Wiping hard drive because XP won't see network

[Guest]

This may be the wrong forum for this question, if it is, please move it where it belongs.

I am experiencing some problems with a brand new Dell Optiplex GX270 with WinXP installed. I ran startup on it out of the box. I named the pc, gave the admin user a name and password, and then left it for the MIS techy guy to set up the network, and run the activation. Techy Guy after nearly 2 hours pronounced the pc as trashed, Gave me a verbal dressing down in front of office co-workers and visitors for being responsible and he will take it to the shop and wipe the drive and reinstall the OS. I could not believe it! I have read about 50 threads on this forum since I got home from work, and nowhere is it recommended to do such a thing! And some of the members of this group have had some astonishingly bad problems with the os and setting up their networks.

I need to defend myself with this guy and his superiors, who now believe that I am an idiot, not to mention reclaim my honor. I was not able to be in the room while Techy Guy was performing his duties, so I have no idea if he even logged in as administrator with the info I left out plainly beside the system, or if he did the activation which could not be done without the network, right? What could he have done, or I have done, to produce this nasty outcome? He claims whenever he tries to set up the network, he gets a message 'no network found'. I know a bit about setting one up in XP, as I have done so on my home pc setup, and the OS was in place, and all rights and such were set up long before the network was, and it went without a hitch. This guy says I should never have plugged in anything at all. He also says I was told not to, which I was not. I was told not to plug in the network cable. And I didn't. The only reason I cannot do the workplace network setup is because of the security issues, no one is allowed to do this without special clearance, and the MIS department is very good about making sure they are the only ones who can do it. I do everything else on the systems we have and there are 5 pcs and 3 laptops in my department.

Any tidbits of advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DH]

This may be the wrong forum for this question, if it is, please move it where it belongs.

I am experiencing some problems with a brand new Dell Optiplex GX270 with

WinXP installed. I ran startup on it out of the box. I named the pc, gave
the admin user a name and password, and then left it for the MIS techy guy
to set up the network, and run the activation. Techy Guy after nearly 2
hours pronounced the pc as trashed, Gave me a verbal dressing down in front
of office co-workers and visitors for being responsible and he will take it
to the shop and wipe the drive and reinstall the OS. I could not believe
it! I have read about 50 threads on this forum since I got home from work,
and nowhere is it recommended to do such a thing! And some of the members
of this group have had some astonishingly bad problems with the os and
setting up their networks.

I need to defend myself with this guy and his superiors, who now believe

that I am an idiot, not to mention reclaim my honor. I was not able to be
in the room while Techy Guy was performing his duties, so I have no idea if
he even logged in as administrator with the info I left out plainly beside
the system, or if he did the activation which could not be done without the
network, right? What could he have done, or I have done, to produce this
nasty outcome? He claims whenever he tries to set up the network, he gets a
message 'no network found'. I know a bit about setting one up in XP, as I
have done so on my home pc setup, and the OS was in place, and all rights
and such were set up long before the network was, and it went without a
hitch. This guy says I should never have plugged in anything at all. He
also says I was told not to, which I was not. I was told not to plug in the
network cable. And I didn't. The only reason I cannot do the workplace
network setup is because of the security issues, no one is allowed to do
this without special clearance, and the MIS department is very good about
making sure they are the only ones who can do it. I do everything else on
the systems we have and there are 5 pcs and 3 laptops in my department.

Any tidbits of advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

First let me say that you did nothing wrong. Second, I have never come
across a message that said "No network found". There isn't such a message
from Microsoft. Furthermore, just because the guy is having trouble with
connecting to the network does not justify "reinstall the OS". I strongly
suspect that the "techy guy" does not know what he is doing. This analysis
is based on the information supplied and my experience as a computer and
network consultant for small businesses.

Suggested responses:

1. Quit and go to work for a company that hires "techy guys" that are
professional in their ability to communicate and associate with their
co-workers(associates). (Don't you just loathe the geeky IT guys that think
that you are dumb if you don't know how many bit are in a byte.)

2. Dope slap him.

3. Sleep peacefully knowing that while you were reading your favorite
novelist, this jerk was spending at least an hour reinstalling your
operating system.(and not getting paid for it)

If it were me I would go 3 then 2 then 1.

How about this: Windows XP Home does not support domains. Windows XP Pro
does. Possibly, your system came with the "home" edition of XP and because
he does not know what he is doing, he is trying to connect to a domain.
Because you are in a secure business environment, this may be the case.

Let us know the outcome, even if you choose 2,

Dave H.

 

[Guest]

Hi! Many Thanks for the advice and confirmation of my suspicions. Now, instead of questioning my abilities and taking his inability to recognize his own failings personally, I can relax and silently snicker at the folly of it all. I can 'dope slap him' in my mind (wouldn't want to get arrested). My work goes on and my customers can still get the help they need. Thankfully I do not have to deal with this person on a regular basis. The MIS person who would have normally done this for us is on vacation so we got him assigned to the task.

The os is WinXP Pro, we are not allowed to have the home edition at work. I also have Pro on my home systems. I am beginning to believe that maybe the nic is not seated properly (and he won't open the case to check connections inside) although that does not explain his claim that the message 'no network found' comes up., which I have also never seen on XP. The pc that this one is replacing was connected to the network on the same cable, so I don't suspect the cable or the wall jack. The old one has Win98SE running on it. I am in agreement that more likely than not, he just does not know how to manage the os to connect to the domain. Should I email him an instruction sheet?

Oh get this, when he arrived to do the network he did not have all his 'tools' to do it, and had to go get what he needed and return. I asked him if the software was on the server and could he download and copy to a cd from one of the other pc's in the office. He did not know. Wouldn't even look. So he went back to his department in another building, took him nearly an hour. And all the while, the person who needs to use this pc is twiddling her thumbs, has clients waiting and can't get anything done with him at her desk, the whole morning a disaster, definitely a Monday on a Tuesday! Gives real techs a bad name

Thanks again for responding, I truly appreciate it. I'll jump back in when this thing is resolved

Sharon