laptops dependent on our pupil intake numbers. This is due for a refurb soon. The other internal network has been built up over the years & is actually in a more advanced state now than the managed service network. This gives us the opportunity to thoroughly expand our network workstation capacity without the significantly inflated costs imposed by the managed service. I am also aware that in the current job situation it is preferable (from my perspective) to maintain my own network in house. If I were to scrap that network it would seriously decrease our workstation capacity, and I think that's definitely the wrong way to go. I'm going to prepare some documentation for the start of the 2013 school year & take time out to go into as many classes as possible to describe the network differences to pupils right at the beginning. I'm also considering setting a random password for each user on our legacy network & set it not to expire. I know this isn't ideal for password security, but would hopefully lead to a decrease in password resets (at the moment this is happening 2x networks!)

In my current school I look after 2 different (completely separate) networks. 1 is a managed service provided by a government led scheme here in N.Ireland, and the other network is our own internal (legacy) network. The usernames are the same for pupils on both networks, but the passwords cannot be synched across the two networks - nor can the password be set to "never expire" on the managed service network. I can however set the password to "never expire" on our own internal network. The pupils require access to both systems unfortunately - the majority of subject classes are taught using our internal network equipment, but occassionally classes have to use the managed service network, and this is where the problems arise primarily - they seem incapable of differentiating between the 2 different networks, despite obvious equipment differences / log on prompt differences & even different building locations! I am constantly fighting a losing battle against persistent password changes / locked out accounts due to numerous times trying incorrect passwords - usually they are trying their password for 1 system on the other etc. Anyone have a similar set up in their school (involuntarily or otherwise!) & wish to share their experiences on how to eliviate this confusion? Thanks!

Dammit - I could do with them but I'm in Northern Ireland lol.

Thank you all so much for your help - I followed your instructions Rydenza & it worked perfectly. One job off the list anyway!

Ah ok - thanks. I went into the User Configuration on the OU I have the workstation in & I have added the printer share name but it doesn't seem to be applying when a user logs into that workstation. Does the user configuration have no affect if it's applied to a workstation OU? I thought that when I make a user configuration group policy it would affect anyone that logs onto that station?

I'm still stuck here unfortunately... I tried to put \\wb-mm01\HP602-Study into the DNS field & it's not applied. When I found out the actual DNS name from the server it applied ok but again treated it like printing direct from the client to the printer IP / DNS. Yet when I'm at the client & I browse to \\wb-mm01\HP602-Study it applies perfectly & also goes via the server to be chargeable... but not for any other users.

Thanks Enjay - I can follow that right until the GPO assignment step... I don't fully understand what you mean here unfortunately. In GPO Computer Configuration > Preferences > Printers I have chosen new TCP/IP printer... I get the options to create / update / replace etc. I think this is where I'm going wrong - I put in the printer IP address at this stage, and give it a "friendly" local name, and the printer path. The printer applies ok when the workstation is restarted, but again it seems to be adding the pc via IP address instead. Thanks!

I was wondering could anyone give me some advice with regard to deploying printers using GPO? Windows Server 2008R2 with Win7 clients. I have been able to add the printer (via IP) to GPO & it applies to the workstation - so it appears whenever people log in. The problem is however that we use Print Manager to manage our printing costs / credits, and as the GPO applies it currently it's not tracking it. It appears to be installing the printer "locally" as it were rather than using the network. When I browse on the Win7 client to the server & double click on the actual printer it adds it fine & is chargeable whenever I go to print through this one, but the printer that's allocated via GPO whilst being the same printer is not chargeable. Does that make sense? Sorry if it doesn't! Can you give me some advice here please? Thanks!

I agree - nice & handy freebie - problem is I wouldn't be able to take it home on the plane with me due to the sharp objects lol!

Sorry should have clarified - I'm arriving at Heathrow on Fri night but staying overnight at a hotel nearby. Hoping to not have to go near Heathow on the Sat... I wonder if I could purchase the day ticket on the Fri but not use it until the Sat.

I'm having to travel in from Heathrow on the Saturday morning - I was wondering if I can purchase a 1 day travelcard from a bus driver (1st part of the journey is a bus ride to Hounslow West Underground station) or do I have to wait & purchase the ticket at Hounslow West?

I'm hoping someone will be able to point me in the right direction here towards a fix for this bizarre issue! If a student designs something in SolidWorks 2012 Student edition, they have to save as SLDPRT file extension as they can't save as STL on the student version. To get the STL a user has to use SolidWorks eDrawings 2012, and open the SLDPRT file, and convert to STL. All measurements retain their dimensions in "mm" at this point. When the user then tries to open their STL file in QuickCam Pro 2D the dimensions have magically jumped to "inches" & even whenever the dimensions are changed back the same drawing never looks right. Anyone got any ideas? I'm wondering if an upgrade to QuickCam Pro 2D will solve this but can't find an external floppy drive for the licence file!

I've got my eye on getting a HP 602 LaserJet printer, but as with everything there are several variations... 1 is the HP 602DN which includes an automatic duplex feature, and the base model is the HP 602N which doesn't include duplex feature as standard. I'm undecided as to whether the duplex feature at roughly £150 extra is worth it. It's for a 6th form study area, & I'm trying to work out whether I would actually want duplex if I was a student using the equipment! So question is - to duplex or not to duplex?

The refurbished 4200 is an idea I'll look into - thanks! We have a large number of 4200s, and even a few 4000's here, and I agree - one of the best printers you can get. I would rather not go down the photocopier road as that could lead to additional responsibilities for all photocopying here lol!

I am on the lookout for a new printer for our refurbished sixth form study, particularly as it's approaching coursework mad printing season! I'm a big fan of HP laserjets, and would ideally like an HP4015 but they seem to be discontinued now... but I've been suggested an HP Enterprise 600 M602N Laser as an alternative, with a 24k page yield toner option available. Has anyone got experience of this model, or can suggest anything that's efficient in costs to run? Thanks

I'm just looking into prices now to get across from N.Ireland to the BETT show... debating going for a few nights (work will pay for 1 night accomodation + flights + travel costs) and I'll pay for an extra night etc.... can't decide whether to go for 1 night or 2 lol!

That's great - thank you very much! Got it working today using GPO - much better solution. Cheers for your help!

Thanks for that - can someone please confirm whether the CPA-W221NM is a portable projector, or does it have to be mounted?

I'm having issues setting up a printer start up script within a group policy on Windows Server 2008R2 & enforcing it on Windows7 client. Basically the original set up when I came here was a WinXP client within a certain "place" on GP, obtains a startup script called "setprint". This in turn creates a "setprint.vbs" file on the client within C:\Windows\ I've now got a number of Win7 pcs - so I moved a test one into the same place in GP & it's successfully pulled down the script & put it within C:\Windows\ but that's as far as it goes... it doesn't run within Windows 7 - even when I log on with full admin rights. Is there something I'm missing here that's obvious? The printer info is held on another server & can be connected to by the new Win7 pc, but obviously whenever I log on as another user that printer addition can only be seen by me. Is there a better solution?

I would ideally like an Epson but they don't seem to have anything portable for Short throw or indeed ultra short throw... they all appear to have to be mounted. I'll look into the Hitachi model though so thanks!

I was wondering if anyone can let me know if this idea will work ok, or even has any suggestions on brands / projectors to use... I would like to order a portable projector which can be used for presentations / events around the school in various locations... occasionally even having to project onto painted white brick wall. Now here's where I have no experience... I would ideally like it to be a short throw projector which can be pretty much situated at the base of the screen / wall & reduce the need for trailing cables or indeed for the projector to be put into the "middle" of the front row audience! Not only that but I would prefer it to be wireless to allow for iPad / android tablet projection.... although we do have an AppleTV so that's not really a big issue at present. Any ideas if this is even possible? A lot of short throw projectors seem to require mounting on a wall or overhead... they don't seem to be that portable!

Anthony - I know I definitely didn't turn DNS Scavenging off - would this have been possibly caused by a server reboot? I don't even know how to look for that one! Sted - flush DNS didn't work unfortunately

I've got a problem here on Server 2008R2 I'm hoping someone can give me pointers on how to resolve... Our servers got reset over half term due to power failure, and since then I've noticed a few problems with our web filtering software in particular, but I'd put that down to user error... today however I've discovered that my workstation - is named STL-001, but is actually appearing as STL-140 whenever I use nslookup within Cmd prompt on my machine. I'm assuming that it is to do with the DHCP server not updating the DNS when allocating addresses.... it appears to be giving the stations incorrect DNS records? Does that make sense? If so - how do I go about resolving this? Newbie to Server 2008R2 so excuse my ignorance! Thanks!