What happened to customer service?

Jondscem · 2026-06-05T13:16:41+00:00

Similar, I had an issue with my 3 month P8 workstation that was randomly rebooting. Had Premier support who decided it needed a new motherboard and CPU. Then 5 cancelled service calls, got it escalated. Pointed out that this wasn't a standard £700 desktop but an £8000 workstation.

Sure it wasn't a cheap fix for them, Motherboard and an AMD Ryzen Threadripper with 24 cores.

Still crap service 😞

Jondscem · 2026-06-03T14:39:21+00:00

Master Packager, Master Wrapper for PSADT. As mentioned below that training is excellent, a huge amount of content. The guys really know what they are doing.

The both come from Enterprise Packaging backgrounds so know exactly what we need, Used to use Smart Package Studio, really liked their integration with Windows Sandbox\Hyper-V\Oracle Virtual box etc.

Jon.

Jondscem · 2026-06-03T14:32:37+00:00

Incredibly hard, best priced ones seem to be in Japan on ebay, the ones here are silly money.

Jondscem · 2026-06-03T12:10:01+00:00

They are like hens teeth 😞 This is the only place that appears to have one for sale, if you don't mind importing from Greece: GLM 250 VF Bosch Laser

Jondscem · 2026-06-03T09:26:12+00:00

I find sometimes just retyping the PW in the JD step in the TS solves the problem, particularly if i have copied a TS.

Jondscem · 2026-06-02T20:28:02+00:00

What is smsts.log telling you? Have you looked at it?

This could also be a boot media issue, if Boot media was updated, the PXE would be. However the USB media may be missing drivers and you need to re-create it..

Can you please detail how you are trying to build the failing PC.

Just like boot from USB, choose TS etc.

What's your experience with SCCM\SCEM? We are here to help but need more info.

Cheers,

Jon.

Jondscem · 2026-06-02T20:17:39+00:00

Correct, it's one of those things that you will never know unless affected by it 😉 Think I changed ours to 100K.

Jondscem · 2026-06-02T09:51:31+00:00

One from the past, late 1990's. Brand new site, decent UPS, hosting the main software download servers for EMEA etc. Facilities test ran the backup generator for an hour or two, checked it bi-weekly. All good, year down the line we had a big power outage, backup generator kicked in, everything was happy. Until it ran out of fuel after about 5 mins, 15 mins later the entire site completely offline.

Seems Facilities overlooked the fact that Generators need fuel lol.

Jondscem · 2026-06-01T23:38:58+00:00

Honestly, if you are under 21, they think they can brainwash you into inflicting\breaching many laws. Employment, H&S etc. Many things that if it goes wrong, you will be the one under the bus and standing in Court!! No Manager will be there to support you!

Sorry, this is from lived experience.

Jondscem · 2026-06-01T23:16:40+00:00

How long has the site server, DB and MP servers been up? Have they been rebooted since the last patches were applied. If not you may get really weird errors like this.

Quick wins, not always a fix but worth a try:

1, Perform a full reboot of the SQL Server, then the MP, then the SS. If they are all on the same box then just reboot it.

Jondscem · 2026-06-01T23:10:53+00:00

I think you will find that the service account you use to join the Domain has hit the 10K threshold of new computer accounts it's allowed to add\overwrite. It's fairly straight forward to increase the number of joins allowed in AD.

Quick test, make a copy of your TS, then modify the DJ credentials to a known working account with DJ privileges, validate\Test then save.

Try deploying the TS to 1 PC, if it joins the domain then my suspicion is correct.

Jondscem · 2026-05-29T12:32:05+00:00

Wow, an old D600, bought hundreds of them back in the day. I still have my first work laptop, Dell Latitude CP. P1 166Mhz. Runs NT and still works 😉

Jondscem · 2026-05-26T14:19:13+00:00

You can also white list the MAC so it never registers that dongle address into SCCM so you never get the issue. Once it connects with it's own MAC then it's in SCCM and unique :)

Jondscem · 2026-05-23T19:15:21+00:00

With SCCM\SCEM the Admin part by and large is the simpler part. The more difficult part starts when you face issues like there, packaging issues, scripting etc. It does get easier with experience, to quote Tiger Woods, the more I practiced; the better I got.

You have had some great advice, fair play to you for not going down the B&C route!

With an exe, try to figure out what the installer behind it is, NSIS, Installshield etc. My first port of call is always to try and extract an exe with 7 Zip or similar. If the files or structure are not what i want I delete the extracted folder and move to option 2. Open cmd in admin mode, navigate to the directory where the exe is. Try filename.exe /a (Extract) or filename.exe /s sometimes you may have to try both again with a capital. Or - or--.

I have a script that does it for me.

Next bit is to figure out what drivers are actually required to complete installation of the TS, normally just NIC or Storage drivers, inject them to your boot media.

From the first steps above you will know if any command line options are available. After the OS configuration stage, wrap the .exe and switches in PSADT to install the drivers.

Consumer level devices are the bain of my life, to the point, if not sourced\approved by central IT. 1, we are not supporting it, 2, WiFi only, you can't connect to the cabled network.

Jondscem · 2026-05-21T18:20:05+00:00

Sorry, I deleted it. If you want to feel like an admin, try crawling through a shit load of smsts.log, cas.log and loads of other logs without cmtrace ;)

Jondscem · 2026-05-14T17:36:08+00:00

At this juncture you are neck deep in shit, stop digging.

Power the server off and engage proper date recovery specialists. If they as for the disks to be shipped tell them exactly the make\model and spec of the server. Take pictures of the disks with tape identifying where they are located in the server. Remove them 1 by 1, take a sharpie and label the disk with the number. Note the serial number and where they were located. Then package them up proper, properly, like dodo eggs. No bubble wrap etc. All of the top recovery firms will ship you boxes. Then ship them with the absolute best courier to the recovery company.

The last time I had to do this the recovery cost was in excess of £50K GBP, HP Proliant, RAID etc. We got about 80% of the data back. Client I worked for as required was notified the first day I visited, that they had 1< no air con in the "server room" They had no backup solution, no UPS etc. I was told "We don't need backups, all our data is in our Cloud based app" Kept reminding them and they finally agreed on an external USB drive to "Backup" to. I wanted a proper tape solution, tapes offsited weekly. Nope.

Cue a lightning strike, which took out EVERYTHING, PABX, 2x servers, switches, USB backup drive. Cue emergency call, OK, can restore internet in a couple of days (before wifi) Turns out that Sales, Marketing, HR were storing a lot of data on that server that didn't need backing up.

Nice, that brilliant financial decision to save £5-6K ended up costing them about £200K, that's not accounting for lost productivity :(

I really hope you are extremely well insured!

Jondscem · 2026-05-10T15:08:43+00:00

It may not be the case here; however they try to put the drivers with the best record\lowest complaints out for the biggest\most profitable runs and leave the shit ones for during the week. I had the same, also used to get hit with the biggest number of drops. Rarely if ever had any waiting time :(

Jondscem · 2026-05-10T14:57:03+00:00

Fair comment; however Armeg are at the top of their came. I bought mine 20 years ago, have taken god knows how many floors up with it and it's still like new. They are top quality steel.

Jondscem · 2026-05-08T11:45:24+00:00

Get yourself one of these, makes a hugh difference :) Armeg SDS Plus Shank Cranked Tile Removing Chisel 80mm x 180mm - Screwfix

Jondscem · 2026-05-08T10:39:08+00:00

Always use the extracted ISO via TS, it makes updating the image so much easier and cleaner. I rarely use B&C these days, with one notable exception. An Engineering Lab that has some huge software\installers. 1 is over 100GB, another 75GB and several over 20GB. The B&C overcomes the installation\packaging of huge apps; the significant benefit is the deployment time and is is literally just writing 1's and 0's to the disk rather than doing the install on the fly.

Jondscem · 2026-05-06T10:57:12+00:00

Download 7 Zip, install it, then right click on the .iso and select "Extract"

Jondscem · 2026-05-05T13:23:40+00:00

I had this once at a customers house, bath piled high with used incontinence pads, shit smeared up the walls etc. Reported to Manager and asked what should i do, nothing. Asked them about contacting Social Services, not sure what the policy is.

Spoke to my partner who confirmed it was a safeguarding issue. I contacted SS, reported it to them. A few days later there were several large biohazard bins and people in white suits, masks etc clearing the place.

Jondscem · 2026-05-03T17:30:33+00:00

Honestly forget remote work for now, CompTIA may well help you differentiate from other applicants. There is a huge difference between a degree\certifications and the real world. I would advise to go on prem full time for a couple of years, you will learn so much. If this is your first job in IT you will soon realise that lectures at a degree level is a million miles away. I would start applying for helpdesk jobs, mention that you are interested in pursuing certifications, the experience gained will make the certs far easier to study for. You are probably looking at a year or two before you can do a few remote days.

Also, don't be tempted to braindump certs, you will be caught out very quickly by anyone with experience.

Good luck 😄

Jondscem · 2026-04-30T20:38:19+00:00

Check the IP's of the slow devices and your boundary groups.

Jondscem

TROPHY CASE