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Need Win 2000 Network Help!

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by mmbarreca 1 view

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I will start off by saying that by no means am I a network or hardware professional. I have been given the daunting task (with no help of course) to figure out what is happening with a network that's leaving me quite confused.

The network has 13workstations, all of which are Windows 2000. 7 of the workstations are Fujitsu pen-tablets while the other PCs are hard-wired. The "support" person that originally setup this network configured it as Terminal Services (have no idea why) and have been told that it was not configured properly. The site-wide software that must be used does not operate well on TS and the "support" person was told to turn TS off. He stated he did but upon my first visit to the site, I realized he never turned itoff and it was still running. I found an article on the Microsoft website and removed TS through the Control Panel on the server.

If I log onto one of the workstations as the network admin, I see the server screen and can access most of the features of the server (I'm assuming this is a feature of TS).

To add to this complication, the wireless portion of the network consistently runs slow and despite the access points being a mere 2 feet away, they drop from the network. These pen-tablets also report wireless registry errors if you log on to them with anything but an admin logon.

I don't know how TS works but am wondering if many of the access errors on the network are being caused by the original configuration of TS on this network. Is there more to turning off TS than removing through the CP as the MS article suggests?

Thanks!

6 replies

by djent

Why did you accept this task? Tell your boss that do not have the required training or skills for it and go hire someone that does. Your previous IT person left an undocumented mess, why do you want to clean it up?

by goobs

I would have to agree with djent. Your company would have greater benefit by hiring a contractor to fix the current situation leaving you to be able to handle your normal tasks.

by mmbarreca

My boss is well aware that hardware and networking are not my specialties. I was supposed to receive training in these areas "eventually" and unfortunately, I work for a boss for a small company who thinks that the software person should handle everything.

However, I also told her she would be better off hiring an IT professional to sort out the mess left by my predecessor, and that has fallen on deaf ears. :-(

by djent

Having laid the groundwork it seems that you can do no wrong. If you fail you can tell her I told you so, it takes training and experiance to solve these issues and she thinks she can just will this to happen. I might also consider if I want to continue work under this boss. Determination is a good thing, stupidity is some thing else.

by jrdtech

I would suggest you find a good consulting company to clean this up. If you are in the NY metro area contact me at the attached email address. In the long run it will save the company a fortune in time and money not counting a lot of aggravation.
I am quite aware that you are in a small company but that is the reason there are networking consultants. Most small companies don't have a trained IT person on staff because it is costly and once the network is set up there is nothing for them to do. Car and other manufacturers subcontract much of their operations because it saves them money.

Good consulting companies will clean-up this and a lot of other issues leaving you with a reliable system. Networking has gotten easier in some ways but in others it is much more complicated with all the new viruses and security issues. Having an expert come in will get you running and a good company will teach you what they did so you can learn how to maintain it.
Jim

by mainard1

you said you have 13 workstations, if these are the only workstations you have through the entire company you dont need terminal server. we would need a little bit more info of your network
ie
how many sites
how many servers and what kind
how internet is connected
how files are being saved (file server)
Is there any reason for wireless.

It seems like the previous guy tried to spend money as much as possible eventhough its not needed. For business I think hard wired rj45 jacks and patch panel is still a way to go inistead of wireless. Email me if you need me to help.

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