TechSupp

Working in primary, at one school where I do the year 1 radio show with them, they call me Mr Magic because I magic things better! Trouble is they now ask if they can still keep calling me Mr Magic when they move up year groups. Recently with the Sats writing papaer they were asked to write about an important/special person...one wrote about me! Got to wait to see that one when it returns from marking!

Just been told I can have a look around for a netbook/laptop for use with my job etc but now not sure what I would like so looking out fr suggestions, first requirement is price so aiming around the £400 mark I suppose. Now other requirements, transport to my various schools is....by bike (thats cycle not motor!) so it would need to be rugged. I like the idea of the Samsungs but could I change the HD for a Solid type drive for that price? Seen the Fizzbooks (now longer batter life) and are quite rugged, but as I say open to suggestions. A large powerfull laptop would also be nice but if I needed to carry it around with me, weight and portability may be an issue so go on give me you best shot with a suggestion.

Setting of the encryption is usefull to know. Got a price of a Ruckus AP, but glad I found out about the AES before setting them all up (once they make a decision about what they want!)

Hmmm..thats something to think about, not really considered that option as I'm in the same boat, need to sort out a trolley of 30 but its the connection that will make or break their success.

What about the Ruckus AP's that are raved about for 30?

Ask Oscar is quite good. I use it and the kids like it which is a bonus. Flexi tree is OK but out of the two I would plump for Ask Oscar.

Probably a driver issue but just imaged a Samsung N130 and all seemed Ok, all working, no crashes etc, added the new network drivers etc but now on shoutdown it hangs for ages at the Windows is Shutting down screen but eventually shuts down as normal. How can I best try and sort this out. Its not connected to the network as yet so thats not the problem (well ist picked up the wireless connection bu t its not set to logon etc or run profiles as yet as this is the master image for the next batch so I want to try and get it right.

Think I have made a problem of my own making in the end. Thought about this on the way home (as you do!). Anyway, As I did not want to change the share name I found details on the net how to remove an existing share name (as it would not let me reassign the existing share name to the reinstalled printer) but don't think I did it entirely correctly as I now think what has happened is that it it now is mapping via the logon script two refferences to the original share name as I must not have removed all refferences. So when they log on it maps two printers (the original and the new) to the same share and they both get loaded. Hence why deleting one deletes the other. No for the fix...it will either be just change the share to a brand new share name and let the script just map out the new printer ( and just deal with any manually mapped printers on laptops which in the first instance I was trying to avoid but there are only a few anyway) or delve into it a bit deeper and find the rouge refs to the old printer and keep the original share name. Think it might be the first option first thing in the morning. This is what happens when you try and sort a problem out before going home knowing that I have a billion and one other jobs to fit in tommorrow! Tech support is so much harder now as the LA has taken over web filtering and most of the technical discussion sites are now blocked which proves really frustrating when a situation like this arises!

Had someone (not going in to details, and it was not me!) delete one of our shared system printers. I've managed to reinstall the printer and share it as before but now I seem to get two printers set up when the client XP PC's logon, the printer is shared and its name on the server is Xerox Phaser 6180DN-9DB7F8 PS. The one which works appears in printers and Faxes as: 'Xerox Phaser 6180DN-9DB7F8 PS on hpserver' Ready on the client The non connected one as 'Phaser 6180DN-9DB7F8 PS on hpserver' Printer not found on Server, unable to connect (Tried to rename the printer on the server and just ended up with the opposite situation, one connected and working one not wanted and not connected!) How do I get rid of the non wanted printer (the non connected one), tried to delete it, it seems to get rid of the one I want top keep then I try again it just says it can't because it does not exist! Help Please!!!!!!!

Just had one board go faulty and they shipped the part to me to replace, was a simple enough job though. Not had a complete board go yet though.

Has anyone got any suggestions for a 'secure' laptop storage unit to store approx 20 laptops. Not too bothered about a charging unit as the laptops spend all their time pluggend in via the AC adaptor these days. Reason is some toad broke in over Easter and bent the front doors of the existing one (padlocked in the middle of the double doors) and lifted the two middle laptops as they were the only ones they could get out through the gap. Would'nt have minded but he was out on bail for breaking in the same school a few days before and trying to nick the large TV they have set up for the Wii!!!!!!!!! Seem to be an easy target as not long before easter they broke in and pulled a projector of the ceiling and took a screen and a wireless point but left the specific AC adaptor! Oh and don't let me forget the current guys mate who broke in was caught by the site manager and just accepted it as a downside to the job! The apparent reason for breaking in to a school was that it gets you less jail time than breaking in to old peoples homes and I thought theft was theft however you looked at it! Sorry ranbled on, but original request for options still stands

I'm in primariy schools as well and managing printing costs is a nightmare. Currently have a few options being used, one has a b+w copier as the main default printer and a colour copier as an option, works well and costs are managable as there are no print per page costs just a fixed cost no matter how much you print b+w. Another just has a colour copier but its defaultsed to B+W and coulour must be selected each time it is wanted. Another has a b+w laser and a colour laser which seems to prove the more expensive option as it all comes out of our budget for PC's etc.! Gone on to buying toner and refilling the printer myself at the moment to reduce costs. Have the print reporting software installed and print off reports to name and shame users but this seems to have an effect for about a day then thay go back to normal.

Thanks for the replies, will try the setres first, forgot about that as I use it already to reset the screen res on login. The Dos_Box one will have to wait as its now blocked here, will have a look at home. As for the updated program, thats interesting, may have to look at that option if sorting out the existing program proves problematic. Thanks

Have a Nursery/Foundation program to install Tizzy's Toybox, an old program but one thats required. Have figured out how to run it without the CD but it needs to run in 256 colours. Any thing I can use to set the colours then run the program then reset the colours back? I know in the short cut I can set compatability to 256 colours which is fine but can't get it to keep that setting when I put the icon in the profile desktop folder to share it out so looking for another way rather than having to do it on each PC which is what I have to have done in the past. Must be some routine I can use in a batch file etc.

We have that one in one of the schools and I just set up a simple share on the server and the path was set for the scan output on the copier, hey presto scanning to a network share so it can be accessed from anywhere.

Thanks, thats just the one I was after, just could not remember the name!

There is someone on here who produces a monthly update pack for XP etc, but for the life of me I can't remember who or find it by searching, anyone help?

Yes, had that final conclusion afetr a day of battling. Fortunately I only changed to this HD at the beginning of Feb and still got the old one all set up, so its just a matter of booting up the old PC and adding the faulty (I decided its the drive!) drive and just grabbing what data I have created between Feb and now. Just got to get the outlook data file mainly, everything else is set up just needs a good clean out (main reason to swap PC's in the first place and it had a larger HD!) Oh well, thanks for the suggestions.

Think the HD has had it as everytime I fix and replace the NTLDR error it returns with a read error which I fix with doing a chkdsk but then end up with the NTLDR error! The vicious circle! Looks like I'll have to start again unless its possible to use xcopy to copy the installation to another drive I have so I can keep it all as its is but on another drive that currently has windows installed and working just no programs and settings etc. Any help on xcopy if I can use it to do that?

Just an update, did the chkdsk /p/r and now faced with the NTLDR is missing message! Any suggestions? In the mentime suppose I'll try googling for options.

Its a flashing cursor not flashing colours, however after investigating various options and putting it in another PC it came up with missing NTLDR messages which I then also investigated along with the fixboot and fixmbr to a stage wher now at boot it just gives a read error! Although put it in another PC and I can browse it etc just not boot from it! Going to look at the chkdsk options now.

Right, just got back from a slightly extended holiday due to the volcano and now faced with my PC that won't boot of the main HD. Worked yesterday fine but this morning after leaving it on overnight it just boots to a flashing cursor and a couple of strange characters in the left hand corner of the screen. Tried the HD in another PC and I can browse the disk fine and run programs data from it. I presume the boot section of the drive has become corrupted, any instructions how to repair this error?

Has anyone got a quick way to remove adobe shockwave and flash from PC's? I have used the shockwave uninstaller standalone but that does not do enough and I have to fully uninstall flash and shockwave from add/remove programs, then reinstall using the msi files for a website we use to work. Don't mind if I have to go around each PC (not ideal but at least I now have the site running) so a script to do it that I have to run is OK. In Add/Remove programs there are currently two or three versions of shockwave flash to uninstall so just looking for something that simplifies the task.

Latest on this problem is that I now have the PC and it boots into windows without error messages or warnings of worms etc, but try and run any program from its icon it just asks me what program I want to run it with, even for an exe file i.e. system restore? Have run the previously suggested batch file but thought runing system restore would be a good step but can't do that at the moment. Programs will run from their association i.e. double click a word or adobe file and they open up correctly. Any ideas?

Thanks, sounds exactly like the one I had to remove before. The batch file would be most welcome. I'll pm you my email address.