.Net

Attended a presentation on Visual Studio .Net today. The three small PC programming areas in our Department recently decided that Visual Studio .Net is the direction we are headed for much of our PC programming development. It is just a progression of the VB and .asp development that we have been doing. The other two groups have already purchased Visual Studio .NET Professional. I have my request in for MSDN Universal Subscriptions as they allow one a lot more freedom for the developer as well as the additional tools.

Dropped

I dropped out of the Architecture Committee. Frustrating and a bit of a waste as we already have another representative from our agency.

I want one!

It looks as though Chuck Beck Motorsports makes a nice 550 Spyder replica.


Not bad if you have an extra $25,000 sitting around. I don't, but still nice to look at. I like the 550 more than the 356.

Theme Thursday - Over

The note posted on the Theme Thursday site shows that it has come to an end, at least for a while.

I've decided it's time to take a break from Theme Thursday. Whether this will be permanent or temporary, I haven't decided yet. I've got a lot of big things happening in my life during the next few months that are going to take up much of my time. I also haven't been having much fun with Theme Thursday lately and decided that, rather then burning myself out, I should take a step back for a bit and see how I feel after everything is done.

Thanks to those of you who have participated faithfully for so long and offered to help out with Theme Thursday. It wouldn't have existed without you.

-reb

Thank you Reb, as I am sure that it takes time and effort away from other things to maintain such a site. I would also like to thank Dale Hudjik. I received an e-mail from him and he is trying to carry on the tradition. If you were posting to Theme Thursday and looking for a new place to post on Thursday, and you didn't receive an e-mail from Dale (I am sure he couldn't reach everyone posting to Theme Thursday), you might look to Thursday Challenge to fill the void.

Thanks Dale!

Teamstudio site down

I have been trying to get to the Teamstudio site all evening and have been unable to. That is not good. I was speaking with a rep at 5pm and it appeared that he couldn't get into his mail either. He said that the administrator will take it down at the end of the day for maintenance at times, but it would appear that it would be more than routine maintenance to have it down this long.

Update: I was unable to get to the site this morning either. I found out a bit before noon today that they changed ISPs and evidently DNS has not been updated accordingly. If you are trying to get to their site, it is up and running fine. Here it the new IP address that will allow you to access their page: 66.181.95.233

Posts have slowed down & Client Upgrades

The posts have slowed down a bit as I have some projects coming to an end and some just kicking off, which is keeping me busy.

It does not appear that Tech Support is going to meet their target of getting all of our Notes Clients upgraded by the 20th either. I contacted them and they said it was going slower than they thought. Basically they aren't devoting any time to it.

I like the fact that the Client Build is showing up nicely once the Clients are upgraded. Our 5.08 Clients don't show anything, but the 6.52 Clients do, which I have found is allowing me to keep tabs on the progress. I created a view with the Name (@Trim(@Subset(LastName;1))+@If(Firstname !="";" , "+@Trim(@Subset(FirstName;1));"")+@If(MiddleInitial !="";" "+@Trim(@Subset(MiddleInitial;1));""), Client Build (ClntBld), Client Date (ClntDate), Machine Name (ClntMachine), and Client OS (ClntPltfrm), having column sorts on the columns makes it kind of nice too. I like the Client Date as this appears to be the date/time of the install, so I can tell that they didn't actually do an install at all last week. As the spurts of installs run in small groups I can pretty well tell that they haven't spent much more than 3 hours total on the installs to this point.

As our Developers have a test and a production machine, it displays multiple entries in each column coordinating across the rows. Cool.

Disappointing Tech Support Call Today

I got a new laptop. Yeah! It is a Gateway 450E. Not bad.



I ran into a problem when undocking. I had undocked early on and it worked fine. I found that undocking with the resolution set to 1024x768 it was working fine. When undocking with the resolution set to 1280x1024 or 1400x1050 (my preference) the screen would no longer display. Hit a key or move the pointer which displayed on the blank screen and it would then show the tiny lines across the bottom of the screen. I took the pic of the screen (below) with my camera phone.



I went to the advanced search support page and looked for anything on undock and resolution and found nothing related to my issue.

I figured I am already on the site, I'll try the online support. (I added the info in italics.)

Well close to an hour later I was no closer to a resolution (pun possibly intended). Their solution send it back.

Below is most of the transcript (which they don't e-mail you, but you can save - it does not have the initial incident submission in it though):

I explained the problem mention above and submitted it.

Gateway Rep #1 joined the incident.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Welcome to Gateway Remote Assistance. I am looking at your account and the information you submitted. I will begin troubleshooting with you in just a moment.

Bonj says:
That is fine.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Thank you for holding, Bonj.

Bonj says:
The pointer does display on the screen and even though I can't see the screen (even tried switching LCD/CRT repeatedly to see if it would come back) I am able to shutdown safely simply utilizing the keystrokes, so the computer is not locking.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
I just checked with the system information and found that it is registered under a different user name.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Hence can you please confirm me the original owner of this computer ?

Bonj says:
I explained that it was purchased by the agency that I worked and gave the name of the Tech that it is likely registered under.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Thank you for the information, Bonj.

Bonj says:
You are welcome.

Bonj says:
If I hit the windows button, which would normally bring up the start bar it will display little lines at the bottom of the screen. I sent them a link to the camera phone pic you see above.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Thank you for the information, Bonj.

Bonj says:
You are welcome.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
I had viewed the screenshot sent by you.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Is this the issue happens when the Laptop is docked with the docking station too ?

Bonj says:
Not very easy to work with it like that. :-)

Bonj says:
The issue only occurs upon selecting Start, then Undock Computer. It states everything went fine and to go ahead and undock. Upon undocking this is what happens. As stated if running 1024x768 and doing the same thing the video portion comes back fine. It will run in 1400x1050 and 1280x1024 just fine if powering up docked or undocked, it is only after undocking while powered up.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
So let me confirm the issue..You mean to say that the system displays the error message when trying to undock with the display settings more than 1024x768.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
May I know from when the issue has started?

Bonj says:
The PC has been in for a while and just sitting in a box waiting for distribution. I got it early to mid last week and Tech Support got the port replicator to me on Friday. Yesterday was the first I had tried it. So it just started, but it had not been used before, so the issue had not been experienced until now.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
ok.

Bonj says:
You may be able to tell it (as the serial number was submitted in the initial incident screen and I had scanned the machine configuration), but the Mobility Radeon 7500 driver shows a driver date of 4/28/2003 and version # of 6.14.10.6343 if that is of any value. (This is updated from the one that shipped, which was 6.14.10.6334).

Gateway Rep #1 says:
ok.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Does this happens when the docking station is not connected?

What? Hello, have I not explained the problem already!

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Also are you trying to undock when the system is powered on?

You mean Windows will run when it isn't powered on?

Bonj says:
No. It displays fine if simply powering up removed from the docking station (I don't know if there is more than one docking solution as there has been in the past, but this is more of a port replicator). I do not use an external monitor when connected either. The only monitor I use is the laptop monitor itself.

Bonj says:
Yes, undocking when the system is powered on. Otherwise the Start, Undock Computer would not be available to select. If powering down taking off and powering back up there are no problems.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
ok.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
As you said that no issues arises with ..when the system is working fine.

What?

Gateway Rep #1 says:
So the issue must be with the port replicator .

Bonj says:
The issue is specifically when selecting Start, then Undock Computer, when a video resolution of 1280x1024 or 1400x1050 is selected the video does not come back upon undocking. As mentioned the Operating System is still functioning fine as I can use the key strokes to shut it down even though I can't see the screen. If running 1024x768 it works fine (I have not actually tested resolutions lower than that).

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Thank you for the information, Bonj.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
I would escalate the call to the second level support for further assistance?

Your Live Automation session is being escalated. Please stand by.
Your escalated Live Automation session has been handled.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Thank you for holding, Bonj.

Bonj says:
Not a problem.

Gateway Rep #1 says:
Gateway Rep#2 is my supervisor and will assist you further in resolving your issue.,

Gateway Rep #1 has left the incident.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Hello Bonj.

Gateway Rep #2says:
How are you today?

Bonj says:
Hello.

Bonj says:
Not to sound bad, but I would be doing better if not chatting with you. :-)
(In case you haven't been able to tell, I can be a bit of a smartass, but I did try to remain polite.)

Bonj says:
In other words if everything was working.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Sure, I will help you in resolving the issue today.

Don't speak to soon.

Bonj says:
As I want to run in the higher resolution the workaround is simply shutting down before undocking, but wanted to see if there was the possibility of getting it to work.

Gateway Rep #2says:
May I know when it started happening?

Hello again! What did I say above. Take a second and read the chat log.

Bonj says:
Yesterday, but that was the first attempt. I can duplicate it every time. The PC was just put in service last week and I received the port replicator on Friday.

Gateway Rep #2says:
can you please reconfirm the serial number of the system?

You've already got it!

Bonj says:
It works fine in 1024x768, but the video does not display after a successful undock when running 1280x1024 or 1400x1050.

Bonj says:
00XXXXXXXX

Bonj says:
It is a DS 450E

Gateway Rep #2says:
I see that the system is not registered under Bonj, Can you please provide me the name of the person in which the system is registers?

So you think the guy that works for you would be stupid enough to escalate the issue to you without finding that out already?

Bonj says:
Port replicator is S/N XXXXXXXXXXXX Part# 8006527

Bonj says:
As I told Gateway Rep#1 it was purchased by the agency I work for. It may be registered under the Tech that unpacked it XXXX XXXXX.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Thanks for the confirmation Bonj,

Bonj says:
Not a problem.

Gateway Rep #2says:
In this case we are not able to conclude if the issue is with the port replicatior or the system so the best option to resolve the issue is to send the system for service.

What? I said I had a workaround and since I just finished getting this one setup how I need it you can't pry it from my hands.

Bonj says:
After undocking the pointer still displays, but nothing else. Upon hitting the Windows key to bring up the Start menu it will show some lines. You can see what it looks like here (sent the link to this guy as well) (It is a camera phone pic so not very good, but gives you the idea. The lines show at the bottom of the screen.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Just to confirm you are facing the issue only when you are undocking, Am I correct?

Bonj says:
Correct.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Bonj, we need to diagonise the issue, I am not sure whether the issue is with the port replicatior or the system, So the best option is to send the system for service.

Bonj says:
As we received several of these in and they are just now being unboxed to be put in service, I may test by swapping port replicators and see if the other machines have the issue first as well. I just finished getting everything loaded on mine.

Bonj says:
Can I wait to get return information until after I have tested. If it does appear to be a problem on all of them would we need to return all?

Gateway Rep #2says:
Okay, Please check it by swapping the port replicators and you have issues with all the portriplicators or the system please connect back to us with the information, So that we can proceed further.

Bonj says:
Okay. Thanks.

Gateway Rep #2says:
I am documenting this issue under service request number 2-XXXXXXXXX. If you need to contact us again on this issue, please refer to this number.

Gateway Rep #2says:
Please save the chatlog.

Bonj says:
I will thanks.

Bonj says:
I'll receive a copy of the transcript won't I so that I don't need to write that number down.

Gateway Rep #2says:
You can save the chatlog. so that all the conversation will be saved.

End of Chat
-------------

Ugh!!! An hour wasted. I wasn't even asked to look at anything even after being escalated.

I was polite, but honest on the little survey afterwards.

I followed that by asking one of our Techs that was working on getting his new portable setup if he had the same issue. He did not. We looked at mine further. We rolled back the video driver. No luck. Totally uninstalled it and the supporting software, then reinstalled. No luck. Per the Tech we started looking at the hardware profiles. They were a bit flaky. We deleted several and new ones kept being created often coming up as unknown state instead of docked or undocked. After playing with it and deleting the respective profiles enough we finally got to a point where it works on the different resolutions.

We were having some super slow response from the machine when going back to look at the profiles each time and thought, great, now what is going on. After the Tech left the machine was still acting sluggish. Got to looking and the mcupdate.exe (McAfee) process was running at 99% CPU utilization, which for some reason usually puts a damper on system performance. Killed the process and performance definitely increased. Reported the issue to Tech Support, which they stated they have occasionally seen and it usually clears up with a reinstall of the anti virus software.

Things are working good for now. I hope it continues.

Nice Sign.

I was just glad that I was able to donate the America Can Do Better sign. I wonder if anyone else noticed. HA!
You may have to click on it and maximize the picture to see what I mean. Okay, I'll tell you. The sign normally says JohnKerry.com not bonj.blogspot.com.

Textamerica Times

I just noticed they put another one of my pics on The Textamerica Times.

Editor's Pick

From a photographic standpoint I thought it might be interesting to attend the Kerry-Edwards Rally that was taking place in Jefferson City. I am not a big fan of standing in a big crowd of people for hours. I still wasn't close enough for great picks, but must admit that it was an interesting assemblage of people. Anyway, I took some pics with my phone and one of my picks was an editor's pick on textamerica.


Not sure it will still be a pick if you go look. If not you can see it here.

Swing State - Missouri

I guess Missouri wants to be a bit more unpredictable and keep analyst guessing how this swing state might vote. Last night in the Primary Election, for the first time in state histroy, Missouri ousted the incumbent gubernatorial candidate, Democratic Governor Bob Holden, in favor of another Democrat, Claire McCaskill, the current State Auditor. McCaskill will face Republican candidate Matt Blunt, the current Secretary of State in the General Election in November.

Segway on The Register

I saw an article about a Segway making its way across the United States. Where would one expect to see such an article but the UK site, "The Register", of course. (It was reported by Ashlee Vance in Chicago, Illinois, USA, though.)

You can find out more on the America at 10mph site. They plan to be rolling through Jefferson City on September 16th.

I am a bit disappointed that I don't see an RSS or Atom feed.

Route

Primary Election

Today many Missourians went to the polls. I did. It was a primary election. To see the 2004 Primary Election Candidates you can visit this page on the Missouri Secretary of State's website. Information on the ballot measures can be found here. The measures voted on today, were Amendment 1 and Amendment 2.

To see the results you can visit this page.

Amendment 3 will be voted on in November. If passed, it is my understanding that one of the outcomes is that it would take away a major portion of monies that fund portions of the Department of Revenue. Not real good for the Department. As I understand it the Motor Vehicle and Drivers Licensing Division, which takes care of licensing vehicles and drivers is about 99% funded by the transportation funds in quesion and the Administration Division is about 50% funded by these funds.