Macbook and Desktop Mac boot-up problems
Problem: Macs would not boot up properly, stalling on the apple logo screen or just a black screen.
Information: This did not just affect UAL, but also affected a large number of educational institutions. After a lot of work with Apple a series of issues were identified.
Solutions:
- UAL has installed updates provided by Apple
- We have ensured that each time a student logs off from a machine that all user data stored on there is removed. This is essential to prevent this problem from recurring.
Outcomes: Since the changes have been made we have seen no more examples of this problem.
WiFi access issues (particularly LCC, LCF and CSM)
Problem: Students and staff could not login to WiFi successfully using their own or UAL owned equipment.
Information: Library Services and UAL IT have worked intensively to analyse the problem. As a result of some tests and investigations we have established the nature of the problems.
Solutions:
- We have made changes to the way that the WiFi login works on UAL owned equipment.
- We have added additional WiFi routers where extra capacity was necessary.
- We have reduced the number of networks that each router supports to concentrate on the key ones used by all Library Services visitors.
- Desktop computers that are plugged into a wired network connection will switch off their WiFi connection to reduce the number of WiFi connections.
- To support students who use Airdrop to share items between their Mac device and a UAL device, WiFi can be activated on computers with a wired network connection. This will be deactivated once the user logs off the machine.
Outcomes: Since these changes have been made we have seen far fewer issues with WiFi at the worst affected sites.
Mobile Phone reception at King’s Cross (CSM)
Problem: Mobile phone reception is poor particularly in spaces like CSM Library and Learning Zone
Information: CSM has an internal booster for mobile phone signals, but this has become compromised by building work nearby.
Solutions:
- After extensive work a new connection has been established and has gone live.
Outcomes: Since the repair work has been undertaken the phone signal has been improved.
WiFi Printing
Problem: When students and staff accessed webprint.arts.ac.uk a message came up in your browser that explained the certificate is out of date and entering this site could be risky. This message varies according to the browser used.
Information: The service’s certificate was out of date.
Solutions:
- IT services have updated the site certificate
Outcomes: The site is accessible as normal
Difficulty typing in username and password on Macs
Problem: On some Macs it was difficult to type in passwords particularly as the computer may skip a character or two, leading the user to think their login was broken
Information: The problem was linked to a configuration on the computers that governs the login process.
Solutions:
- The Bootrunner script has been removed from these machines
- A new version of bootrunner will be tested to ensure compatibility.
Outcomes: Since the removal of Bootrunner the issues have been removed.
Problems with Adobe Premiere and After Effects
Problem: On some computers using the Adobe Creative Suite an error message pops up when opening Adobe Premiere or After Effects to say that access to a library is not available.
Information: There was a configuration issue.
Solutions:
- Some configuration changes have been made
Outcomes: We are checking our machines to see if the problem has been resolved.
If you would like to ask some questions about these updates please go to http://arts.ac.libanswers.com/