Archive for June, 2009
HAL.DLL is missing error message when trying to boot Windows XP
I received a call from a customer that basically had a rude message saying that the HAL.DLL was missing and refused to boot Windows XP.
At first I thought I could do a basic non destructive repair of Windows XP to restore all the missing or corrupted files. However, on booting up from the Windows XP [...]
Users must accept the End User License Agreement Every Time Office Apps are Launched
I got a call from a customer regarding two new Windows Vista machines that I had recently installed the previous day. I had installed all their usual applications on them including Office 2003 Basic Edition.
They reported that every time they opened Word or Excel (however not Outlook weirdly!?), it would present them with an End [...]
Two Network Cards (NIC’s) in a Windows XP machine connecting to two different subnets
I had a customer recently wanting to setup a new Ricoh multifunction colour printer on their network. The problem is they are connected wirelessly to another tenants network for Internet access and the new printer only has USB and Ethernet connections.
As they had old cabling installed in the wall that terminated back to just a [...]
Windows 7 - It’s actually really good!
If you have read most of the posts on the blog, you will know I love Apple products and especially OSX. Having supported Windows from v3.1 up, I basically got sick and tired of the same old problems and wanted to try something new a few years ago. So I jumped ship to the darkside [...]
I hope they release a new iPhone at WWDC on Monday!
As much as I love my iPhone and firmly believe it is simply the best phone around there are a few things that still frustrate the crap out of me about it.
1. Dropped Calls
The biggest complaint I have is the dropped calls. I am not sure if it is the iPhone or the Optus network [...]
Turning off Use Default Gateway on VPN connections
There is nothing more frustrating than setting up a VPN connection on Windows XP or Windows Vista and having not only the traffic you want to go over the VPN (i.e. Outlook, Network connections etc) but also the stuff you don’t want such as accessing websites.
If you have a fast internet connection however the site [...]
Windows 2008 Server Access Problems with Antivirus Installed
I came across a bizarre problem a few months back that I thought I would share with all of you. It involved a multi-processor IBM rack mount server with dual Xeons, 4GB RAM and a ton of raided disk space.
This server was running Windows 2008 Server, and was replacing an aging Dell Windows 2000 Server. [...]
The case of the rogue DHCP server and using DHCPLOC
Recently a customer asked me to troubleshoot a strange problem with their DHCP server service on the main Windows 2003 Server shutting down randomly. At first it wasn’t that much of a problem as most of their leases were 14 days, so quite often it would be down and not noticed for days.
It was only [...]