Welcome to the Student Computing Knowledge Base

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• Introduction
• Computer drop-off
• Troubleshooting Starting Points
• Announcements
• Your Suggestions and Complaints
  • Why do the alarms in the labs keeping going off? It's really annoying.
  • I'm having trouble burning CD's on the PC's, what's the deal?
  • Why won't my USB thingie work in the Dell (or Gateway)?

Introduction

The Knowledge Base is maintained by the Student Computing Information Center (SCIC) and it is updated very frequently by its workers. Only SCIC workers have the ability to change the content of this site. If you have any computing questions, suggestions for additions to the knowledge base, or comments/complaints regarding the quality of service provided by the SCIC please do not hesitate to email scic@carleton.edu or to call 646-4040.

The search engine above as well as the categories to the left are excellent starting points for finding the information you need to optimize your computing experience.

Computer drop-off

Troubleshooting Starting Points

Download software necessary for computing on Carleton's Residential Network.

Find a solution to your problems with Mulberry.

Fix the Internet connection issues in your room.

Access your shared network space.

Fix and speed up your computer by removing viruses and spyware

Computer won't start? Try information on operating systems.

Announcements

5/18 Seniors are going to lose their e-mail and netware (Home and Collab) accounts on July 14. For more info click here

1/18 Students now and again are being temporarily booted off the network by our systems administrator in response to RIAA notifications of illegal sharing of copywrighted material. The RIAA is not specifically targeting Carleton College, nor do they possess direct access to our servers. The issue at stake here is that of sharing copywrighted music, such sharing is illegal and can have real consequences, as made obvious by recent lawsuits against individual students at a variety of colleges across the nation. Such a crackdown can have real consequences for Carleton students, legal and monetary, but this recourse targets excessive pirating and the first step the RIAA usually takes is a notification to the college that such and such user is sharing and should be stopped--the result always being a temporary boot from the Carleton Residential Network until the problem is remedied. Although students can be punished for sharing illegal material, no one need expect a hefty fine in the next week. The increase in RIAA retaliation is a longer-term issue that the campus needs to address as soon as possible.

Your Suggestions and Complaints

Why do the alarms in the labs keeping going off? It's really annoying.

The computers on the first floor of the CMC are secured with a fiber optic wire that, when tripped, sets off an alarm heard in all the labs. For example, recently an alarm went off when someone stretched his legs and accidentally jolted the security wire underneath the computer out of its socket. During SCIC business hours, this alarm can be turned off almost immediately by the SCIC Intern, otherwise a SCIC worker has to call campus security and security has to shut it off.

The alarms, though necessary, are frustrating because they are loud and are almost always caused by accidental trippings of the wire. Furthermore, towards the end of fall term false alarms set off by a bug in the alarm system itself caused it to go off for no reason episodically. Over the 2004 winter break, Custom Alarm manufacturers came to the CMC and remedied this problem, only to have a renewed spate of false alarms between Jan. 12 and the Jan. 15. Both security and I called Custom Alarm and they seem to have stopped the alarms from going off at random. Should the problem return, I will do everything in my power to put pressure on Custom Alarm to solve it.

I'm having trouble burning CD's on the PC's, what's the deal?

Roughly half the Dell computers in the SCIC-supported labs are having CD-drive compatibility issues. This is a problem with Dell, and ITS is currently contacting the company. Replacement drives, or another full solution, will probably fix the problem by the end of winter term. You may trial-and-error around with the PC's. Look on the side of the Dell, those with printed manufacture dates in January (usually 01/16) and not May (5/28) will work. I know, that's obnoxious, and that's why, for now, I advise that you try burning that CD on a Mac. 99% of the time there's no reason not to. Furthermore, the Mac's in the Magic Lab use Toast Titanium, a cd-burning program for optimal audio and data copying. If you need assistance, do not hesitate to contact the SCIC.

Why won't my USB thingie work in the Dell (or Gateway)?

This is not an uncommon problem. Most flash drives and other USB devices work just fine on the PC's in the labs, but some do not. Windows, in its infinite wisdom, stores all the information for every USB drive used on a computer and this information survives the clean sweep that all lab computers experience upon restart. What does that mean? Well, let's say I go to a PC computer with my SanDisk flash drive and it works fine. I restart and leave and another user comes to the computer with their slightly different SanDisk flash drive, let's call this one "SanDisk B" (maybe their's was manufactured later than mine, or is 256MB and mine is only 128MB). Then they restart and leave and I come back to the computer with my SanDisk. Microsoft may say that it sees the new hardware, my USB drive, but is actually mistaking it for SanDisk B.

How to fix this problem:
So, you've plugged in your USB drive, and even after waiting five minutes it still won't boot up. (The wait is important - some computers, particularly in the LDC, are infuriatingly slow.) In that case...
1. Right click on "My Computer" and select Properties.
2. Go to the "Hardware" tab and open the Device Manager.
3. Go to Universal Serial Bus controllers (at the very bottom of the list).
IF the driver is the problem, there should be something called "USB Mass Storage Device" with a yellow circle and exclamation point over it. Right click on that and select "Uninstall," then pull out the USB drive and plug it back in again. It should boot up normally.
HOWEVER, if there is no "USB Mass Storage Device," then you may have plugged it into the wrong port. (For example, I've never gotten the ones on the monitors to work.) Try pulling it out and plugging it into a different one - I suggest the one under the flap on the front of the Dells.)

Quick Fix for SCICers

1. While on the PC, open Collab, then Departments, then ITS, then Common, then the SCIC folder. Once in the folder, open invisible devmgr.cmd. 2. This program will bring up the device manager. In the device manager click on view, and then show hidden devices. 3. Scroll down to the Universal Serial Bus controllers. 4. In light gray should be some listings for USB mass storage device. Remove these items by right clicking and hitting uninstall or by selecting them and hitting delete. 5. This should fix the problem.

Again, this is not a horribly common problem but it happens. If this fix does not work, try another PC, or, to fully ensure USB acceptance, a Mac.