Have you received one of these letters?

Click on the image to view larger size.

Don’t fall for it, it’s a scam. You don’t need their services and they aren’t the company who controls your domain. What they are trying to do is get you to switch your domain from your current registrar to them and these guys probably charge a lot more than your current company does. Just throw the letter away as your current registrar will most likely auto-renew your domain when it expires.

And if you have any questions about who your registrar actually is, you can go to http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp, type your domain name into the box and click on “Search”. Look for the section that says “Current Registrar” and you will know who your real registrar is you you can be certain that it isn’t “Domain Registry Of America.”

Tim

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As you may know, SBS 2008 always wants to be the DHCP server in a domain. Not a problem, right? Well, if you have the Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile, it is a problem.

The issue is that even though you can go into the network setup on the router and disable DHCP, it never stops the service. This means that you now have two DHCP servers on one network giving conflicting addresses.

The Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile is absolutely necessary if you have “T-Mobile @Home“ phone service. This service allows you to connect a standard land-line phone to the router and have a pseudo-landline through T-Mobile. You have to put a SIM card in the router and as other routers don’t accept SIM cards, this is the only one that you can use with this service.

So my client needed this router AND he needed his new SBS server. Though it is possible to have the SBS stop serving DHCP, it isn’t recommended. Here is how I solved the problem of keeping the router for my client’s phone service while installing a new router for the network gateway.

1. I got him a new router to set up as the default gateway for the network and set the IP Subnet to 192.168.0.x.
2. I connected the server and all office computers to this router.
3. I then connected the old router, WRTU54G-TM, behind the new one and set it up with a different IP Subnet of 192.168.1.x.

This allowed both routers to be active while the primary network and its computers received their DHCP through the server. The phone service still worked and at the end of the day, everyone was happy. And next time I see a sys WRTU54G-TM, I’ll know exactly how to handle it. If I can’t remove it, I’ll simply make it subservient to another router.

Have you had either your Windows Vista computer or your SBS (Small Business Server) 2008 box lose their internet connection after you reboot? This recently happened to me after I installed SBS 2008 at a client’s location. It is easy to diagnose and the fix is relatively simple if you understand how to edit the registry on your computer.

Step 1: The Diagnosis:

1. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “CMD” without the quotes.
2. A black box will appear with a blinking cursor. Type “ipconfig /all” and hit “Enter”.
3. You will see a lot of text that may look completely foreign to you.
4. Look the the row that says “Default Gateway”, if it is blank, then continue on to the “The Fix” section. If the “Default Gateway” is not blank, there is another problem and the fix below will not help you.

Step 2: The Fix:

1. Close out of the black box by typing “Exit” and hitting “Enter”.
2. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “regedt32″ without the quotes.
3. The registry Editor will appear and you need to navigate to HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters/Interfaces/
4. Here you’ll need to select the CLSID of your networkadapter where you change the settings. You’ll probably recognize it by looking at the value IPAddress that will have the IP of this adapter.
5. Open the value “DefaultGateway” by double-clicking it.
6. You will see a list of all the gateways that disappeared! ( in your case it may only be one) Very likely, the first line will be empty. I’m not sure, how this little flaw can make such a big problem.
7. Manually remove this first empty line, click OK and reboot your system everything should be working fine again.

Thanks to Ilja Herlein at http://www.netsetman.com/support/viewtopic.php?pid=832#p832 for the direction on how to fix this issue. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

Tim

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Sometimes we all need to be reminded to go back to basics.

Many months ago, I was called out to diagnose an Internet connection problem. When I arrived onsite I went through some basic troubleshooting steps like these.

1. Attempted to reach a webpage.                            Failed.
2. Checked for an IP address.                                   Valid.
3. Released and renewed IP address.                          Succeeded.
4. Attempted Ping test to 4.2.2.2.                            Succeeded.
5. Attempted Ping test to yahoo.com.                        Succeeded.

So at this point I know that there is a valid connection to the modem, router and Internet, but not the WWW. I also know that DNS is working as that is what translates yahoo.com to the address 209.131.36.159. (Yes, that is Yahoo’s real IP Address.) Since the Internet connection works and has been proven I start looking for other reasons why the WWW might not work.

1. I look for Norton/Symantec software on the PC.          None there.
2. I look for McAfee software on the PC.                        None there.
3. I flush the DNS cache.                                              No improvement.
4. I start looking for malware and viruses.                      None there.

I start wondering what’s happening so I bring my laptop in and use the existing cable. My laptop has the same problem with the same circumstances. Of course since I know that my laptop works I start thinking about what is the same in this scenario. The items in common are the modem, router, and cable. Since the modem is owned by Verizon, I can’t just switch it out. I can switch out the Ethernet cable so I switch it for my own used cable. IT WORKS!!! So I go and get the client a new cable and it still works.

This was the first (and last) time that I had ever seen a bad Ethernet cable cause such a problem. Usually, if the cable is bad, the whole network connection is down and you can’t even get a valid IP address but in this case, it just blocked one protocol. Strange.

So this day I got my reminder that I need to get back to basics and check the cables. And that clients shouldn’t have to pay for my wasted time. I only charged for 1 hour + an Ethernet cable.

Thank you for reading,
Tim

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Whenever you’re planning on getting a new computer, changing your ISP (Internet Service Provider), or just making changes to your network, don’t be afraid to ask for advice. Generally, computer consultants and repair shops are happy to give advice, especially to their current clients.

I am currently playing cleanup with a client who decided to change his ISP without telling me. Under many circumstances this would be fine but this client has his email server at his office and that makes the ISP change a big deal.

I received an email after I had closed up shop for the day so I didn’t see it until the next morning. As I often check my emails first things in the morning to know what my schedule looks like I saw his email that requested that I be on alert for problems. “No Problem” I thought. But after I had been awake for a little while I realized that this would mean that his Static IP Address would change and that would completely disrupt his email. Of course, no one wants their business email service disrupted. I then had to change my entire day around (fortunately I have great and understanding clients) to be at his office that afternoon for the change. As my client never received the IP address that everything was going to change to, I had to wait for the ISP’s installer to get that information.

The entire situation was unorganized as well as much more stressful and expensive than it had to be. Had I been informed even a few days earlier, I could have given them questions to ask and issues to watch out for. Fortunately, everything was handled in a manner that kept business downtime to a minimum.

We all have enough stress in our lives. Keep your unnecessary stress to a minimum by getting advice from professionals.

Thank you for reading,
Tim

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As everyone is having a difficult time in this recession, Biden PC has lowered its prices on all computer networking and repair. Going from $100 per hour, our new lower prices are as follows:

Businesses: $85.00 per hour
Residences: $75.00 per hour
Remote Support: $15.00 per 1/4 hour

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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If you have Outlook 2007 connecting to Exchange 2007 or SBS 2008 and have been seeing the extremely persistent “Disconnected” button in the bottom right hand corner of your exchange, I think have the fix for you.

You can download the registry fix HERE or go to the PC that has the problem and edit the registry yourself.

** Warning: Editing the registry can be dangerous and Biden PC does not warrant any changes that you make.**

Navigate to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\RPC” and if the “RPC” key doesn’t exist, create it.
Add or edit DWORD value: “DefConnectOpts” and make it “0″

Thanks lesgetdown! I appreciate the help!

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Are you running Quickbooks on Windows PCs while a Linux domain and file server holds the data files? Do you get an error code -6190 -82? Let me tell you how I fixed this problem on a client’s server. I fully admit that I am no Linux expert but I am learning.

The users that were logged in to the server had admin access but only the user that owned the file was able to access it. All others were given the -6190 -82 error code. I tried everything my non-Linux mind could think of. I had them run QuickBooks from a batch file that removed the “Read Only” attribute. I did this, I did that.

What I finally did to fix the issue was going into the server and see what user group the necessary users belonged to. I then changed the owner setting of the QB Data files to that group.

**ADDITION** I had to go back and I saw that the .TLG file permissions had changed on the server. This sent me searching for why they would change and how to stop it… After testing, changing, testing, changing and retesting, I believe I have the complete solution to the problem.

1. Put all users who need QuickBooks access in 1 user group.
2. Make that group the owner of your .QBW and .TLG file with “Read & Write” permissions.
3. On each users desktop (at least the ones who backup the QuickBooks file), set the program NOT to verify the backup data.
4. Viola. The problem has been solved.

So what is the reason for this??? You can set the permissions on the .TLG file but if you verify the backup data in QuickBooks it creates a new .TLG file with the same name. That causes the permissions to be reset. So backing up without verifying saves the permissions and allows everyone to use the files. **END ADDITION**

Intuit says they don’t support Linux unless you pay for their $3000.00 Enterprise Solutions package. Well, this trick might just save you $3000.00. Feel free to send me a check if you find this useful… Just kidding.

Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Linksys,

One of my client’s neighbors recently called your company for support because she didn’t know how to get her WPA key after her computer was wiped clear because of viruses. You told her to reset the router back to factory settings but then wouldn’t tell her how to set it up again! “Your router is out of warranty” is your reply. So now her entire company is in worse shape because she didn’t have the authority to spend $40.00 of her boss’s money.

That is just bad business.

1. You find out her problem.
2. know her router is out of warranty
3. You have her reset her router.
4. You can’t help her to restore it back to working order because it is out of warranty.
5. You offer to charge her to do it.

Shouldn’t you mention these facts before you have her reset her router and knock the entire company off the Internet?

It is such reasons that I refuse to sell Linksys products. I truly hope that you will change your way of business but I doubt it. You’re owned by Cisco and you are the industry’s 800 lb. gorilla so you don’t have to worry about the little guy.

Well, I hope that you are happy with the fact that you wanted to charge them $40.00 to set up a router. As soon as I can, I am going to move them to a Netgear router.

Sincerely NOT a Linksys reseller,
Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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If you are a first time customer, you can head over to YellowBook.com ad and click on “Coupon” to see Biden PC’s 20% off coupon. This is 20% off our service fees. It does not include any hardware or software prices.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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