Systems Support FAQ

A selection of questions that have come up in the School. If the solution suggested doesn’t prove successful contact the Teaching Systems Support Officer. Use your browser's 'Find on this page' function (ctrl-F) to locate key words relating to your particular query.

The F: and Z: drives are identical and are referred to interchangeably in this FAQ.

If you have some information that might usefully be included on this page email it to philip.hawker@nottingham.ac.uk

Questions

Q1: I need access to the photocopier, what should I do?

Q2: I have deleted some files on my network drive (Z:), can I get them back?

Q3: Internet access is very slow, what’s wrong?

Q4: F-Secure has signalled that it has found a virus, what should I do?

Q5: I have run out of printer credits who should I see to buy more?

Q6: I originally registered for another department before transferring to Physics & Astronomy and I can’t access the Physics printers. What should I do?

Q7: I am trying to install package X and have had a problem, can the IT Support Officer help?

Q8: I need a copy of the Salford compilers for personal educational use, who should I see?

Q9: Where can I find good source of info for sorting out problems in Windows 95/98/NT?

Q10: How can I view a .PS file?

Q11: I want to set up the GroupWise client on my PC. How is it done?

Q12: I want to access my GroupWise mail account via the web when away from campus. What should I do?

Q13: Occasionally, when logging out, the screen greys out and nothing further happens. The new login screen doesn't appear. What should I do?

Q14: Occasionally non-standard fonts do not appear correctly when printing to the PostScript printer queue.

Q15: Sometimes when using Word equations appear correctly on the screen but do not appear in the printed document. Is their a fix for this?

Q16: Word won't let me save my document and produces messages saying 'Disk Full'?

Q17: Netscape on the NAL won't run correctly or comes up wrongly configured regardless of which machine I login at. What's the solution?

Q18: How can I check my printer credit balance?

Q19: How can I forward mail from my Groupwise mail account?

Q20: Where can I get advice on virus protection?

Q21: A matlab picture pasted into my Word document doesn't appear when I print the document out. What's the solution? (See also question 23.)

Q22: When I click on a link to a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) document in Netscape the document isn't displayed. What's the solution?

Q23: A picture pasted into my Word document displays correctly on the screen but doesn't appear in the printed version. (See also question 21.)

Q24:

Q25:

Q26: How can I check my server disk quota (the amount of disk space allocated to me on the Z: drive)?

Q27: How do I print double-sided/print more than one page to a side on the Physics undergraduate printers?

Q28: The Netware (Zenworks) Application Launcher (NAL) failed to start when I logged in or has crashed. How can I restart it without having to logout and login again?

Q29: How can I produce an A5 format booklet on the Physics undergraduate printers?

Answers

A1: Contact the IT Support Officer. If the convenor of the module for which you need to do the photocopying has given authorisation then you will be allocated a copier access code. Each eligible module carries with it a maximum number of free copies. If you exceeed this maximum the excess copying is charged to your Physics printing account at the rate of 5p per copied side.

A2: The answer is yes, assuming you are working on a machine with a new enough Novell Netware client installed. Fire up Windows Explorer and right click on the directory that originally contained the deleted files. If you have a suitable client installed there will be a 'Salvage' option in the drop down list that appears. Select it and you will be presented with a list of deleted files that can be recovered.

A3: Generally internet access slows due to sheer volume of traffic. Try accessing first thing in the morning, before about 10 o’clock, or in the evening. If you get the same problem at all times contact the IT Support Officer.

A4: Note what type of virus has been detected and then read the'General information on virus protection' web page.

A5: Printer credits can be bought in blocks of £5 worth from the School finance office (room B122 in the Physics & Maths building).

A6: See the IT Support Officer.

A7: It depends. If X is supported by the University then ‘yes’ otherwise definitely ‘no’. Do not install unauthorised software, you will be contravening the University Code of Practice, which could result in your right to use the computer system being withdrawn or limited. Unauthorised software can also cause unexpected and difficult to solve problems for your fellow users. If in doubt contact the IT Support Officer.

A8: The IT Support Officer, who can lend you an installation CD.

A9: Try www.computertips.com amongst many others.

A10: The .PS extension indicates a post script file, view it using GhostView which can be found in the 'Graphical Software' folder on the NAL. If you are trying to view a PostScript file on the web, save it to disk from within your browser then open it with GhostView.

A11: Fire up NAL and go to the 'Software Installation' folder. Double click on the 'GroupWise install (silent)' icon. The installation will proceed. For further details on GroupWise see here.

A12: You will need to set a password before you can access GroupWise via the web. See here for details.

A13: Assuming that the machine hasn't locked up completely (i.e. the mouse cursor still moves) hold down <'ctrl>+<'alt> and press the <'del> key to fire up the Windows Task Manager. If one of the tasks listed is marked as not responding highlight it and click 'End Task'. If nothing is so marked highlight 'Explorer' and click 'End Task'. Logout should proceed as normal.

A14: Try printing to the PCL version of the printer queue. This can be selected in the Print window by clicking on the button at the end of the 'Printer Name' box and highlighting the required entry in the drop down list that appears.

A15: Try printing to the PS version of the printer queue.This can be selected in the Print window by clicking on the button at the end of the 'Printer Name' box and highlighting the required entry in the drop down list that appears.

A16: This is a common sign of virus activity. Click here for further advice.

A17: If the problem exists regardless of which machine you are logged in at then there is almost certainly something up with the configuration settings that Netscape stores in the folder Z:\Netscape. Just delete this directory and the problem should disappear. Note however that if you have created any files in Z:\Netscape or its subdirectories that you want to keep (for example, a file of bookmarks) you should first copy them elsewhere before deleting.

A18: While logged on go to START > RUN, type 'wbalance' and click OK. A dollar symbol will appear in the system tray (bottom right hand corner of the screen). Now, allowing the cursor to hover over the dollar or double clicking on the dollar will bring up a message showing your physics printer credit balance. (Incidently, if you right click on the dollar, select Preferences and change the 'Account type/Schema keyword' from 'UoNPhysics' to 'Standard Netware' then your Cripps printer balance is displayed instead.)

A19: To set up mail forwarding fire up Groupwise, goto Tools > Rules, click on the "New..." button. In the "NEW Rule" window type in a name for the rule, anything will do. Make sure the button just below "When event is" shows "New Item". Check the "Mail" item type check box and click the "Add Action" button. Select "Forward" from the drop down menu and type the address to forward to in the window that appears. (Groupwise also requires you to put some text in the Subject or Message boxes as well before proceeding.) Click "OK" then "Save" in the new rule window. Now all newly received mail will be forwarded as you have specified.

A20: The School IT support web site has a regularly updated page on virus protection. Click here to get to it.

A21: There are two ways that I know of that work, there may be others. (1) In the matlab figure window select File > Export, and save the figure in a format that Word knows about, for example, .jpg. Then Insert the picture into your Word document. (2) In the matlab figure window select Edit > Figure Copy then paste into the Word document with cntrl-V or Edit > Paste. Method (1) has the big advantage that if something does go wrong you won't need to rerun your matlab code in order to regenerate the figures. Remember, try printing a page containing a figure early on in your preparation of the document, just to make sure that all is well. Don't leave doing a test until the whole document is complete and the deadline minutes away.

A22: Fire Adobe Acrobat 4 from the Graphical Software folder on the NAL and then minimise it. Clicking on the link to the document in Netscape should now cause it to display.

A23: The problem appears to be related to the format/type of image file that you pasted in originally. There are a number of things to try. Cut and Paste the picture from your Word document into the original application you used to generate it. Then Cut and Paste Special into back into Word again, selecting Bitmap as the file type. Obviously, for Matlab graphs this won't be possible, so try pasting into another graphics/image processing package (for example, Paint Shop Pro, LView or IRfanView) before doing a Paste Special back into Word. As a third alternative just Cut the picture then Paste Special straight back into Word without the intermediate step of pasting into another application.

A24:

A25:

A26: Click on the 'Disk Quota' icon in the root (NOTTINGHAM) folder on the NAL. Alternatively, go to a DOS prompt (by clicking Start > Programs > MS-DOS Prompt) and use the 'dquot' command.

A27: First you must be logged in at a machine in one of the Physics computer suites, that is, B11, B15 or B8b. From within the application you are using go to File > Print.... In the Print window that appears make sure that one of the Canon printer (GP605) drivers is selected and click the Properties button.

For the PCL printer driver (GP605-605P PCL):
In the Printer Properties window under the Page Setup tab next to Print Layout there is an option to Print 1,2,... 16 pages per side. Under the Finishing tab next to Print Style, 1-Sided or 2-Sided Printing can be selected. (The third option for Booklet Printing is not available on the printers as currently configured.)

For the PS printer driver (GP605-605P PS Ver 2.0):
In the Printer Properties window under the Paper tab in the Layout section 1,2,... up to 16 pages per side can be selected by checking the appropriate box. For double sided printing select the Options tab and go to Finishing. Double (2)-sided printing can be turned on by selecting Long edge binding or Short edge binding in the 2-Sided printing dialogue box.

A28: Go to Start > Run, type 'NAL' (without the quotes) and click OK.

A29: First you must be logged in at a machine in one of the Physics computer suites, that is, B11, B15 or B8b. From within the application you are using go to File > Print.... In the Print window that appears make sure that one of the Canon printer (GP605) drivers is selected and click the Properties button.

For the PCL printer driver (GP605-605P PCL):
In the Printer Properties window under the Finishing tab next to Print Style, Booklet Printing can be selected.

For the PS printer driver (GP605-605P PS Ver 2.0):
In the Printer Properties window under the Options tab go to Finishing. Booklet printing can be enabled by checking the Booklet check box.

The original document must be prepared in A4 format or it will be rejected by the print accounting software. The printer then shrinks the pages to A5 and arranges them correctly on a number of A4 sheets that can be folded together forming a booklet.