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I spend Tuesday afternoon trying to make a handheld laser scanner work. Last time the drivers were updated they were compiled for windows 2000, the system used a parallel port to connect to the computer and the calibration file came on floppy disks. The computer hadn't been turned on in so long the cmos battery was flat, but it booted and ran fine, the floppy disks still worked (I backed them up when I found that out!) and the paralell port worked like a charm. On the other hand, the propitiatory VGA-and-serial-to-two-silly-custom-plugs processing unit->handheld cable seems to be hosed. Why is it always the irreplaceable cables? 
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Aug 8, 2014 07:36
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Moey posted:Ha. Our old network admin would at least save his changes, but wouldn't ever back them up. Cue him making and saving 40 different changes over a weekend, then like 6 things break. What did he touch? No one knows. I hope you're using "commit comment" as well on your commits so you have a summary on what you changed.
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Aug 8, 2014 07:46
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quote:LloydsLink Online Payments utilises128 bit encryption over Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and an ActiveX Control: In 2014. YOU RECOMMEND IE 5.5 are you loving kidding me? (Yes, the lack of space between utilises and 128 is on their web page.) Oh I missed this gem earlier too. quote:LloydsLink Online Payments technical specifications are based on industry standards. For any of our electronic banking services we recommend an IBM-compatible PC with: gently caress you Lloyds.
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Aug 8, 2014 09:19
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LordVorbis posted:In 2014. YOU RECOMMEND IE 5.5 are you loving kidding me? (Yes, the lack of space between utilises and 128 is on their web page.) I love the web address that came up when I searched for LLoyds Link: https://lloydslink.online.lloydsbank.com/Logon/Logon.jsp I'm just imagining a tech support guy saying that over the phone.
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Aug 8, 2014 09:30
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I actually quite like Barclays for continuing to support old formats: It also makes me sad that Money is no more.
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Aug 8, 2014 10:00
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Our old san is really pissing me off at the moment, a disk has failed in it which is causing everything on unrelated LUNs to slow to a crawl. as in unusable for a day I wish I could change the rebuild priority or something, I'm just glad we're in the process of migrating all the data off it.
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Aug 8, 2014 11:13
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spog posted:I actually quite like Barclays for continuing to support old formats: Microsoft did release a post-support version of Money, which requires no codes or activation of any kind. So really, it's around as long as you want.
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Aug 8, 2014 11:32
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HalloKitty posted:Microsoft did release a post-support version of Money, which requires no codes or activation of any kind. So really, it's around as long as you want. Only the US version - you had me all excited there.
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Aug 8, 2014 12:49
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Inspector_666 posted:Sometimes I will send somebody else in my company a message asking a question about something, and their response will be the exact same question just worded differently. Sometimes people do this to ensure they understood the first question correctly.
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Aug 8, 2014 13:01
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Was all happy, got a new Galaxy S5 for work, but won't even activate, might need to be RMAd, boooooo e: Verizon fixed it yay MC Fruit Stripe fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Aug 8, 2014 |
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Aug 8, 2014 21:05
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Aunt Beth posted:Customer has a machine that was new in 2003. Running Windows 2000. Here I am, four and a half hours into trying to coddle this thing back to life. Kill me. I get to replace a Pentium 100 running Windows 95 with an unknown machine running Windows 98. Yea 16-bit DOS CNC controller programs!
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Aug 8, 2014 21:17
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Bob Morales posted:I get to replace a Pentium 100 running Windows 95 with an unknown machine running Windows 98. Yea 16-bit DOS CNC controller programs! Today I'm trying to resuscitate a Unix machine that was introduced when I was two weeks shy of my 6th birthday (February 1993). I appreciate that I'm handed these godawful broken antiques to work on because my boss knows I'm one of the only people in my group who can fix them (and not just wind up curled sobbing in a corner), but sometimes I'd really like to just go concurrently replace a bunch of hard drives and go home. Trying to boot the diagnostics are hilarious because the diagnostic floppies are gone and all I have to work with is a SCSI-attached external CD caddy and a worn-out ASCII terminal.
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Aug 9, 2014 00:02
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Aunt Beth posted:Today I'm trying to resuscitate a Unix machine that was introduced when I was two weeks shy of my 6th birthday (February 1993). I appreciate that I'm handed these godawful broken antiques to work on because my boss knows I'm one of the only people in my group who can fix them (and not just wind up curled sobbing in a corner), but sometimes I'd really like to just go concurrently replace a bunch of hard drives and go home. Tinkering with old UNIX machines sounds kinda fun actually. What UNIX? What architecture?
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Aug 9, 2014 00:58
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SamDabbers posted:Tinkering with old UNIX machines sounds kinda fun actually. What UNIX? What architecture? This beasty. I don't mind tinkering with the OS, but I'm trying to isolate a hardware issue on a Micro Channel machine that is old enough to buy alcohol legally in the US. Probing voltages is no fun on a machine that's been sitting under a table collecting dust for decades.
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Aug 9, 2014 01:07
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Aunt Beth posted:This beasty. I don't mind tinkering with the OS, but I'm trying to isolate a hardware issue on a Micro Channel machine that is old enough to buy alcohol legally in the US. Probing voltages is no fun on a machine that's been sitting under a table collecting dust for decades. Oh wow. Good luck with that. I had a multi processor one of those that used to take >45 minutes to boot. All those old RS/6000s support boot from tape. I've not got any tapes with Bos images on hand but if you've got another aix machine that can write you an image with the larger kernel for multiple machine types that might help you?
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Aug 9, 2014 01:22
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Aunt Beth posted:This beasty. I don't mind tinkering with the OS, but I'm trying to isolate a hardware issue on a Micro Channel machine that is old enough to buy alcohol legally in the US. Probing voltages is no fun on a machine that's been sitting under a table collecting dust for decades. Oooh neat. I rescued a 7043-140 from a McDonald's dumpster years ago and got frustrated trying to figure out AIX without docs or disks, so I put Debian on it (which was an adventure all of its own with that exotic PReP firmware) and played Tux Racer at a blistering 15fps. It didn't make the cut of things to take with me when I moved, unfortunately, and ended up at the recycling center. Maybe give it a thorough cleaning if you haven't already? Sometimes years of dust can cause problems beyond impeding heat dissipation.
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Aug 9, 2014 01:24
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Zephirus posted:Oh wow. Good luck with that. I had a multi processor one of those that used to take >45 minutes to boot.
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Aug 9, 2014 01:26
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Aunt Beth posted:I'm pretty sure the onboard SCSI controller has pooped its pants, which also explains why the tape drive wasn't working (which started this whole adventure). Now I need to scrounge a new IO planar- or just tell the customer the machine is beyond saving, because at this point... really? If it was running lvm software raid or JBOD, you should be able to import the disks into another AIX machine regardless of arch if you want the data If it's got one of the RAID controllers then i'm not sure anything's ever coming back as they all seemed to fail after about 8 years. Even the spares nobody had ever touched (in their sealed antistatic bags).
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Aug 9, 2014 01:33
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Zephirus posted:
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Aug 9, 2014 01:42
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Say it's fried and offer a discount for next month. Had a similar issue with a DG-UX server (an Avalon) we had maintained for a customer running a version of our software on that platform. After a data center crash, it wouldn't come up. Told the CIO we no longer supported that version and we offered the customer a refund.
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Aug 9, 2014 03:49
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Prepping for migrating a 24/7 department off of a Novell file server to a Windows fs tonight and running through everything to make sure when the time rolls around all I do is run a batch file and go back to doing whatever. Boss said a few days ago she would prep the list of specific users who would get their personal data moved; guess what list is empty 
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Aug 9, 2014 15:19
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I know this isn't exactly a work-related IT problem, but... for the love of gently caress, I'm pissed off at Acer and Microsoft right now. Sorry for the rant, but poo poo, you guys are the only ones who feel my pain. My stepdad asked me to order a laptop for his father. Nothing particularly fancy, just a plain ol' Windows laptop with keys and a screen and a hard drive. I used to rock Acer laptops before I built my own computers, and I've been using the same Acer LCD since 2007. I never have had any issues with them, so, hey, we'll get him a nice Acer. Good god, was THAT ever a mistake. Timeline starts at 1:30pm, when I pull the computer out of the rather plain but effective packaging, plug it in, and fire it up. Boots fairly quickly, and I whip up a quick local account for him because he doesn't need any of that fancy microsoft account integration or anything -- he's like 74 year old for christ's sakes -- and start getting the updates going. First thing I notice is the bloatware. Holy poo poo the bloatware. I don't know when this happened, but Acer sold its Taiwanese soul to the devil. Half the taskbar was filled with pinned shortcuts to bloatware. Clear.fi and Acer Cloud are one thing, but Amazon One-Button, eBay WorldWide, both Norton and McAfee, Spotify -- which doesn't even loving WORK in Canada -- WildTangent (oh god last time I dealt with that was in 2004), and something called Pokki. What the hell? I thought that was some kind of Japanese snack food. I don't even want to google it for fear of some kind of infection. Argh. The bloatware I can deal with later. First up, updates. First wave finally starts around 2:30pm, finished about 3:15. Second wave takes another fifteen minutes to get going, finally finishes around 4pm. Now I can finally get Windows 8.1 in. Slowly. Eventually. Around 5:30pm it's finally in. Eeeexccept the drat thing wants me to set up a Microsoft account and won't take no for an answer... unless you pretend you're going to do an account, disconnect the internet, try to make one, and then tell it after it fails to use your existing account. gently caress you, Microsoft. Classic Shell goes in and at 5:45pm I start ripping out the bloatware. It's now 6:35pm and I finally pulled anything my stepdad could get frantic phone calls and then pass on to me about or will slow the poor Pentium 3556U down to an Atom speed. Oh, and reflexively I went to cmd to run a couple command-line programs to disable some of the sign-in bullshit, but apparently on some Acer laptops, the first search bar result for "cmd" is "$acer$", which is a hidden .cmd in system32 with the contents "shutdown.exe /s /f /t 5". What the gently caress? All of this poo poo because I don't want to do familial tech-support over the phone to my 74-year-old stepgrandfather who lives in buttfuck nowhere while still getting him set up with a laptop made in the last decade as a favour to my stepdad. Holy gently caress is he ever going to owe me for this.
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Aug 10, 2014 02:45
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Next time, try the software with the best name ever, PC Decrapifier.
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Aug 10, 2014 03:34
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Yeah, the account bullshit was one of the reasons I will never use windows 8/8.1. I have *so many* accounts, I really don't need or want another. I've taken to actively shutting them down if I stumble across them and decide I don't need them, why would I *make one* for an operating system? It is possible to not make one for windows 8.1 (windows 8 offers a skip button) by not putting in an email address in the email field, or something? But if you do that every time you open the now-uninstallable apps, it bitches at you to set up an account. Not a great user experience to be honest.
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Aug 10, 2014 03:42
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An admin who don't flatten and reinstall Windows on he new computer? A shameful admin.
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Aug 10, 2014 05:42
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stubblyhead posted:An admin who don't flatten and reinstall Windows on he new computer? A shameful admin. I've generally found that to be easier and quicker then de-shittifying new PC's. It gives me more confidence as well, you can never be totally sure that you didn't leave a poorly coded replacement printer driver or a silly keyboard shortcut that disables the keyboard or whatever installed.
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Aug 10, 2014 05:44
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Sir_Substance posted:I've generally found that to be easier and quicker then de-shittifying new PC's. It gives me more confidence as well, you can never be totally sure that you didn't leave a poorly coded replacement printer driver or a silly keyboard shortcut that disables the keyboard or whatever installed. At least for the CDs packaged with new machines, installing Windows 8 fresh takes f o r e v e r. It does initial setup, then creates a shitload of backups and loads installed items via command line, THEN installs the apps, then after all that you have to perform the windows updates required until you can start the 4 gig 8.1 download That's not counting the drivers required for the computer that come packaged with inseparable bloatware like third party wireless programs. Uninstall the program, you uninstall the driver. Best you can do is treat it like IE and disable it while pretending it doesn't exist on the machine. I had to set up new computers for a client that come with Win 7 installed, and Win 8.1 on discs. It takes a solid six hours to get to fully functional 8.1, easily.
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Aug 10, 2014 06:15
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death .cab for qt posted:
Don't use that media - get a proper Windows ISO and use that
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Aug 10, 2014 06:23
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dissss posted:Don't use that media - get a proper Windows ISO and use that Policy sucks, man  If it comes with discs, we have to use the discs.
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Aug 10, 2014 06:26
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death .cab for qt posted:Policy sucks, man
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Aug 10, 2014 06:30
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stubblyhead posted:An admin who don't flatten and reinstall Windows on he new computer? A shameful admin. God dammit, I hope my laughter didn't wake people in the house up. anthonypants posted:You tell your stepgrandfather to stick that policy where the sun don't shine. Believe you're looking for me, the guy with the stepgrandfather. death .cab's problems seem to be work-related (though I feel 'em). Really, the only reason I didn't flatten and reinstall the drat thing is because I don't have a legit Windows 8 disk on hand and I don't want to get a phone call 180 days from now saying that "windows is not genuine". Also, can you still install retail Windows with an OEM sticker key? I remember having issues with Vista and that, but then again, Vista...
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Aug 10, 2014 08:37
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Sir_Substance posted:Yeah, the account bullshit was one of the reasons I will never use windows 8/8.1. I have *so many* accounts, I really don't need or want another. I've taken to actively shutting them down if I stumble across them and decide I don't need them, why would I *make one* for an operating system?
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Aug 10, 2014 11:18
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dissss posted:Don't use that media - get a proper Windows ISO and use that Is there any way to build an image/updated copy for new systems from companies like HP? They come with the discs and as far as I'm aware there is no way to activate it without using the disc because of the new digital product key (DPK) that is installed onto the motherboard during the OEM Activation 3.0 (OA3) process. Specifically for Windows 7... it's probably possible/easier for 8 but we're not deploying that.
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Aug 10, 2014 14:31
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Kazinsal posted:Also, can you still install retail Windows with an OEM sticker key? I remember having issues with Vista and that, but then again, Vista... If I recall correctly you can - but you might need to call Microsoft's support line for activations and explain you're rebuilding the PC. As long as you can confirm the key's only being used on one machine you should be good.
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Aug 10, 2014 15:04
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Microsofts support line has always been really good for me as well. Calling to unfuck a license is pretty painless.
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Aug 10, 2014 23:01
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Spending the week in a nice hotel going to some expensive training and life is good. Except that I cannot loving remember my KeePass password for my work accounts. I didn't write down the master password and bring it with me because I forgot but also because I logged in first try last time (like 3 weeks ago) so I thought I was fine. For some reason I decided to shut down my laptop instead of just hibernating like usual so I actually need to log into everything. Can't VPN or get to my email until I remember this. What is really pissing me off is that I know the various bits that I used for the password just not how I combined them. Probably going to have to have one of my co-workers break into my desk and get my super secret post it. 
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Aug 11, 2014 02:39
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Galler posted:Spending the week in a nice hotel going to some expensive training and life is good. Except that I cannot loving remember my KeePass password for my work accounts. I didn't write down the master password and bring it with me because I forgot but also because I logged in first try last time (like 3 weeks ago) so I thought I was fine. For some reason I decided to shut down my laptop instead of just hibernating like usual so I actually need to log into everything. Can't VPN or get to my email until I remember this. What is really pissing me off is that I know the various bits that I used for the password just not how I combined them. Make sure you didn't also require a .key file to go along with your password? It typically gets selected by default so a lot of people forget they even have it.
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Aug 11, 2014 03:49
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This attitude of "you're the IT guy, fix it, fix it" for things outside of my control. OF course, I was just being lazy. BRB, single handedly inventing a new battery technology for smartphones that will last a month between charges without any risk of blowing your bollocks off if it goes wrong and showing a couple of multi billion dollar corporations how to write their software properly in 3, 2...
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Aug 11, 2014 10:12
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GargleBlaster posted:This attitude of "you're the IT guy, fix it, fix it" for things outside of my control. Then there's the "Well I could have done that!" crowd. It was especially fun when people would come in to pick up their computer, read the work order and let me know this fact. I'm both proud and a bit regretful that I never once responded with "Since we're having this conversation, obviously you couldn't."
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Aug 11, 2014 14:24
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Inspector_666 posted:Then there's the "Well I could have done that!" crowd. It was especially fun when people would come in to pick up their computer, read the work order and let me know this fact. As someone who's said "why didn't you" before, i've gotten two responses from it. Either "its not my job, why should I?" or a flustered "well i erm, didn't erm, have the time oh look i'm out the door bye!".
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Aug 11, 2014 14:35
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