DrBeaker

I've managed to find the original article now on HP's knowledgebase, but the image of the location on the mobo with the jumper is missing. So much for "the cloud" eh? lol It really irked me over half-term when I set them up, as I thought I was going mad - but didn't get time to look into it. Edugeek to the rescue again. I'll have to compare a working and non-working unit. But at least you've pointed me in another direction to look so thanks!

Old thread I know. But we've just got a bunch of these and got some with the same problem. That link appears to be dead now. Does anyone have the doc at all? The HP site is as useless as always. Where was the jumper on the motherboard? Thanks

Good on you that you managed to sort it. But aren't you concerned that if there's any problems now it won't be supported by the cashless catering company? Or if so will be at a massive charge? Call me cynical but we know how things like this normally end up in schools.

That EXACT thing has happened in schools I've worked in. SLT buy a load of iPads, the management of them afterwards is an afterthought and IT has to pick up the slack and the flack as to "why can't we get this app to work etc" questions. So IT unfairly get a bad rep Some schools are better off and in more affluent areas to be able to afford Apple Devices. The TCO of Apple device still means I can get 2-3x baseunits for the price of 1x Mac. Unfortunately iPads are a luxury for some schools we simply cannot afford, let alone the added expense of an MDM solution that SLT don't understand or see the value of.

Wow - learn to take a joke why don't you! Of course an MDM is important - you know any good ones? You can always share the knowledge on here amongst other techs you know... So I guess the Apple Configurator app that worked fine - then stopped on a certain version of iOS whatever it was when the apps then had to be VPP - didn't cause us any aggravation or hassle. Merkai - free, then started to charge us. Coming away from that - didn't cause us any aggravation or hassle. All with no training on the apps and expected to figure it out ourselves? Or with places that don't want to pay for a proper MDM and want some bodge one? Or an MSP who advises "just get a Macbook use and Apple Configurator". EDIT: This all implies the "Senior Tech" who set it up understood how they worked and even if they were all setup properly BTW. Hmmmm.... As said - I'm sure there's some good MDM systems, care to share?

War...

Oohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh THAT is a sore point with many of us techs to do with Apple and their ruddy devices - the management of them or use in a multi-user environment is an afterthought.

All in jest!

I used to think that too - but have you never worked in a school before? It's not a problem until it affects their lesson, THEN it's a high priority! Somehow it's very technical locking a trolley!

Have you never worked in a school with mobile devices? I've lost count of how many times the laptop trolley was left unlocked, door closed but unlocked and even - left unlocked, with the key left in the lock!

Interesting points. We're looking to move to Windows 10, Office 2016 but with keeping SMART Notebook 11.4 - I didn't even know this was an issue. I'll have to do some testing. Thanks

Have you got an RM support contract? Are they not backing up the servers as part of that contract?

I'm looking at developing something like that myself further down the line but more of an Intranet for IT stuff. I know RM do something with our school that has 3x portals - there's a student and staff one, each one is accessed by a group on Office 365 that apparently the users are added into. Unfortunately as it's managed by them, I have no idea how it works. I just know what gets broken or doesn't work with it.

I know in my last school we used SIMs and tried similar for the PE department to take registers out on the field etc using some Android tablets, some were the Nexus 7 ones. I didn't have much direct involvement with it myself, it was my manager at the time. But seeing as they ended up sitting on a shelf for months afterwards, I'd gather it wasn't a success at the time. As the for the Emerge app it does seem all of the advertising online etc. is pushing the mobile app angle, but how much did it cost out of interest? It's good to hear that experience as it's something that someone mentioned as a possibility, but now maybe not so much it it's gonna cost a fair few £££'s!

Hi All, Is anyone getting any Blue-screen issues or bugcheck/memory dump errors in Windows 8.1 over the past few days. We've noticed this happen a lot since yesterday, The only change appears to be some Windows updates (KB4487028, KB4487038 and KB4486474) that have been installed early on Monday morning. But nothing on the good ol' Google about them causing any issues ... yet. Thanks

Trust decision, Trust can pay. That's peanuts by comparison to what we know gets spent on "things".

I'm fairly new to the RM way of working to be fair. They seem to have their good points and bad points. A lot of stuff seems to be done via apps or agents instead of via Group Policy which seems to be the cause of most of the headaches. Yes. I'm finding that too.

Any more Technician 101 tips to share? I'm always interesting to hear other techie war stories etc. My daily mantra is USERS LIE!

In the Midlands we have something similar with RM called the DGFL. We get Internet, firewall, servers, network, backup, some desktop support, phone support amongst other things provided as part of the contract. How would that compare to the LGFL out of interest?

"What training plans are there in place for the IT team?" - would be a good one to be asked? I'm sure at least 90% of us would respond with "what training?" I would be interested to hear the outcome of this - it should reveal massive gaps in their wish-list versus reality. Especially coming from a corporate background. Maybe they can ask why schools are using 10-year old equipment then complaining about how slow it is? Compared to 3-5 year refreshes on corp kit.

Being of the cynical mindset - rather than keep their customers updated and informed about issues with their products, if they "hide" the information it makes them look better and though their products are perfect and infallible. E.g. with Fujitsu the once we had a bunch of laptops where the RJ45 jack sat on top of two very thin plastic rails, so any force to insert the cables ultimately damaged the network socket. Raised this with Fujitsu and the vendor - they all denied it was a "design flaw" when it clearly was.

Still figuring out systems and software the previous IT Manager didn't bother to leave any notes or documentation on Equipment Audit Investigating why the decades old PC equipment runs slow (for all of us here, it's pretty obvious WHY) Desktop refresh (but no money to do it) new SIMs server and 3rd party systems migration website update and new website launch new ID card system, I wasn't consulted on or anyone bothered to tell me about Laptops setup 12x months ago that intermittently fail and weren't setup properly with no documentation on these either move to temporary office due to water leak and refurb to name a few off the top of my head. oh - did I mention it's just me there as the tech btw?

I used to update my tickets if not on a daily basis then a weekly basis. I had a "ticket" was as an actual problem that went on for months and months, until I managed to find a solution (my colleagues and manager had failed to find one and given up). But all parties concerned were updated on it throughout - even if it was just to say it's a known issue, we're still working on it. We fixed things as and when we could in a normal week. Anything that needed long-term work, complex fixes or equipment being taken out of service etc. had to wait until a holiday period to get done.

How does in-class support work out? You might be qualified to fix the IT problem, but how does that qualify you to work with children, to mentor them etc kind of thing during lesson support? Does that mean walkups, corridor stops etc are officially void and they're not allowed to stop us in the corridor (as it would impact on the SLA of whatever else we're working on right then ? Does that include when people send emails late on nights, weekends and during out of hours etc. IMHO anything sent outside of service hours an SLA would only START to apply aas soon as business opens the next working day. E.g. a request for something on Monday morning that's sent on Sunday night I wouldn't consider (under an SLA system) until at least 08:00 for example. That when literally it's a case of "A lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on mine". Even if the IT team did it and the request wasn't within agreed hours - does the IT team get rewarded or a bonus system? Where's the incentive? That last-minute notice of things (like the 30 seconds I had the once an assembly venue had been changed) will be rejected? Can tickets be rejected due to lack of information then? Can they be put on hold until the required information is provided? I see your argument for both sides don't get me wrong. But an IT SLA in a school lacks the flexibility that IT staff get used to in schools e.g. so if the Head tells us we've got a new starter tomorrow can you set them up, do we say no and then it's tough as they didn't follow the SLA? OR should we treat that as top priority, drop everything else and get it done? Where's the incentive if we do (from both sides)? Do we get a cash bonus, half a day off on a Friday or something? In my experience - No. This is why IT in schools is suffering. IT isn't given the support, funding, resources or staff we need just to keep the lights on. Yet we have to constantly work our magic.

Is it true that teachers as part of their training should be prepared to teach without tech or computers e.g. power failure etc? I've always been told this is "true". Some have said to me in the past "I can't teach without my computer" and my response has always been "OK, so if I come to your class you're telling me you'll be sitting at the desk doing nothing and so will the students?" Unlike IT support whose job requires the utmost use of computers on a constant daily basis - surely a good teacher should be able to teach in the middle of a grass field with a whiteboard and a whiteboard pen?