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Equipment Failure

Below are typical procedures to follow if a piece of equipment fails. Always try the simple things first. (Is the power on?)

Some simple tools (scissors, screw driver) are in the cart behind the standing whiteboard. Leon has more tools in the second right hand drawer of his desk and various cables and connectors below his computer desk.

And do not forget to call Leon (6324) and Mike (6198) ASAP, even if you fix it, so that we can check things later. A phone is on the wall behind the instructor.

If anything goes wrong with the presenter portable, (including its peripherals and VGA to NTSC Converter,) switch to the Netmeet portable as described below:

The Netmeet portable is (almost) identical to the Realpres.

• Turn off Netmeeting.
• If necessary, change the video resolution by right-clicking the desktop and selecting 'Settings' from the resulting menu.
• Start the magnifying glass and Netscape.
• Turn the video selector box below the table to button 2 to get the Netmeet screen on the projector.

If you have poor video, make sure the projector is set to "Computer", NOT to "Video". If the edges are cut-off, press "Auto". If the Compaq portables are set to 800x600 pixel resolution, the projected screen will improve when the video output is directed to the projector only (with the FN F3 combination.)

Is the projector on? Are the cables tight in the projector?

Is the right button (1) selected on the VGA switch box below the instructor desks? Try whether the Netmeet portable shows on the projector (button 2). If it does, continue teaching from the Netmeeting PC. Click here for more info on doing this.

If that does not work, swap in the emergency projector on the cart as described below:

Unlock the wheels of the cart behind the whiteboard and drive it next to the TA desk. Take the VGA extension cable out off the cabinet in the bottom of the cart. Attach one end to the "Computer In 1" port of the projector, and the other end directly to the VGA cable coming from the presenter PC. Put projector on "Computer", not "Video"! Wait a minute for the screen to come up and few seconds for the screen to be analyzed. Press auto if the screen is clipped. Press "Resize" as needed.

If the backup projector goes out, a spare bulb for it is in Jon Cloos' assistant desk.

Otherwise, the backup projector for the backup projector is to get the projector from Dr. Haik upstairs. (NOT an old one: you need 800 by 600 resolution or more.)

If the instructor camera fails, swap in the other blasted camera!

If one of the two video switch boxes on the TA desk goes out, you need only the instructor camera and the computer screen send to the voltron producer. Either box will do that alone. Just swap cables.

Depending on circumstances, you may first want to try swapping in the Netmeet PC. Click here for more info on that. If that does not help, swap in the emergency video connection as described below:

Here we connect the switchbox on the TA desk directly to the voltron producer PC, bypassing various possibly faulty switches and equipment. A cable, marked "Emergency Video", is already ready for our purpose. One end should be on the floor before the TA desk; it is marked with a label and some yellow type-out on its tie-wrap. Plug it into the switchbox video output after taking out the old cable. Next, behind the presenter PC, the other end of the cable should be on top of the presenter PC. It is similarly marked. Plug that end into the (fourth, yellow) Videum AV video in input on the back of the producer after taking out the cable that was there.

In case of trouble with the instructor sound, immediately explain the situation to the online students using the chat frame.

If the red light comes on on the wireless mike, there is less than an hour left on the battery. Spare batteries are in the equipment cart behind the standing whiteboard.

Try relocating the wireless mike or reduce the volume on the front of the wireless receiver next to the cupboard. (Increasing this volume is probably not a good idea since sound may start being clipped.) Poor sound is often due to network delays, however, and there is not much you can do except refer the affected student

For any other problems with the instructor sound, sacrifice the class room mikes and swap in the emergency audio as described below:

Take the wireless receiver and wireless mike from the cart behind the standing whiteboard with all attached cables. Plug the audio cable coming from the front of the receiver into the Videum AV audio-in input on the back of the producer, after taking out the audio cable that was there. Plug in the receiver power supply. You will probably want to put the knob on the front of the receiver to maximum volume.

First check that the correct voltron producer is selected using the switch above the producer PCs. Otherwise, use the chatbox to request the distance students to attend the rest of the lecture from the archive (that is being made on the backup voltron producer.)

If a UPS goes out, use the surge protector in the cart behind the standing white board instead.

If anything goes wrong with the network, notify the people upstairs. In particular, call Cliff (6164) and ask whether someone is fooling around with the network.

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THE NETWORK, YOU WILL NEED TO GET THE ARCHIVED VIDEO FROM THE BACKUP VOLTRON PRODUCER.

Some ethernet cables coming out on the side wall behind the cabinet are low speed ethernet connections and can be used for emergencies. They will be marked. In the mean time, use the Netmeet portable to try what ethernet cables work, if any. You need one cable for the presenter and one for the voltron producer at the minimum to teach.

IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THE SERVER, YOU WILL NEED TO GET THE ARCHIVED VIDEO FROM THE BACKUP PRODUCER.

If anything goes wrong with the server upstairs, (check for network trouble first,) notify the online students using the chat box. Notify people upstairs to try rebooting the server in the machine room.

If that does not work, swap in a new server as described below: (Instead, you might consider just telling the online students to take the lecture from the archives, still being made using the second voltron producer.)

You need to contact the Web Education Assistant or anybody upstairs with superuser privileges. Get them to execute the following two commands:

Now on the voltron producer, try to stream from web2.eng.fsu.edu instead of realserv.eng.fsu.edu If it works, tell the online students to reboot their Netscape. (They might have to empty the disk and memory caches under Edit/ Preferences/ Advanced/ Cache/ too.)

In case you cannot find the Web assistant or someone with superuser privileges, or it does not work, ask the people upstairs to go into the machine room and shut down realserv. Then reconfigure REDRIVER, the TA's PC, as REALSERV: In Start/ Settings/ Control Panel/ Network/, change the name to REALSERV, the IP address to 146.201.25.174 instead of 146.201.26.35 and the gateway to 146.201.25.254 instead of 146.201.26.254. Reboot. You will have to start up the Real Server software after it boots. In this case, the student do not need to reboot Netscape. In case the people upstairs already did the copy command above, undo it with

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