Category Archives: Workshop Tales

Specific fixes and repairs carried out for our customers on hardware and software in the hope that the information may be useful others.

Workshop Tales

ZeroTier SSH Connection problem on Windows 11

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If attempting to SSH to a remote Windows 11 system using a ZeroTier network managed address leads to a connection timeout then a possible problem is that the ZeroTier network has been configured as a PUBLIC network on the target machine, changing this to a PRIVATE network might resolve the problem. The following Powershell commands can be used.

## To check public/private setting
Get-NetConnectionProfile | Where-Object "InterfaceAlias" -like "Zero*"

## To set all ZeroTier networks to Private
Get-NetConnectionProfile | Where-Object "InterfaceAlias" -like "Zero*" | Set-NetConnectionProfile -NetworkCategory Private
Workshop Tales

Lenovo V530S Upgrading problems

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Leaving off mains will result in a the system going through a couple of reboots when next powered-up perhaps as though the CMOS settings have been lost.

When off mains the systems RTC Real Time Clock will freeze and will show the time & date in Windows when last running. The system will synchronize after another reboot but the Sync function within Windows will fail with a Time Server related error.

The original installation has a McAffee Web Advisor app installed. This might have interferred with Time synchonisation [?]

Workshop Tales

Lenovo V530S Upgrade to NVMe SSD Problem

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This small form factor machine Type 10TX0013UK. BIOS Revision M22KT49A, Block Revision level 1.49. 11/10/2022

After fitting a NVMe SSD to replace the existing hard drive the machine booted once from the cloned image but then failed with a ‘Error 1962: No operating system found’. The solution to this was to enter the BIOS and go to the Devices > Network Setup settings for PXE and disable them. This included the PXE IPV4 Network stack, same for IPV6 and the PXE option ROM setting.

Tips & Tricks Workshop Tales

Windows Update Problem 20H2 on HP legacy machines

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During the course of 2021 as several machines updated to Windows 10 Version 202H2 both 32 bit and 64 bit they demonstrated catastrophic failures that mimicked other problems. These included Windows displaying a BSOD. Message ‘BAD SYSTEM CONFIG INFO’ refering to log files at ‘c:\windows\system32\logfiles\srt\SrtTrail.txt’. Other messages would be typical of those displayed when hard drives are really failing. After running automatic repair and disk checking – they would then repeat the process. The machines would re-boot repeatedly. Attempts to use the self-repair options or Windows boot drives would lead to User accounts disappearing from the options and failure to find Restore points (if available). One machine would lock on the dark start-up screen many times, then would successfully boot and run for days as long as it wasn’t powered down. Another machine was running normally then Outlook 2019 ‘disappeared’ before the machine started cycling through the other symptoms.

Machines affected included: HP dc7900, HP dc8200.

The resolution to all this, so far, was Windows 21H1 either by fresh installation or using the Windows update assistant if the machine was capable of running it.

Tips & Tricks Workshop Tales

Insufficient SSD capacity for Windows 10 feature update

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A common problem with small notebooks and laptops with minimal capacity drives of 32Gb is that there is not enough spare drive space to carry out a Windows update to the next release with the current version installed. This was the issue with a Lenovo 120S 11IAP Model: 81A4. The sequence to take this machine from version 1709 to 20H2 in December 2020 was:

  • Added an external USB flash drive; used a 64Gb blank NTFS formatted. The update left a 4Gb file on this stick which could be ejected later.
  • Reset Windows 10 : Skip Network Connection add a Local User
  • Disable/Pause Update in settings
  • Connect to WiFi / Network
  • Download and run Windows Upgrade Assistant

Workshop Tales

TP-Link Powerline WiFi Extender Printer LAN Access Fix

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Range Extender kit

If you find that your printer is invisible on your network when connected to your TP-Link WiFi plug one quick fix that sometimes works is to swap the nearest Wifi Powerline Adapter with another. Obviously they both need to be paired on the same powerline link and have cloned the same WiFi credentials. This worked on two installations where multiple adapters were in use and might possibly be related to incompatible software versions in their firmware – as they had been purchased some time apart.

Workshop Tales

Google Chrome not upgrading problem – reverts to previous version

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On a Dell Inspiron Desktop Tower PC running Windows 10 Home 64bit, recently upgraded from Windows 7 Home Premium – there was a very odd problem with Google’s Chrome Browser.Chrome version dialogue

Firstly the version was rather elderly 58.58.3029.110 and wasn’t auto-upgrading, secondly no link for uninstalling was viewable in Control Panel or Settings:Apps. All attempts to run the online installer made no difference. Manually deleting the installation folders and Registry entries would be ‘magically’ reversed if any installer (even later versions) was run or existing link was activated.

Working on the guess that this was an ‘enterprise’ issue – running the latest Chrome Browser for Enterprise MSI (installer – scroll down past the bundles) restored an Uninstall link.

Chrome Uninstall Link Uninstalling using this link seemed to work – but any installer would still produce the ‘magical’ reversion described above.

Using the Offline Chrome Installer (or 32 bit) from a different Local Administrator Account temporarily resolved the issue but the ‘magical’ reversion eventually returned.

Googling revealed a few other similar cases, at least one user being ridiculed on a support forum! After yet another reversion I started to examine the individual processes in Task Manager and discovered (using Open file location) they were bogus entries running from outside the Chrome Installation folders, also realized that they were named Chrome (32 bit) unlike the genuine version.

So this is a Virus which enforces the use of an old Browser version for its own purposes – which I could not deduce. There were at least two bogus folders in Program Files of a similar nature. I had tried at least two AV scanners before finding the culprit.

Workshop Tales

BIOS update for HP Microserver G7 N54L

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If you install Windows 10 on a HP Microserver you might find that the Network Ethernet Port cannot be accessed by the OS.

The solution might be a BIOS update using firmware upgrade SP64420.exe download. Version 2013.10.01 (A) (15 Nov 2013) can be found here.

After creating the Update USB and booting to it the update finished untidily at a command line prompt – but was successful.

https://youtu.be/fiNV6mjKNJk
Procedure Video