Beware calls from "Certified" Microsoft Agents
- Details
- Written by Neville Matthews Neville Matthews
- Published: 07 May 2014 07 May 2014
I received a call from a client recently as he had received a call from a so called "Certified" Microsoft agent, the person calling saying that his computer had errors which is causing their servers problems. You can mostly assume, that any call of this kind from someone or a company you don't know is more than likely a way to extort money from you. They may well ask to get access to you computer and heaven knows what they might do to it if they do.
If in any doubt as to who is calling end the call and DO NOT let them get access to your computer.
Ubunto 12.04.2 on Fujitsu TX100 S2 Installation Solved
- Details
- Written by Neville Matthews Neville Matthews
- Published: 07 June 2013 07 June 2013
Solved GRUB installation error installing Ubuntu Server 12.04.2 LTS on Fujitsu TX100 S2
When installing Ubuntu Server 12.04.2 on to a Fujitsu TX100 S2 every time it got to the GRUB which is pretty much the last stage it failed.
The issue I was pretty sure was to do with the controller. The machine comes with a RAID controller on board. I had already disabled this and tried again with the same problem.
The solution was to set in the BIOS the SATA Mode Selection to "Compatible". Re run the install and the GRUB succeeds. I was helped by Fujitsu Primergy support even though this is not a supported platform.
Power spike brings business to a halt
- Details
- Written by Neville Matthews Neville Matthews
- Published: 15 February 2013 15 February 2013
Power spike causes Server to fail and why you MUST use a UPS for critical equipment!
On 20th December 2012 at about 5pm I was called by a client whose main server had failed. This for the client was a disaster because pretty much, no server means no business. The server would partially power on but could not see any hard drives so obviously it wouldn't start up.
Inside the machine we could see that an electrolytic capacitor had blown. Useful as this was it really didn't help because the client had to have a running system by 7AM the next day.
Metropolitan Police Fake Virus
- Details
- Written by Neville Matthews Neville Matthews
- Published: 02 October 2012 02 October 2012
Metropolitan Police Fake Virus - Removal
Machine - Dell runing Windows XP Home Edition SP2
This is the second one of these I have seen in the last two weeks, not quite the same as the last one. This time it was a bit more difficult to remove because couldn't get to Safe Mode as it would BSOD'd (Blue Screen of Death) so couldn't get to the registry that way or attempt a System restore.
I ran a Anti-Virus scanner which found nothing perhaps because a screen pop-up is not actually doing anything to the file system so was not reported as a Virus. Possibly running SpyBot might have found it but was unable to get the machine in a state that any program installations could be performed.
