Category Archives: Workshop Tales

My client’s Dell 1720dn Mono Laser Printer had been re-located and physically connected to a new router on a different IP segment. 192.168.1.x to 192.168.0.x which stopped communications with the local PCs which were updating their own IP addresses (DHCP) successfully. The printer’s fixed IP could be seen by printing the configuration reports but the old style ‘flashing lamps with two button menu’ system is difficult to use under pressure! The Solution to Fix this is a factory reset:

1. Power off the printer
2. Open the front cover (push the button on the left side)
3. Press and HOLD both the ‘Cancel’ and ‘Continue’ buttons (Right-Triangle + Red Cross)
4. Continue to hold the buttons and power the printer on.
5. Continue to hold the buttons until all light cycling activity has stopped.
6. After the lights have stopped cycling  and the “Error LED” light on the control panel is solid (could take up to 30 seconds), release the buttons.
7. Close the front cover to complete the Factory Default reset process.

YouTube Video Demonstration

A possible alternative fix that I didn’t try:-

1. There is a utility on the Install Disk to set a static IP address. Connect the network cable and power on the printer.
2. Press and hold the Continue button for 2-3 seconds to print a network settings report.
3. Obtain the MAC address of the printer from the network settings report. The MAC address is the value listed under the Standard Network Card section as UAA.
4. Insert the Drivers and Utilities CD.
5. When the Drivers and Utilities CD screen appears, click the Set IP Address link.
6. When the Set IP Address Utility window appears, enter the MAC address in the box under Discover Print Servers, and then click Discover.
7. Click to select your printer in the box under Configure Print Servers, and then click TCP/IP Settings.
8. When the TCP/IP Settings appears, enter the TCP/IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway Address.
9. Click Apply to save the settings, and then click Close to exit the utility.

My client’s Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop running Windows 7 was failing to connect with its wireless router even after re-starting or re-booting both devices. Although not immediately obvious the Function Key functionality/operations were also disabled or non-responsive. Pressing the combination Fn + F2 did not activate or de-activate the Wifi ON/OFF hardware confirmation responses, or any other Function key combinations, like screen dimming. This problem is in essence the same as a notebook pc with a physical hardware toggle switch for the wireless system – but in this case you can’t just switch it back on! The solution to Fix was to go to the Windows Mobility Centre (laptop only Windows feature) – from the start button search type ‘MO..’ then click ‘Windows Mobility Centre’ set the  Function key mode to ‘Function Keys’ Not ‘Multimedia’, close the dialogue, then use Fn + F2 to re-activate the wireless.

PostgreSQL 9.1 on Windows XP Pro 32 bit Installation Failure/problems

After using the Windows Installer for this system the server would not start and could not be started manually from the services management console. Whilst trying to troubleshoot this problem I discovered that reinstalling and changing the default data folder location seemed to resolve the issue. I guess this must be a permissions problem when the data folder is left within the program folder on Windows XP, i had no such problem on an alternative Vista system.

I used the alternative data location of ‘c:\postgresql\data’.

My customer reported that his elderly version of Outlook from MS Office XP (2003) had suddenly stopped downloading email and reporting error 0x8004060c, although it was quite happy to send. This is a known problem with local versions of the app using a .pst file to store data rather than MS Exchange. There is a 2gb limit using older versions of the file and 20gb if using a later format.

Solution; split file by creating (or using) an archive, compact file using in-built tool, start using /or/ create a new .pst file possibly in the later format?

A HP G61-110SA Laptop/notebook with Windows 7 Home Premium would lose its Wifi connection after windows update. Carrying out a system restore just repeated the problem.
Running Network troubleshooter on the adapter problem produced this result;
‘Windows couldn’t automatically bind the IP protocol stack to the network adapter’

This proved to be an AVG Firewall Module issue, disabling the AVG item in the Network Adapter Properties resolved the issue.

After a re-installation of Windows 7 Professional; a HP Compaq dc7900 Small Form Factor PC would not stay ‘asleep’. The Power settings were enabled to make the machine sleep but it would close down and then almost immediately wake-up again.

The solution was in the Network Adapter’s Advanced Property settings: Disable ‘Wake on pattern match’.

The Windows setting can be changed by following: Device Manager -> Network Adapters -> Properties -> Advanced
NOT the Power Management – Wake on LAN (WOL) / Magic Packet settings or the power-on settings in the BIOS which I tried first.