Obligatory Rules Thread - Read before posting please. **UPDATED! Please Read it Again

[Shamus Turlough]

To cut down on some of the confusion when posting here, please abide by the following rules.

1. All posts should adhere to the Stratics RoC.

2. Please use the following template when posting a PC issue. As a matter of fact, feel free to copy and paste the following and edit in your information:

Problem description: Provide a DETAILED description of your problem here.

Attempted fixes: What have you tried to do to resolve the problem?

Recent changes: Have you made any changes to your system/configuration recently that might have caused the problem?

Operating system: e.g. Windows Vista (Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate), Windows XP (Home/Pro), MacOS X, Linux, etc. Also specify whether your OS is 32-bit or 64-bit.

System specs: Machine manufacturer/model number. If home-built, name your processor, motherboard, graphics card, memory, power supply, hard drive(s), etc.
If any other hardware or equipment is relevant to your problem, list it here.


3. If you have questions about an infection, please post a hijackthis log and let us see if we can help. Hijackthis can be downloaded at:
http://download.cnet.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html.
Download, run all defaults, and copy/paste the results here.

4. For those who are giving PC advice If the advice you are giving is at all above the level of the novice computer user, please include screenshots of each step taken, just so everyone knows what page you are on.

5. Please let us know if what we recommend solves your problem. It's nice to know we have helped, and anything we solve for one person is something that might work for another. A simple "thanks! that worked" will suffice.


*****Please note: The moderators of this forum and anyone else who offers technical advice do so freely and without expectation of any compensation. As such, Stratics, its staff, and anyone else who posts tech advice shall not be held liable for any damages caused. If a recommendation appears to be unsafe, please treat it as such and ask a second opinion. We aren't perfect, we're just here to help.*****

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Howdy!

Petra picked me to moderate this thread, along with another yet-to-be-named individual. I feel that we can be a help to anyone having tech difficulties, and wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little about my IT experience. I have been in the IT industry for 16 years now, and PC's have been a hobby of mine for closer to 20 years. I have worked as senior network engineer for the company I am at for 5 years now, and as Lead Network Engineer for another firm for close to 6 years prior to that. I currently hold systems engineering certificates from Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, HP, and St. Bernard. Right now I manage everything from county government networks to in-home PC repair techs. In short, there is basically no question too big or small. If I cant answer it, then I have a support staff of about 15 that I can bounce questions off of and get you an answer!

 

[Wulf2k]

Ok, on a corporate domain, why would certain users logging in on certain machines for the first time after a reboot cause the IP to instantly reset to a 169.x.x.x address temporarily (long enough to fail loading the profile), then obtain a proper one?

If the user logs off (but doesn't shut down) and back on, it works fine. If another user logs on first, it works fine. If the PC is restarted and the original user logs back on, the IP resets to 169.x.x.x, gives the profile error, then obtains a proper one. If the user goes to another machine, it works fine. The machine is pingable before the user attempts to log on.

...Is this related to UO?

...Sure, I can't play UO at work within the first 5 seconds of logging on. Therefore, the problem is not too small. =]

 

[Rykus]

Wulf,

Disable APIPA, that will prevent this from happening. Here is a link that will help with that:

http://www.petri.co.il/disable_apipa_in_windows_2000_xp_2003.htm

I had this issue at my last job, and from what I could gather it seems to occur with only XP workstations, and now possibly Vista (not sure there). If memory serves, XP will present the network login prompt before the network stack is fully loaded, and depending on the speed of the machine, and a few other factors, the desktop can actually load before the network initializes, which can cause problems. In this case, if the PC can't access the DHCP server because the NIC isn't yet bound to the TCP stack, then this can occur.

There are other ways to skin this cat, but this one was the simplest fix I ran across before something else blew up.

 

[Rykus]

Oh, hello all. I am Rykus, and I hail from Siege Perilous.

I have been a technology hobbyist since I was 8 years old, where I began programming in BASIC on an old TRS-80 CoCo (Color Computer). Since then I served in the US Army as a 29Y (Now 31S), which is a Satellite Communications Systems Maintainer/Repairer. After getting out of the Army in 1993, I began working for a credit union as the Mainframe Operator, and Network Administrator. We ran Novell Netware 2.12, and Lotus Notes under OS/2 v2.1 - rockin' it old-school..

After that I moved to Beaverton, OR in 1995 where I worked as a bench tech, and Service Manager at two different computer stores for about 5 years. After leaving there, I went back to being a Network/Systems Administrator where I was responsible for a wide array of technologies, including Oracle DBs, Lotus Notes/Domino messaging (both as an admin, and developer), VMware Infrastructure, Web filtering/monitoring, AIX on an RS/6000, PICK (mv.Enterprise, and Sequoia), and a bunch of other exciting technologies. After spending 9 years at that company I began doing contracting where I have worked for a few Fortune 100/500 companies doing either Network/Systems Admin, or working as a Messaging Expert on the Lotus Notes/Domino platform.

I will never try to say I know everything about computing, not even close, but I do try very hard to be good at troubleshooting, and researching a resolution. Given the list of skills on Shamus' mini-resume, and credentials, I feel confident that one of us should be able to help with whatever problem you may have with your computer.

Welcome to our humble forums...

 

[Shamus Turlough]

Hiya Rykus! Can I call you my geek daddy? hehehe

Yeah, this should be a fun place for us to hang out too!

 

[kelmo]

*head explodes* Shamus... I told you that would happen when the two of you got together...

 

[Rykus]

Hiya Rykus! Can I call you my geek daddy? hehehe

Yeah, this should be a fun place for us to hang out too!

LOL

I look forward to us working together to help our fellow Sosarians with their technical woes. From what I've seen of your history, and preference in hardware, I feel that we see eye to eye on quite a few things already.

Oh, I noticed you have a St. Bernard certification. My apologies... At my last job we went from Websense to the St. Bernard solution, due to budget cutbacks, and I about cried. It's not terrible per se, but it's not what I was used to either.

 

[Shamus Turlough]

St. Bernard is beautiful as long as you stay with the enterprise class appliances... iPrism and ePrism are good at what they do.

 

[Harlequin]

Congrats Shamus and Rykus!

Good set of rules, esp

4. Please let us know if what we recommend solves your problem. It's nice to know we have helped, and anything we solve for one person is something that might work for another.