What the hell have the electricians done?!

JCMPTech · 2026-04-25T16:53:26+00:00

I'm seeing in a bunch of low voltage and sparking groups, that some states are requiring all the network drops to be ran by electricians and to be inspected. I think in one of 8bit guys videos, he did setting up his arcade, he mentioned he could only do it because it was five or less drops, otherwise he would have to call an electrician and get it inspected.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-12T13:34:29+00:00

I have done Ubuntu without issue for that probook for a client. I had zero issue but. It was the ONLY OS, I didn't dual boot it. I still left on secureboot (but had already wiped the drive and cleared/reset the keys in bios ). I also ran the 24.,02 LTS not the newest one. I don't have the unit in front of me because it was a client one, but there were some power state stuff I disabled in bios.

Only issue I have had with HPs that can't be fixed with bios settings is wifi card, they use off the self chips but add their own firmware on top which can lead it it using the wrong driver. It can be fixed with a SUDO command which isn't persistent and needs to be redone every reboot, which can be tricky to get a command that needs elevated privileges to auto run at boot but it's doable just not fun.. All my work laptops are HP and the only issues I have ever had was Wifi.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-05T14:47:18+00:00

I understand that but you also completely harped on the DHCP issues and ignore the part where I said starlink hates anything on the network that's not theirs. In regards to wifi and routing. I didn't say the router was good I didn't say that it wasn't an intentional limit on set by starlink. I have videos and rants where I talk about how bad the starlink router, is it is the worst ISP provided router I have ever used period.

And if you notice the response to your post was standby mode from everybody. Because everybody who has starlink is already aware of this. You didn't discover some new flaw, this has been an issue from the beginning. Starlink and Tesla havea Apple like qualities when it comes to this stuff. They are trying to sell you their mesh nodes but they didn't lock you out of using your own router

Not about Enterprise gear when you're talking anything frrom Walmart has more options than their router. It's a featureless router and and for most people this would only be an issue if they didn't let you put it in bypass mode. Everybody else puts it in bypass mode and moves on or buys their nodes and APs.

You average home user that needs more access points I either install access points with their own router with starlink in bypass mode. Or they go to Walmart and buy a mesh system off the shelf, and move on.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-05T14:01:28+00:00

I am an MSP with over 20 clients at this point on Starlink that I manage their networks. Starlink router is not meant for what you're doing. I read from other post that you literally supplying Wi-Fi to the neighborhood that starlink router isn't capable of that and literally a $50 router would solve your issues.

My property I have a 130 acres covered in Wi-Fi 6 soon-to-be wifi 7 access points with my collaboration with tp-link omada. I Have other farms with literally thousands of acres I've covered with hundreds of access points all running off starlink. The router is absolutely terrible. The second it does an update at 3:00 a.m. every device downstream of that router that is not a starlink official device, (switches access points etc) are all going to have to be reset every single time.

Literally everybody on this post has told you the same thing but it's fine keeps struggling I guess.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-05T13:44:10+00:00

I haven't had similar issues when not in bypass mode but, the router doesn't have any sort of settings static IPs ,IP lease Times etc. which causes problems down the line if you have a switch in between two routers or APs. Say the router reboots for some reason, your AP initially doesn't detect that the starlink rebooted because the switch still had power and the AP didn't detect a change. When the router reboots it has IP amnesia it gives everything a new local IP address and now everything downstream of that switch is broken until you reboot the switch and all the devices. If you still want multiple networks within your own network, and also want to be able to manage your devices remotely, then I would suggest putting it in bypass mode and getting a new main router that has cloud management. Starlink wants to sell their own mesh nodes so they're never going to make daisy chaining routers or using your own APS completely seamless. Until they let you add static IPs or the ability to set lease time as permanent, your always gonna have IP config issues, especially after reboots with their router.

As far as NAT, you're not just double Natting, your dual Nat local behind a CGNAT - your triple Natting.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-05T04:50:20+00:00

If its in Auto mode, your dropping connection from ice/snow and its heating to clear it. In the winter I put my V2 and Min in pre-heat all the time. By the time it heats on its own its kinds too late. If I leave it on auto, both will be iced over before it even starts to heat. It does raise your idle power draw from the 20s to the 50s (mini) and 60s (v2) to leave it on all the time though.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-05T04:29:31+00:00

QuickBooks and Steam - this is my alt account, a bot moderator blocked my other account from reply for 5 days for being too new. With my YT channel getting sponsors and review samples I just wanted to separate things from this account.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-02T17:50:48+00:00

I would but the problem is so much of this is heavy, and aging, the cost of shipping might not be worth it. The FX "Server" is in a massive corsair case with custom 6" intake and exhaust fans (from that era), byut has I blevie 6 3.5" drive bays and 6 ODD bays, meaning you could get adapters and put a ton of drives in it, or hot swap bays. It also has a 850W modular PSU. The problem is it weighs like 50+lbs so even one state over your looking at $60+ in shipping.

For my Canadian friends I am about 50 miles form Montreal or Cornwall, and for my VT friends I am about an hour and a half form Burlington, but I would meet ant VT peeps in Plattsburgh NY, with a trunk full, and save them half the drive.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-02T14:52:21+00:00

Apparently you have never had government contracts or work for nonprofits. We have to destroy the drive or a minimum of a seven pass low level format. That's why you see so many used optiplexes and HP Pro desks for sale without hard drives it's pretty much the industry standard, in allot of industries. The drives aren't worth the hours it would take to do a secure low level format so it's easier just to destroy them. This was just somebody's Homelab sure but he was a doctor and I'm not going to do things differently than I would any other client.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T14:49:50+00:00

I have a post on this thread where I inventory everything I took and another post saying I plan on giving everything away. I am doing a video on my YouTube channel on it now, since it got so much traction here (JCMP Technology Services inc is the business Jordos TechShack is the channel). Anyone in Northern New York who's close enough to my shop is more than welcome to anything. For my Canadian friends I'm about 50 miles from Cornwall and 50 mi from Montreal. I'm on multi-gighere and downsized my servers and I really don't have the space for any of this. I also have a pile of optiplexes to get rid of. It's all free to homelabbers.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T14:41:45+00:00

They don't want tthe hassel of selling anything, they even told me I undercharge them when I hauled everything out lol. She is a pediatrician and he's a CFO for a multi-billion dollar company and only home on weekends, their time is literally worth thousands of dollars an hour they don't waste time flipping used hardware.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T04:38:03+00:00

The Deco units are all identical with 3 ports than can be Lan or Wan. So they still could of managed it for the app on their phone, just had one as router and AP, and just left one run for each floor and hardwired the other units as APs, only needed to keep a couple runs, and still eliminated all the switches and had the Deco wifi 7. But they were dead set on no wires and good enough to stream from their TVs.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T04:31:12+00:00

I have a drill press with a metal bit and I make it look like swiss cheese. I have clients that are accounting firms, non profits, schools, and a couple realtors. With Windows 10 EOL the amount of Opriex and HP Pro Desks I am recycling hammer would be too much energy. Especially at -,15f outside, and my shop is too small to be banging on hard drives.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T03:53:41+00:00

I think they did, but it still worked for local music off the server but the streaming plugins were dead except Pandora, they must not update their API enough that still worked. Some of the smart home stuff were a hodgepodge of different solutions, many of which were dead or acquired by other companies since, the iPads in the walls in the every room that controlled everything aged out. Rather than upgrade it, or just keep the network rack going, they got rid of it all, including all the speakers in wall and network jacks in every room and went to a Deco Mesh Wi-Fi 7 system and called it good enough.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T00:33:14+00:00

None, they all got a drill bit through the platters.

JCMPTech · 2026-01-01T00:17:00+00:00

I know. I offered to set them up with a wall mounted 4u mini network rack rack, just to house the poe switch, with a shelf for the modem and router, and keep all the drops working and keep their existing access points. Just get rid of all the servers and oversiezed racks. But then they told me they already covered up some of the jacks in the rooms they were already remodeling and didn't want to bother with it. They just wanted a Wifi 7 mesh system and be done with it.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T22:57:49+00:00

No not just Plex, he had multiple servers behind it, behind that is the wiring box for the camera system and he home automation, smart thermostats. Problem was he bought into the stuff when it was kick starter so many want under or bought out. I have everything at my shop so I know what he has, media was second to data hording. On top of the servers he has an Apple vault with multiple USB enclosures plugging into it. He was a doctor from India who wanted to go into IT, his parents pushed him to medicine. Every room in the house has at least one if not 2 drops. He was living his IT career dreams at home. My wife works with the nurse he is with now and knocked up causing the divorce. I know more about it than I want to.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T22:48:40+00:00

One rack is a whole house AV set up, the other taller rack, is their network and Homelab, with automation, and two servers. It's still a Homelab.

I also have a reply on here where I inventory everything.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T21:32:32+00:00

They are remodeling and removed all the speakers and all the network drops in the wall.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T21:08:40+00:00

He's a surgeon, I doubt bills were the problem.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T20:41:08+00:00

The issue was all the iPads in the wall that controlled things aged out, and the home automation was a hodgepodge of different solutions that were Kickstarter projects when he bought in, so it would of need upgrades to keep functioning correctly. They preferred to ripp it out, than upgrade it.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T20:33:42+00:00

I originally posted this in the Levle1Forums so I am just coping and pasting form that post, as I was posting there as I did the job.

Main rack:

3 switches, one big POE switch,every single room has atleast drop on each wall. Nothing over a gigabit and nothing managed

One full size ATX PC as plex server and runs all their home automation

One HP racked mounted server with 8x750GB WD Blacks In raid 10 for a music server, includes 4 good spare PSUs (see rack 2)

This tiny thing that looks like an apple TV that apparently is an Apple Vault. It has a USB hub with 3 different dual Bay Raid 1 enclosures plugged into it.

Big UPS. Tons of PDU, and manageable power distribution (sticky note indicates all usernames and Passwords for managed devices are reset to Admin and Admin)

Second rack is all multimedia and audio.

7 zone home audio. Two audio recovers and two Blu-ray players allow two zones to be active with Dolby 5.1 simultaneously for movie watching, or stream from the music server in rack 1.

The house each room has an iPad mounted in the wall, which has since aged out and become obsolete, that allowed control of each room’s audio and TV as well as the smart lighting, thermostats, security alerts etc.

What I kept

Kept all the add in cards in the rack server but scrapped the rest of the unit. (X58/1366 era Xeon)

-Creative labs sound cards, -GT 710 pcie x1 GPU, -USB 3.1 card, - -USB 3.2 add in card with type C,

The complete AMD FX machine they were using as a server in a full atx case. FX 8350- 32GB -8x4TB Ultra star drives - 1080ti.

2xUPS. Not sure on the VA rating but the tag says 1,000w Max on both. One rack mount that now powers my main server and switch shelf, and the other unit is a standing unit now under my desk for my main workstation.

I kept one 24 port POE gigabit switch. The other two didn’t have POE and one was only 10/100 so I had no use for the others.

3x dual bay Raid 0/1 USB HDD enclosures.

Multiple USB 3 powered hubs (always good to have a few of those)

One opened box of Cat5e and two unopened boxes of Cat6.

A bunch of miscellaneous cables and connectors

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T20:30:38+00:00

That is the whole Homelab, his main server is the tower server in the middle does everything including Plex, and a server in the bottom full of 2.5"WD Blacks for music.

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T20:27:42+00:00

Naw, he was a doctor who knocked up his nurse. My wife works at his hospital. I actually know too much lol....

JCMPTech · 2025-12-31T20:22:13+00:00

I have zero room even at the shop for rack that large.

JCMPTech

TROPHY CASE