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"Server will not power up, suspect improper seating of a component or not plugged in properly."
After reseatin several components and verifying proper configuration, I was able to boot machine. After enabling the proper NIC , remote support was able to verify proper operation. I also installed the quantum tape drive and properly configured the bios. Also labeled the server and router to assist the end user.
Dell poweredge server, power problem, remote support
"Looked for; Security Essentials 2010, Security Antivirus, Paladin Antivirus, Vista Internet Security 2010, Vista Guardian 2010, Antivir 2010, Antivirus XP 2010, XP Guardian, XP Internet Security 2010, and Security Tool."
NOTES: Contacted office and attempted to log into PC. Unable to establish connection. Walked through rebooting in Safe Mode, but still unable to browse. Connected to alternative system in office and tried to make RDP connection to machine - walked through verifying system was set to accept RDP connections. Was able to gain access. Transferred tools. Removed multiple infections. Rebooted back into normal mode, walked through checking Proxy settings in IE (preventing browsing), logged in via Rescue, updated antivirus, and ran full scan. Checked for Windows Updates. Installed IE 8, Windows Service Pack 3, along with ~60 additional updates. Rebooted system and verified operational. System is all clean.
Security Essentials 2010, Security Antivirus, Paladin, Vista Internet Security 2010, Vista Guardian 2010, Antivir 2010, Antivirus XP 2010, XP Guardian, XP Internet Security 2010, and Security Tool
"Computer was infected with Security Essentials 2010 virus, it had embedded itself into the registry and had taken over many functions of the computer."
NOTES: Walked client through logging into system. System popping up with viruses. Download & install tools - run. Found 8 infected files - removed and rescan - 2nd scan clean. Found 113 errors 1st round, 8 2nd round, & 1 3rd round - 4th round clean. Checked for Disk Defrag - Good. No Window's Updates needed. Advised to remove Micro- soft Virus Utility that was installed due to slowing down the system a great amount. Client agreed for it to be removed. System clean.
Security Essentials 2010, Security Essentials, Disk Defrag
"Seems to be a computer refresh cycle we're working with as the local staff seemed to believe there was nothing wrong with the computer."
I didn't spend any time diagnosing the machine, I simply swapped out towers and notified the kiosk helpdesk that the swap was completed and they tapped in and validated their control over the machine.
Swapped towers.
"Touchscreen dead, installed 17 " LCd and mouse for customer"
Will replace touch screen on automated medical dispenser when it arrives next week.
Touchscreen, Dispenser, Medical
"I arrived on the customer's site at 9pm EST. When I got to the broken PC, I examined the BIOS date and checked to see if I could repair the bad Hard drive. The internal components of the PC are still good and for some reason the computer could not load into the OS. The PC was showing a failed boot disk and I assumed from the information it was giving me that the HDD was in fact dead. However, later on Julio was able to access the "broken" HDD."
After I took the hard drive out and the delievery guy was 2 hours late with the new PC. I connected the old SATA HDD to the dvd sata connectors and Julio was able to transfer the data from the old HDD to the new, RAID controlled HD's. This job lasted a while because the delivery man was hours late. However, the job went over without a hitch and Julio is again very professional and extremely helpful. Glad I was able to do another job for ComputerAssistant.com If this happens again with the same situation and you feel the PC can still be used.. A ghosted HDD may have solved the issue without having to send an entire new PC. Just a thought.
SATA HDD, RAID, Ghosted.
"1. Day One The first trip: The POC put me in touch with the phone tech and I explained what needed to occur in order to affect the move. I spoke with Mateo and told him what the situation. I provided him my number and coordinated with the POC to call Mateo when the phone tech arrived back at the hospital. The the phone tech did arrive much later in the day but Mateo was not told about it because the POC had left. 2. Day Two Second trip: Mateo called me in order to inform me that the phone tech was at the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital, I met with the POC and she call the phone tech. I explained to the phone tech what needed to be move. While he was re-routing the dsl and data lines, I moved the computer and all of the peripherals to the new location. I neatly tied up all cables. Afterward, I worked with the phone tech in troubleshooting the connection. It took 2.0 hours because his schematics were not exact."
Everything is functioning as it should. I spoke with Contact upon completing the work.
DSL, Cables, data lines.
"This job consisted of backing up files and trading out a new for an old computer. The original machines have many wire guides and glued-on accessories, such as keyboards, which need to be carefully removed. The original machines have poor USB support and will be difficult to work with, in the case of modern thumb drives during the back up phase. Having a cell phone with hands free capability will make any work on these machines much easier. Be prepared with tools (screwdrivers, wire cutters) to take apart the computer and removing old accessories when swapping out. This is a fairly easy task, just time consuming."
The design on the MedDispense controller cards is less than ideal. The computer must be taken apart to disconnect the controller cable. The connector is on a proprietary card which is only accessible from the inside of the computer. Remaking these cards so that the cable connection was at 90 degrees to the board and accessible from the outside would reduce machine downtime drastically.
Back up data, USB, Thumb Drives.
"Arrive don site @ 8:30 pm called tech support, Erick . windows is not able to load , given a blue screen and hive file is corrupted. the system has raid 1 , disabled drive 0, still the problem exists, given a blue scree. tried to repair with dell recover cd, failed on system hardware inspection. was advise, will be shpping a new dell pc. Thanks"
Client will be shipping a new dell pc. today
Dell PC, corrupted file, blue screen
"Installed customer provided PC, verified internet connectivity and migrated all peripherils to the new computer. Left old computer on the internet so support could transfer store specific files to the new computer."
Support group migrated files to new box, would call store direct when complete.
POS, Point of Sale, Credit Card Processing, Internet.
"Arrived to see the message "Error initializing PCI express slot 4 press F1 to continue or F2 for setup" I pressed f1 and got no boot disk available. I booted to UBUNTU 9 from CD, and could see the CD drive and a USB flash drive, but no HDD. The system was working normally in UBUNTU "Live mode" from the CD. Opened case and pulled out the RAID card. Booted machine. did not get error initializing PCI express, so I had found the cause of the error message a bad RAID card. I reseated the card and still got the message. Called into the support contact and provided the full information. The machine was under warranty so called into dell to get a part and service call setup and scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday."
Be prepared. I talked with the support contact that had the machine listed in his inventory but that was incorrect. Also the problem was totally different than what I was told. I thought I was going to reload Windows XP. It was a hardware Problem. Originally the support contact had told me it was a Dell Precision Workstation T3400. It was actually a Dell Precision Workstation 390. Before going onsite I had downloaded Drivers and made Floppy disks with the RAID drivers, but I had not gotten the correct RAID and other drivers. I had Knoppix linux and Ubuntu linux CD with me so could get the machine booted up and download the drivers to a Floppy disk and to USB Flash Drive.
UBUNTU 9, USB flash drive, error initializing PCI express, pressed f1 and got no boot disk, Knoppix linux
"Server was down and not pulling IP address. Manual IP address had been added to the tcp/ip profile. Med dispense cart was not opening and network access to the pharmacy was down"
New pc had to be installed. Original pc, Windows 2000, was corrupted. New adapter transformer was installed. Was able to ping manual ip address and med dispense started working after proper installation of the XP operating system and proper installation of the adapter corrected the cart behavior and network issue with the pharmacy.
installed xp and adapter, Windows 2000
"2 X 1GB Memory Module (KTH-XW4300) Installed in HP/Compaq computer. Tie wrapped wires under the computer desk. Cleaned dust and dirt from computer fan and from under the computer desk."
2 X 1GB Memory Module (KTH-XW4300) Installed in HP/Compaq computer. Tie wrapped wires under the computer desk. Cleaned dust and dirt from computer fan and from under the computer desk.
1GB MEMORY MODULE, HP, Compaq
"System suffered from severe overheat. Passive heatsink on video card severely discolored. Four capacitors on motherboard slightly distended. One of these capacitors leaked its compound out from the contacts and onto the motherboard."
Client is replacing PC.
overheat, no post, no power
"The old PC had a defective Power Supply not covered by warranty. Customer Purchased a new PC to replace the old one."
We swapped the PC, pulled the harddrive of the old one to transfer Inventory files off and she was all good to go. No issues, Both the customer and support contact were very pleased and nice to work with.
Desktop Replacement, Power Supply, PC
"The touch-screen monitor was in fact bad. I tested it thoroughly myself and made sure. The monitor replacement may take a little over an hour depending on the complexity of the monitor mount. Julio (CA Local Help desk) was extremely helpful and nice."
The loaner monitor and mouse worked perfectly and the Nurse there was happy her machine worked. The next step is to install the replacement touch screen monitor.
Mouse, touch screen monitor.
"Visit 1 Arrived onsite and diagnosed the fuser as worn and unrepairable."
Requested a new fuser be sent to site. Visit 2 Replaced fuser. Problem resolved.
Fuser
"My services were required to replace computer and assist in file transfer to new computer. Files were successfully backed up to usb memory stick. New computer was successfully installed. Files were successfully transferred to new computer. System was tested for operational performance and passed"
The replacement was successful.
USB memory
"Cables needed to be routed properly"
Digital audio out from STB to PC removed and given to site GOLD Plated HDMI swapped for Silver platted one. Gold platted HDMI Gave to site. RCA Audio jacks to Bose speaker wire connected USB Speaker system for PC connected
STB, Gold plated HDMI, RCA, Bose
"Both systems had a rootkit infection (did not determine which rootkit). Desktop system getting error messages with IE8 and QuickBooks 2008. Laptop getting a lot of pop-ups and search redirects."
Used the following software tools to remove the infections: ComboFix, Hijack This, Cleanup!, CCleaner, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. RegEdit, MiniPE, Context Menu Editor, Windows Explorer (manual deletion of malware files). Both systems running Avast Home Edition 4.8, but up-to-date and functioning properly. Laptop system still running on Service Pack 2 (XP Home). Started updates and showed customer how to do Windows Updates on both machines. Showed customer how to run Disk Defrag after all updates were complete. Advised for regular system check ups of approximately every 6 +/- months based on current usage of systems.
ComboFix, Hijack This, Cleanup!, CCleaner, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. RegEdit, MiniPE, Context Menu Editor, Windows Explorer
"1-The PC was connected via green box and netgear switch. Was not able to connect t to the internet. powered cycled both device nothing changed. Bypassed both green box and netgear switch and connected PC directly to the main office switch , was able to connect to the internet. connected back both device one at time. Fixed the problem. problem with admin credential. fix the problem. Was not able to print , reinstalled the ticket printer driver, and removed the old printer driver, fixed the problem."
If the network problem persists, needs replace both green box and switch netgear. credential documented, replaced a couple of device.
credential documented, replaced a couple of device.
"I successfully upgraded all systems on site & also did a additional system on Manteno, IL per Mat's direction. This was one he was going to schedule for tomorrow. I asked him if I could do it today as we are in the middle of a big snow storm and travel would be bad tomorrow and Manteno was on my way back home. We got access to the system, as the office is usually closed on Tuesday, upgraded the system, tested and put system back online. Total time of 3 hrs was apporved with Mat and all upgrades were successful"
I successfully upgraded all systems on site & also did a additional system on Manteno, IL per Mat's direction. We got access to the system, as the office is usually closed on Tuesday, upgraded the system, tested and put system back online.
Upgrade, Manteno, system back online.
"HP Computer required a memory upgrade. Computer cabling required tidying and clean up."
DDR2 memory was provided onsite and installed. Memory installation and connectivity was verified by the client via remote access. Cable ties were used to bundle computer cables (video cable, power cables, etc.). Cable ties were cut to remove excess length.
DDR2 Memory, Memory Upgrade, Clean Up, Bundle
"Touch screen monitor damaged and needs replacement."
After testing the monitor I concluded that it needs to be replaced.
Touch screen monitor.
"System BIOS indicating SATA 0 - 80GB, SATA 1 - 0GB. Windows would not boot up, even in Safe Mode. Booted system with Linux Based software to determine Windows issue. Would not find any Bootable Disk. Called Help Desk to determine configuration and report findings. Help Desk stating the 80GB should be partitioned into two equal drives and the 160GB should be a Back Up Drive."
Help Desk stating they would send a new 160GB Hard Drive on Tech to be back on site to install it.
BIOS, SATA, Linux.
"The machine would only boot up to a system32 error. A raid error was suspected."
The sata cables were swapped with the same result. The cables were reinstalled in their orignal position. The sata cable to sata 1 port was then disconnected. and the machine booted up normally. Once windows had fully booted, it was shut down normally, and the sata port cable was reconnected, and the machine powered up. When the machine was running it rebuilt the raid. Upon completion, the machine was rebooted and ran normally.
Sata cables, Raid error.
"PC was making squeaking sound when I arrived. It definitely was a fan issue. I opened the pc and identified the processor fan as being the fan in question. Took fan off processor and cleaned the fan then put it back on processor. Squeaking was less than before but still an issue. Help desk advised that they do not support part replacement for GX280 machines, so the customer would have to live with the sound or purchase a new machine at $1500. I left site and got a call from Tambi to go back as the drawers were not popping open. Help desk had me reseat the pci card in the pc. When pc rebooted, help desk tested drawers and they open. Helpdesk was not able to get the application associated with medispense to start up normally, and so initiated a chkdsk /r from he command prompt. Upon reboot computer refused to go past bios siting a thermal event had occured due to fan failure."
Medispense shipping replacement PC overnight.
gx280, PCI card.
"The customer showed me prints with black streaks and dirty spots. The printer is very dirty, with a fine white dust under some covers which seems like it would be abrasive. The transfer roller appears to be leaving streaks on the paper. Other rollers seem dry and slippery. Grease on gears is dried up or simply mixed with white dust and need to be cleaned and re-lubricated. The maintenance count indicates a recent replacement, but the printer obviously wasn't cleaned at that time. Upon re-activating the printer after cleaning and replacement of rollers a new ream of paper was loaded. The second page drawn from the tray jammed at the front of the tray multiple times. I determined the paper was being pulled forward with the first sheet with that much paper loaded, removed an inch of paper and found no more jams occuring."
I asked for roller replacement kit 4100-RK to be sent. I specified that I needed the transfer roller and tray 1 separation pad and provided a web address with a picture of the kit I needed. A kit was sent without the separation pad and without the transfer roller, the most important part. I vacuumed the entire printer, including behind the tray pickup assembly and behind the fuser, replaced all rollers, cleaned the interior and exterior with damp utility towel. Cleaned old grease off the gears and re-lubricated with silicone grease. I will return to install the transfer roller.
4100-RK, transfer roller, separation pad, HP 4100.
"All equipment including Dsl modem firewall, server and switch were found to be all powered up. All cabling was checked and appeared to be connected to each other correctly. All indicator lights appeared normal except for the DSL Modem which its internet indicator light was amber instead of green. Note: This facility was a jail and it took a considerable amount of time to get through security enable to access the equipment room."
I worked with the help desk and after concluding all equipment looked fine and appeared to be functioning correctly the ISP was called and asked to look at the problem again. I called back as instructed to 20 minutes later and was told they may have found a problem and was instructed to call back in anther 10 minutes. On my last call back Ken the help desk technician said all was functioning correctly and that I could leave.
DSL, ISP
"I completed the task at Homeland Center, Harrishurg, PA. I replaced a hard-drive of Dell Optiplex 775 PC. Everything is now fine."
After diagnosis discovered that hard-drive port1 was bad. Replaced it and job is complete.
Hard-drive, Dell Optiplex 775.
"I used my Windows PE boot cd to cleanup the virus and spyware instead of wiping out the machine. After I cleaned up the machine I noticed that the machine did not have any virus/spyware protection. I loaded the free version of AVG and I did let the customer know that protection was needed and there is no guarantee that the free version will keep the computer safe."
The machine is now clean and working as expected.
Windows PE boot cd, free version of AVG, virus/spyware protection
"Ran hard disk diagnosis "
Found hard disk has failed
"Confirmed ISP modem not transmitting. Had ISP ping & reset modem. Confirmed all wiring to 2 routers in place. Reset static IP in VPN router; confirmed wireless router transmitting;"
After Static IP reset VPN functioning, unit connecting to network properly.
Static IP, VPN, Network.
"Service is needed Monday 1-25-10 as quickly as possible as end user is down. Need to bring a laptop and a cat5 cable to troubleshoot and test the DSL modem connection at the unit. Call contact to begin testing equipment and VPN tunnel. After testing has been completed with the contact and he signs off on the work. PC was not connecting."
The issue was actually with the internet service provider.
"Job seemed simple, connect a UPS to a server with a eternet to usb adapter. RJ45 had a plastic tab that blocked insertion and I had to shave it off with a knife. After connecting to USB port on server, client could not see device. I then observed that USB keyboard was not working either. We swapped ports around and determined USB port 4 was bad. But client still couldn't see device. I found a USB port on UPS and connected to it with my laptop and it worked. I then connected server to USB port on UPS and the client could then see it. I wrote a note about the bad USB port so next tech will know."
Mission accomplished
RJ45 Connector, USB port 4, USB keyboard
"Darryl is having issues with his outlook not opening. Also richard cannot send emails."
Fixed issue with Darryl's email. Updated Outlook and fixed his smtp settings. Also fixed Richards email which has apparently never worked. The issue with that was ".com" being left off the end of his user account information.
outlook email, smtp settings
"Replaced with new power supply and the problem still remained. LED light on the motherboard is still flashing. I think the mother is bad. Called Dell tech support and they confirmed the mother needed to be replaced. The cost is $350 for Dell motherboard."
The client would like to think about it and will get back to us.
Dell computer motherboard problem.
"The touch flat screen was nonoperational. The monitor USB cable was the main reason the touch screen was not working. The old monitor might also have been faulty because still had issues with the new cable. After replacing the old cable with a new one the new monitor worked. Installation - the help desk needed to configure the monitor and reinstalling the touch screen software."
The manager was very helpful with the kiosk dismantling. The fisherman's huck and tools I have were handy and helpful.
Touch Screen, monitor.
"Router was delivered to hotel on December 23rd, but could not be found. Circuits were located and ID'd."
Additional dispatch will be required when router is found or new router arrives at the hotel.
cisco 2800 series needed
"Computer was located outside the YMCA in a weatherproof heavy steel enclosure. I connected monitor , keyboard and mouse to the computer, however the monitor would not sync with the computer. I rechecked the connection with no improvement. I connected the monitor to my laptop and it synced immediately. Bad video (integrated on MoBo). I also observed that the computer ethernet connection (intergrated on MoBo) to the switch was displaying an error. Diagnosis - bad MoBo. Client and I worked to enable him to gain remote access to modem. I secured the enclosure and departed."
Motherboard/Computer requires replacement.
motherboard replacement
"Server was not booting to windows. Remote Helpdesk could ping server but was not able to VNC into unit. System was a headless server so I brought monitor, keyboard and mouse onsite and connected to server. Windows XP Pro was hanging at 5% CHKDSK for Drive D: on boot. Normal Reboot & Reboot to Safe-Mode unsuccessful. Disconnected Drive D: from Mainboard and system booted completely into Windows. Drive D: is faulty and needs replacement."
D: was used only for data storage, client was going to set up temporary storage on C:. I offered to run to local supply store and purchase a replacement storage drive to complete repair same day. Was able to obtain another hard drive for data and install same day. Configured Drive structure to client spec for propriety software needs. Verified operation of client software.
Non System Boot, CHKDSK Freezing
"Attempted to run xp repair but noticed liquid spill and customer confirmed also soda was spilled on the laptop. Removed HDD and backed up data, leaving equipment to run overnight Followed up Friday 1/8/10 to retrieve equipment and verify data backup."
Customer has save information. Still need to schedule for shipping laptop off to service
HDD- Hard disk drive
"Observation: Lexmark Optra T614 printer was smearing ink over everything that was being printed out. Diagnosis: Toner was defected. End-user already ordered a new one that is being shipped overnight."
The toner was producing much more ink than the usual amount and left trails of ink all over the paper tract. I cleaned all 3 paper trays, interior paper tracts, and the paper rollers of the excess ink so that it would not smear on future print jobs.
Lexmark Optra T614
"Software upgrades needed. Reinstalled and restarted VMC on Network Server."
Installed sofware to allow helpdesk to get on PC and fix problems. Stoodby while patches were applied and made sure unit operated properly. It was also deceied that memory upgrades were needed.
"PC was not booting to Windows XP On arrival I found DELL PC on and monitor showed boot failure. PC felt hot. I removed the cover. Reboot PC with my hand on Hard Drive to see if I could feel HD spin up. PC booted to Windows OK. Hard Drive could be going bad. Possible overheating?? Cover could have pressed on Hard Drive or SATA cable connection faulty ??"
I was on site within ONE HOUR of receiving the call and left the customer with a feeling of confidence that their problems had been addressed and the PC had been thoroughly tested. Hard Drive could be going bad. Possible overheating. Cover could have pressed on Hard Drive or SATA cable connection faulty. Reboot PC with my hand on Hard Drive to see if I could feel HD spin up. PC booted to Windows OK. I blew out accumulated material from Processor heat sync, replace cover and pc seemed cooler. Test with client was successful. Doctor on duty tested PC successfully.
Hard Drive, SATA cable,
"Tech found printer working. Custome said some times does not print even though it says print complete. later own it prints. Tech did power cycle the printer BUT the print fail to start it gets stuck on by showing the pause and error LED on. Tech tryed sverall times with no luck. Tch waited for about five min then turn the printer on. The printer did stat but the LCD screen is completely black test printing the printer did print. But again NO LCD screen"
I belive the Main board of the printer is defected. The manufactor web site does not show this model listed I belive is out dated printer Help desk was notified and in the event the printer does not again main board has to be replaced
"Monitor was non functional, replaced monitor and tested touch screen."
Monitor was replaced and tested good.
monitor and touch screen replacement
"Did various testing with the \IBM x Server. System has integrated LSI dual channel SCSI controller that is on the motherboard. System also has an adaptec scsi card to operate DAT backup tape drive. Adaptec controller is fully functional. However the on-board channel A would not allow the RAID to boot past the controller initialization. Automatic line termination was enabled in the bios."
On-board SCSI controller is defective. Also, there may be some of the RAID drives that are not operating as well. This could not be resolved because an alternate SCSI controller was not available. Customer has decided that he will replace the server and restore a previous backup.
LSI dual channel SCSI controller, RAID
"Printer is dirty with toner inside. Cleaned this but problem persisted.. A generic toner cartridge was being used. The toner cartridge was swapped with another printer using genuine HP toner and the problem went away."
The toner cartridge is near the end of its useful life even though it has plenty of toner left in it. We moved the defective toner cartridge to a printer where the quality will be acceptable. The original printer now has the genuine HP toner cartridge installed.
"The printer is an HP 2420. It is printing pages that are dirty with toner. Cleaning the printer did not solve the problem. We replaced the toner cartridge and the printer now works properly."
A new toner cartridge was needed. Somehow the original toner became poor quality between uses. It worked one day, and then was sloppy afterwards. The office environment didn't freeze or get humid, perhaps the dry winter air caused a static electricity problem.
HP 2420, toner cartridge replacement, static