WTF is wrong with my AD account
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Okay, this is a long shot but our tech department is stumped. This is my work laptop, so I've no idea what any of the AD settings are like unless I can view it myself from my account.
Every once in a while, my laptop just utterly loses track of our (hidden SSID) wireless network. If I type the network name, it'll prompt me for a key I don't have. I have to run a gpupdate /force to restore wireless connectivity (which, in practical terms, means running back to my desk so I can dock to the hardline to do the update). Sometimes I get other weird effects too, like Communicator crashing and claiming it's uninstalled when I try to restart it -- of course, it can't install the msi from the network location because it's "unavailable". Possibly related is the fact that hostnames keep vanishing on PuTTY: it'll connect to the IP address just fine, but it can't resolve the hostname, despite the fact that ping from the command line finds the IP address okay (which is how I find it to feed it to PuTTY).
Has anyone ever seen this before?
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Not that exact combination - but other weird stuff that was solved by just rebuilding the machine. Doesn't seem like anything which could be tied back to either your user or computer AD account.
I've see plenty of instances of two machines of identical model and age, with the same image deployed, behave differently. That's why usually, in the interests of time, our desktop support guys either swap the machine for another freshly built one or just rebuild the existing one.
I guess there isn't another machine you can use for a bit to compare it to?
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I guess there isn't another machine you can use for a bit to compare it to?
No, not really.
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Try using a USB wifi dongle for awhile and see if the problems go away?
That doesn't help with the Communicator issue though. (Do you mean Office Communicator? Hasn't that been deprecated for like 5 years now?)
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Do you mean Office Communicator?
Yup, Office Communicator 2005
Hasn't that been deprecated for like 5 years now?
We're a little behind. We're told the upgrade to Lync is coming sometime this year, now that our exchange servers and AD have been upgraded this past quarter
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Yup, Office Communicator 2005
We're a bit behind - and we're at least on Communicator 2007.
We're supposedly moving to Cisco Jabber instead of Lync because, well, apparently we like giving Cisco money for things.
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Has anyone ever seen this before?
I have never seen that exact set of symptoms, but it sounds like what we would call "a ghost in the machine". I doubt it is related to an AD account, at least not a user account as it were. These are the types of issues that you can spend a long time trying to track down and still never find. I would nuke the install, delete the machines AD account, re-install and rejoin the domain.
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I doubt it is related to an AD account, at least not a user account as it were. These are the types of issues that you can spend a long time trying to track down and still never find. I would nuke the install, delete the machines AD account, re-install and rejoin the domain.
This.
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We're a little behind. We're told the upgrade to Lync is coming sometime this year,
Just in time (meaning: 2 months late) for Lync to be deprecated too.
Awesome.
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Deprecated technology has a proven track record and is guaranteed to be stable since it no longer receives updates. Why would you migrate to anything else?
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Sounds like a bunch of issues caused by loss of network connectivity. Check your WLAN card in device manager and ensure "allow this device to be turned off to save power" (or similar) is unticked. Then check Windows power settings.
You shouldn't have to be docked to do a gpupdate, it should reapply the cached settings, however docking will bring you out of power save mode.
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Discourse won't let me delete either of these duplicate posts.
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"allow this device to be turned off to save power" (or similar) is unticked.
That was ticked! Here's hoping unticking it helps.
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That was ticked! Here's hoping unticking it helps.
/me waits patiently to see if it helped.
:-P
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It's 2015, and wifi has been around for 10+ years, but wireless drivers still suck. Even on Windows. Just reboot and it will work.
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Weirdly enough, rebooting doesn't seem to fix the wifi issue.
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Seriously - get that machine rebuilt.
My current/old work laptop had a serious wifi issue, where it refused to connect to any protected wifi and most open wifi networks despite every other same-model corporate laptop working fine. Rebuilding it, even though the image was the same, fixed it.
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get that machine rebuilt.
When I got hired in and switched from a contractor desktop to a employee laptop, it took a couple weeks for the laptop to come in. We just got interns, so the odds of having a loaner handy are basically nil. Plus all my stuff's on the local drive. I can't afford the downtime right now :/
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But you can afford the time for all of the stuff mentioned above to be broken?
Shouldn't anything worth keeping be synced somewhere else?edit: loaner desktop?
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Plus all my stuff's on the local drive.
Wow you work for a real winner here.
You read DailyWTF, you're way too good for this company using a 8 year old IM program and doesn't even have access to network drives.
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Do you really wifi? Is ethernet an option, at least short-term?
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I have a network drive, but with my wifi going down so frequently I've stopped using it. That's on me :)
But you're right about the IM program thing
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Is ethernet an option, at least short-term?
I use ethernet at my desk, but some days I'm in meetings all day :(
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I have a network drive, but with my wifi going down so frequently I've stopped using it.
They had wires before wireless was invented.
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See previous post
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They don't have ethernet in meeting rooms?
Look - either way - that laptop won't fix itself, at some point you need to invest the time to back that stuff up and get the laptop sorted properly.
If you lost your stuff tomorrow because some more major issue appeared, you'd be screwed.
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Look - either way - that laptop won't fix itself, at some point you need to invest the time to back that stuff up and get the laptop sorted properly.
Right.
Every second that work exists only on your local hard drive is a huge risk to your company. If you looked at the balance sheet, the risk of unsecured work is probably worth a lot more than the cost of having some IT dude drive to the nearest Best Buy and pick up something off the shelf. (It's not hard to obtain laptops.)
If you have any competent management, communicate that to them. You might be surprised how quickly a new laptop becomes available.
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Ha. Ha. Ha. Go to best buy and pick something up?
You clearly don't spend enough time in sufficiently large enterprises.
We've had contractors sit around for weeks billing 40 hour weeks because laptops had to be funded (3 week process), ordered to corporate HQ from Dell (2 week lead time) , and then shipped to an office, and then swapped for whoever was due for an upgrade (1 week process) , and then retained for a week in case something was missed and then their old junk shipped to HQ and then finally to our site, and then built (1 week process) and issued.
We have developers being issued 8 year old shitboxes.
(the point about competent management is well taken, though).
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I'll probably go set up Sync or something tomorrow. That'd at least solve the one issue. Then as soon as I'm not busy (ha!) I'll see about getting the machine reimaged.
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We've had contractors sit around for weeks billing 40 hour weeks because laptops had to be funded [etc]
Yep--I've mentioned before that I once contracted at a place where that happened. ~2.5 weeks before I got a machine.
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You clearly don't spend enough time in sufficiently large enterprises.
I spent a few months in one.
I got my contract canned early when I couldn't tolerate it anymore.
But it has nothing to do with "big", it has to do with "shitty". There are a lot of big enterprises that just Get. Shit. Done. Microsoft is one of them for example. I bet Google is too, although I don't know for sure.
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I bet Google is too,
The only thing I've heard about their process is about their hiring. And that was absolutely negative.
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Had similar on the wired network just a few months ago wreaking havoc on our expanded VoIP.
Are you possibly running Symantec AV? Because resources becoming "unavailable" which domino effect into what you're describing is [explained here][1].
Possible resolutions:
- If you're running a fixed IP (probably not), whitelist it on AV server (we did this for our VoIP server and remote modules, problem went away).
- Symantec server needs to be set to trust stations running Symantec AV client. If not, Symantec effectively DoS' itself and firewalls your connection to 'protect' your station. A if I ever saw one.
Quickest test: uninstall Symantec and see if the problem goes away.
ALSO******************************
DNS could be a problem too. One of my nightly maintenance scripts stopped working when one of our consultants updated DNS and removed the script source server from being authorized from 2 of the 4 DCs. Half the servers wouldn't give it access to copy over the file it was copying as a result. Fixed DNS permissions, problem went away.
ALSO*****************************
If you are the ONLY one having this problem, then it's possible your station needs a rebuild as already mentioned by others above.
There could be other reasons, as the error is too generic.
Hope one of the three above help.
EDIT: Fixed link.
[1]: http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/specified-network-name-no-longer-available-6
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The only thing I've heard about their process is about their hiring. And that was absolutely negative.
I can confirm that. I've had TWO awful interviews with Google recruiters.
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As far as AD is concerned, I've seen some weird stuff. A (mandatory, after some time) password change, for example, makes the whole PC go batshit crazy for at least a month - apps will randomly accept the old password, the new password, or neither, changing their minds every few hours. Even the Windows login screen can get locked out if it's having a bad day.
Usually, when the symptoms pass, it's just about in time for the next password change...
Also, my mandatory company lock screen just plain old broke the other day. Huh.
We've had contractors sit around for weeks billing 40 hour weeks because laptops had to be funded (3 week process), ordered to corporate HQ from Dell (2 week lead time) , and then shipped to an office, and then swapped for whoever was due for an upgrade (1 week process) , and then retained for a week in case something was missed and then their old junk shipped to HQ and then finally to our site, and then built (1 week process) and issued.
I'm starting work as a (not too)HPC for a $LARGE_COMPANY_THING in a week. Boss told me to bring a book on the first day.
This is gonna be fun, but I'd probably have to kill you all if I posted a WTF here, and given the location issue that's not very convenient for me.
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When I see symptoms like that on school laptops, it's usually busted wifi hardware or busted RAM.
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Get a Chromebook or any other cheap wireless device that can do some sort of remote desktop.
Plug the laptop in. Leave it plugged in. Your Chromebook is now a thin client around your laptop.
Because the laptop is wired, you no longer have to worry about its connectivity. As a bonus, file copy operations will continue working even if someone turns on a microwave next to you.
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guyyzzz, it took like, 20 whole minutes to weed through my files and migrate to the network drive, that's like practically work
Alright, alright, I finally got off my ass and moved things and then instructed Sync Center to make them available offline. I also took that opportunity to weed through and delete old crap I had lying around for no reason and move things that are personal to my Google Drive instead. Still doesn't address the downtime issue but at least I feel better about my files.
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How much time is stuff randomly stopping working over, say, a month or more going to cost you in time vs just getting it sorted now?
If it was me I'd be taking the hit now, before more started going wrong. I'd be utterly surprised if they didn't have some kind of spare or backup laptop or desktop in the interim.
What would happen if it was dropped or stolen or whatever? They'd have you sitting around for days until a replacement turned up? Seems unlikely.
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They'd have you sitting around for days until a replacement turned up?
Probably.
The BI team has really really shitty laptops that wouldn't be able to run Eclipse because they get VMs provisioned for their actual work. If I had a VM that could run Eclipse a loaner would be a decent idea.
Next week looks a lot better in terms of unexpected downtime or computer issues. This week we're having a number of issues and I'll need to be on top of things.
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We're supposedly moving to Cisco Jabber instead of Lync because, well, apparently we like giving Cisco money for things.
And because Jabber is an awesome protocol that only Cisco uses and is not something you can install yourself...
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I know. Lots of people know. The people doing it know. But, for some reason, we like giving Cisco money.
We give Microsoft lots of money too, but apparently we need to give this money to Cisco and not them. So no Lync, and no non-Cisco Jabber.
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guyyzzz, it took like, 20 whole minutes to weed through my files and migrate to the network drive, that's like practically work
"weed through"? What are you working on where the process isn't control-A, drag mouse to folder icon?
I also took that opportunity to weed through and delete old crap I had lying around for no reason
Oh. Well then don't complain about it taking 20 minutes if you went above and beyond.
and move things that are personal to my Google Drive instead
Why do you have personal stuff on a work computer anywhere other than the browser cache?
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Why do you have personal stuff on a work computer
honestly, no idea. Probably stuff I was downloading from one spot to upload in another and forgot to delete. But it's safely in my Drive now so I can figure it out later. I tend to use My Documents as a junk drawer sometimes.
don't complain
But it's more fun that way
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Plus all my stuff's on the local drive. I can't afford the downtime right now :/
Get another 500GB drive to put in the laptop to do the rebuild on, and a USB<->SATA connector to pull your stuff off the current HDD as/when after it's rebuilt?
But basically ditto on all the "your laptop being the only place stuff is" thing needing addressing.
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So I'm now working out of my network drive, and I have offline sync on, but it keeps telling me I'm offline all the time, and when I access the drive from another machine, I only see some of my files, not all.
WTF?
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Open sync centre and check for sync errors on both machines.