What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit? 550
LosManos asks: "A call for help to the Everyday Heroes that are out there: I have just returned from a 4 months scientific expedition to some of the more remote parts of the South Pacific. As soon as people we met found out that I was a computer guy they asked me to help them and all to often I had to reply that I didn't have the tools.This got me thinking; what should a software toolbox consist of? OS, patches, digital books, compilers, sniffers, servers, harddisk restore apps...? Please remember that the computers I met where often old and slow. The answers to this could be interesting also when you are not several days away from nearest inhabited island. I mean, what is it that most often break? How is it usually fixed? Are more fancy solutions more error prone?" If you were to create a "first aid kit" consisting of CDs, disks, books and other technical utilities you have used to resurrect dead systems, what would you put in it?
"So far I have found:
- A utility for reading and repairing hard disks
- 'regmon' and 'filemon' from Sysinternals
- Video drivers (but I don't know which)
- A diskette for booting MSDOS with CD support
- Digital books (but I don't know which)
- Remote controlling tools, such as VNC
- CDs with OS (but there are hundreds of those)"
Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:4, Interesting)
Also try these:
FreeSCO [freesco.org] - great for routers
tomsrtbt [toms.net]
DemoLinux [demolinux.org]
RIP Linux Rescue System [tux.org]
SuperRescue CD [freshmeat.net]
Morphix [sourceforge.net]
For Windows software, take a look here [pclinuxonline.com]
They call me XTreeMan! (Score:5, Informative)
Honestly though
Boot disks - make an emergency boot disk in Windows98. This thing makes a 2M RAMdrive, copies enough utils to jumpstart any computer, and CD drivers for every computer that can run 98 (which is pretty much all of them still running today.) I recommend this on a 3.5" floppy and also create a bootable CD using this as the boot image.
XTGold 2.0 or 2.5 - runs on DOS
ZTree 1.41 - in case they have a Windows environment 95 or higher running. Doesn't run in DOS but doesn't puke when the hard drive has more than 10,000 files on it.
McAfee Virus Scan, command line version.
Re:They call me XTreeMan! (Score:5, Informative)
- DosDiag - great tool for checking your hardware. Simple, safe, and loaded. http://www.5star-shareware.com/Utilities/Diagnost
- Memtest86 or similar - for when you don't believe your kids when they say they didn't open the computer. http://www.memtest86.com/
- The new FDisk for large partitions.
- OpenOffice. Ye wouldn't believe how many poeple have illegal office installed - and are screwed when they crash. http://www.openoffice.org/
- Hard disk checking utilities from Maxtor, Seagate etcetera.
- Mozilla's Phoenix browser. http://www.mozilla.org/projects/phoenix/
- Mozilla. (Get those people AWAY from virusfriendly Outlook!) http://www.mozilla.org/
- Undelete. People are clumsy, stupid animals and you know it. A good and free version can be found at http://home.arcor.de/christian_grau/rescue/
- Antivirus. http://www.free-av.com is a good one.
- The Win98 cabs.
- A pack of coffee.
- A LOT of fewkin' patience.
That's my toolkit at current. My company does this for a living
- Jynx
Re:They call me XTreeMan! (Score:3, Informative)
OS CD's: Win95a, Win95b, 98, 98SE*, ME, NT4 WS, NT4 Svr, 2000 Pro/Svr/Adv Svr, XP Home/Pro, SBS 2000, SBS 4.5, Virtual Linux, Suse, RedHat, Netware 5 and 6
SP CD's: Latest Service Packs* and hotfixes (burned once a month or so) for each MS OS and Office
Server Apps: BackupExec 8.5, 8.6, and 9, Exchange 5.5 and 2000, MS Proxy 2.0, SQL Server 7 and 2000, SMS, MOM, Application Center
Boot Disks: Win98 boot floppy*, Ghost boot floppy*, Bart's Network Boot floppy and
Re:They call me XTreeMan! (Score:3, Informative)
For those not familiar with XTree etc... it was a character user in
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:2)
If you're going to use Partition Fuckup, er, Magic, get a copy of BPR [data-recov...ftware.com] from ACR.
It's saved PowerQuest's sorry ass from a messy, machine-gun-toting kuroth invasion on at least three occasions.
Of course, it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper to just beat the hard disk with a 5 pound sledge. The odds that it'll get hosed are about the same as they'd be if you use Partition Magic on it.
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:2)
I've recently discovered Acronis' Partition Expert, which isn't quite as powerful as PM, but it works on 2K server.
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:2, Informative)
If you happen to have access to a network, all you really need is a network boot disk, and you're ready to go.
I'll second that advice (Score:4, Insightful)
Whoa! Hold your fire, linux geeks.
Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone pirate windows (Horrors!), just that sometimes CDs walk off, and you can reinstall with their license by using the key code off the sticker on the box.
Also bring a good current virus scanner with you, (connectivity has its hazards), and tools. When I say tools I'm talking tiny screwdrivers, torx bits (security torx bits and regular), grounding strap, etc. The torx bits are a lifesaver; you never know what kind of screws they use to hold the boxen together, particularly govt. boxen. Spare 'puter parts are also critical when you need to repair stuff.
For instance, I was out in the middle of Saudi Arabia one time (about an hour from the nearest major city) and had a hard drive failure. Complete, total, utter failure. I didn't bring an extra drive... sooo... I had to wait weeks to get a new drive (you don't even want to know how difficult it is to RMA a drive from the middle of a 3rd world country).
Yes, I realize the article was about software... but if the hardware ain't runnin, you might as well use those CDs for coasters.
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:3, Insightful)
Please note this may be a waste of space as I'd imagine most Wintel machines have the admin passwords taped under the keyboard.
Re:Get a copy of Partition Magic (Score:3, Interesting)
We just combined it all and threw it together on a bootable CD-R. Used it for a while, modified it, used it for a while longer, and I'm working on the "V2.0" series disc now.
We need partitioning and filesystem navigation utilities, primarily, but we also have scant few networking tools available to us.
In general, the rescue disc is used to make a sys
Knoppix and F.I.R.E. (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing I've found that those two can't handle.
F.I.R.E. link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Knoppix and F.I.R.E. (Score:3, Insightful)
Now, all you need is Knoppix. Knoppix is besto. I'll be using it to tweak out my new pc when I buy it before I install any OS's on the drives.
Useful! (Score:5, Funny)
some more useful applications (Score:2, Informative)
1)ISO Buster to restore corrupted CD's. Isobuster [isobuster.com]
2)Partition Magic Partition Magic [powerquest.com]
3)Restore lost data on hard disks Google [google.com] and Download.com [com.com]
4)Hard disk diagnostic tool PowerMax from Maxtor [maxtor.com]
Re:Useful! (Score:4, Funny)
Some resources I have found useful (Score:5, Informative)
If you have to build a boot disk for a M$ machine, putergeek is
invaluable since M$ doesn't seem to want to you to boot to a DOS
prompt any more. You can find Win95B, WinME and Dos Bootdisks.
http://www.putergeek.com/downloads/
RegClean
If you do any development using COM or ActiveX components then
RegClean is a must have tool for fixing registry problems.
http://download.com.com/3000-2094-8814
PsTools
Listed in the Article are FileMon and RegMon from
Sysinternals.com, but I would add PsTools to that list. This
suite of tools is incredibly useful for diagnosing and solving a
vast array of problems. PsKill is probably my most frequently
used tool when I need to actually KILL a process instead of
politely requesting it to exit via End Task.
Oh and nearly everything works on remote machines as well.
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware
MDAC Utility
If you have to deal with programs accessing a variety of
Microsoft Data Access sources, the MDAC Component Checker is
essential. It's unbelievable to me how typical it is that MDAC
get's corrupted.
www.microsoft.com/data
Unfortunately, most of the essential tools relate to Microsoft
Software, but the reality is that it seems to be more difficult
to find "good" utilities to trouble shoot and fix problems under
a Microsoft OS than pretty much any other OS I've worked on.
Microsoft also publishes a tool that will automatically identify
any known security vulnerabilites that need to be patched, but I
can't find the link off hand. Again for a Microsoft OS it is
pretty handy.
MBSA (Score:3, Informative)
RegClean is dangerous to use in 2K and XP. (Score:5, Informative)
Also include AV and Malware remover. (Score:3, Informative)
1. A copy of a decent AV. Norton/Mcafee basically suck with its new business model, I am sick and tired of cleaning up machines with expired AVs. The people from Grisoft make free nonexpiring AVs for noncomercial use.
2. Lavasoft Adaware is also a vital component. So much malware is responsible for irresponsive/crashy machines, I could set a business just selling copies of this and recovering machines.
3. The long list of SPs and QFs for Win98 and IE. Actually I am begining to ponder weth
Re:Some resources I have found useful (Score:3, Funny)
any known security vulnerabilites that need to be patched, but I
can't find the link off hand.
It's pretty easy to find out what MS software needs patching really. Just take a bare minimum install of an MS OS of your choice and do the following from a command prompt:
cd \
dir *.*
See the list? Yeah. That needs patching.
Memtest86 (Score:5, Informative)
Memtest86 kicks ass (Score:2)
I haven't tried using it that way, but I've heard that it can not only tell which parts of ram are absolute crap but also generate a kernel patch/module that makes Linux avoid those areas. A kickass way to use cheap as dirt ram.
CPU test? (Score:2)
Sort of like a 'open' QA+FE....
Analog books!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes. (Score:4, Funny)
I'm a computer guy too. It's a pain in the arse dealing with the callouses around my dip switches.
Google Search results: (Score:5, Informative)
There's also a good summary page of rescue discs [twuug.org] that are available. Didn't look at windows specifically but I have used this to mount and fix various FAT type partitions. NTFS may be a slightly different animal.
Re:Google Search results: (Score:5, Interesting)
- Leatherman - Always carry one with you. Has damm near every tool you will ever need to fix a computer
- Norton Ghost - Ghost images of computers are so very, very, very,very helpful of a trick/tool
- Every copy of windows you can find with there respective boot disks
- A Laptop with NIC/Modem. seriously helpful if you need drivers off the internet and a computer is broken.
- The largest collection of drivers you can find. Just grab em and keep them. Drivers aren't that big and ever my collection (a few thousand) doesn't exceed 1 gbyte
- Maxtor/IBM/WD/etc hard disk testing software. Each company puts out it's own disks with these testing utilities on them. Search their pages to find the respective ones you will need.
- mcafee viruscan, updated w/ a emergency repair disk(I prefer to use 4.x version. Still updated regularly and works quite well). Self-explanatory
- Windows Service Packs, etc just in case they only have a modem connection
Looking through my backpack that's about all I can find.Oh yeah?! (Score:2)
Oh yeah... since when has there ever been a Leatherman that has a hammer on it?
Re:Oh yeah?! (Score:2)
tom's rtbt (Score:4, Insightful)
Single-floppy linux boot with a tremendous array of rear-end saving utilities.
Emacs (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Emacs (Score:5, Funny)
fortune (Score:5, Funny)
it's not software, but still :) (Score:2, Informative)
http://data.energizer.com/datasheets/library/fl a sh lights/active/hdl33a1.PDF
$15 at Target stores (in the U.S.), available for just under $10 on sale online some places.
3 AA batteries (works great with rechargeables). I am on #2 because I gave #1 to my mom when she took a medical missionary trip to Haiti (motto: "Sometimes we have electricity.")
Great for reading in bed, but in the computer context great for looking inside cases, looking for tiny screws that fell on the floor, etc
two that i highly recommend... (Score:2)
2) an antiviral of some sort. hopefully one that easy to update via multiple ways (online, cd, floppy disk, etc)
e
and for those more stressful times... (Score:2)
I know there's better games, but he said old, slow computers.
ERD Commander (Score:4, Informative)
Usually, this is mainly for data recovery - its almost easier to image broken workstations than it is to waste 2 hrs fixing it.
Double take.. (Score:3, Funny)
What Would You Put Into A Software Survival Kit?
- Salmonella
- Botulism
- Trichinosis...
Old Skool (Score:2, Informative)
Nowadays, I would use a linux boot disk, but most old computers I have run into typically run Windows 98/95 or in rare occassions Windows 3.1 (gasp!).
That's Easy (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That's Easy (Score:2)
From the article:
# A utility for reading and repairing hard disks
# 'regmon' and 'filemon' from Sysinternals
# Video drivers (but I don't know which)
# A diskette for booting MSDOS with CD support
# Digital books (but I don't know which)
# Remote controlling tools, such as VNC
# CDs with OS (but there are hundreds of those)
Obviously the guy ran into Windows or DOS machines, which couldn't run Mac OS X
Re:That's Easy (Score:3, Funny)
Now I know that reminds you of the G4, but that's not what he meant at all.
WinZip (Score:3, Insightful)
Stuff I usually carry (Score:2, Informative)
Back in the day... (Score:5, Informative)
With computers so expensive and knowledge about them so rare, these people were usually VIPs - the governor of the province, dean of a local university, important businesspeople... It behooved me to scratch their back so that they'd later help me.
Now remember, this was when Windows '95 was still brand new and a lot of people in Thailand still used DOS. CDROMs weren't in widespread use yet (I think if anything, the CDROM built Panthip Plaza - a bootleggers heaven!)
I found myself carrying around a complete set of MSDOS 6.22 disks, a Win95 CDROM and a couple of custom made boot disks - with things like FDISK, SCANDISK and such on them as well as a few floppies with common drivers on them.
Biggest hardware problem I saw on a regular basis was floppy and CD drives crapping out due to the dust in the air and, of course, moldy floppies (110 degrees F and 100% humidity will grow mold on ANYTHING that doesn't move and a lot of things that do!)
Ah, those were the days...
Re:Back in the day... (Score:3, Interesting)
In the end I (and many other Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) I've talked to) feel that Peace Corps is the most wonderful thing I've ever done.
I was able to teach ~120 students a bit of English, set up a scholarship fund for poor students (public school in Thailand is not free like it is here in the US), refurbish the school's water system, build a community computer center... the list of how I was able to help
I just use my FSF membership card (Score:2)
--K.
If you can swing net access (Score:2)
That will fit on a couple of floppies...
err ummmm.... (Score:2)
Links [sourceforge.net]
and
Pine [washington.edu]
Gotta Get at Me ascii pron.
For Networking (Score:2)
or a cripping tool and a bag of RJ45s
would not hurt to have a nullmodam cable also
Roll your own bootable CD (Score:5, Interesting)
Maxblast - Maxtor tool for copying hard drives, works with other brands too. I prefer this to Ghost.
Powermax, SeaDiag, HDDiag, WD Lifeguard - Various manufacturers HD diagnostic disks
Offline NT password and reg editor [eunet.no] - Need I say more?
Re:Roll your own bootable CD (Score:5, Informative)
It's a *very* complex process but if you put the effort in it's well worth it. The secret to making Win2000/XP do an unattended install is to make your unattended file name winnt.sif and put it in your i386 directory. No floppy needed like MS would have you believe. I do this mostly so I don't have to type that $@^# cd key every time I want to install a copy of Windows.
I haven't tried it yet but if you cut out the crap you don't need from Win2000 and WinXP (language files etc) you might be able to combine both those into a massive everything-in-1 CD.
My Sysadmin Kit (Score:5, Insightful)
The first thing I try to keep is a list of how to clear the BIOS settings for every computer I manage. You would be amazed at how dumb you feel if you have all these nifty CDROM/floppy based utilities and are unable to make the damn PC boot from anything other than the screwed up hard drive.
The second thing I keep is a NT password recovery disk. About 90% of my problems are based on not knowing the admin password for a machine that has been in some users closet for 3 years. The user suddenly needs the PC on his network, and there I am trying to figure out the admin password. The best disk I have found is here. [eunet.no]
The third thing I keep is a Norton Utilities CDROM. You can boot off the CDROM and scan for a virus or diagnose a flaky hard drive.
I also keep a Gentoo live CD. I have thought about going over to Toms Boot Disk, but the Gentoo disk usually does what I need.
Although I don't carry it with me, I also keep a spare hard drive and a Win2k disk with all the latest patches and utilities that my company uses for the standard install. If worse comes to worse, I just move the users hard drive over to the secondary IDE and then install on a fresh hard drive. Then I can copy the users data onto the new hard drive. After that, the users old hard drive becomes my spare for the next user.
I also have a folder with a hard copy of every config for every switch, router, and other configurable device on my network. This folder also has IP address schemes, network maps, building diagrams, and user names and phone numbers. The folder also has a floppy with soft copies of the above, PuTTY, and a TFTP server for uploading into a router quickly.
I try to locate at least one geek for every office. I try to show this geek some of the details about his office. I let him have localadmin for the computers in his office. If the (l)users in his office need a printer reinstalled or otherwise need localadmin access, I direct them to their local geek. This also serves to deflect all the "my home PC is acting dumb and can you fix it" type users.
Finally, I try to write a "Why Stuff Breaks" document for all the major problems on my network. "User in office 12a keeps unplugging the switch so he can make coffee" type comments for common problems can help my minions diagnose a problem quickly.
ACR Media Tool (Score:2)
Sorry... (Score:2)
What I use (Score:2, Informative)
I'd put in ... (Score:2)
3 small words (Score:2, Insightful)
really and truly, I wouldnt take a lot of software out of the country. If you actually read the EULA on some of them, taking them outside of the US is a felony at least. Not that you'd get caught, but you never know who theyre going to call a terrorist nowdays.
My discs (Score:2, Insightful)
Jeff
Mikesrtbtdisk (Score:2)
DOS Boot of an antivirus (Score:4, Interesting)
Now keeping them safe after you leave while still being legal is another story.
tomsrtbt (Score:2)
I wouldn't bother carrying any kind of Windows rescue disks. You should be able to fix whatever problems you can with their original Windows install CDs, and if they don't have the originals, they shouldn't be running Windows in the first place. In a pinch, the Linux CDs let you mount and
I'd bring a T-shirt (Score:2)
A spare laptop and an Iridium phone (Score:2)
Alt. browser (Score:2)
Don't forget hardware (Score:2)
Debian is the tool. (Score:2)
Full kit is two bags, a laptop in one and a few tools in the other. The laptop has a working modem and network card. The tools are an old single speed CD, a box of software and a screwdriver kit with nut driver, torqx and all that kind of attatchments. The box of software has:
Debian
That's easy! (Score:2)
What to take (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What to take (Score:3, Funny)
Duct tape
Buerg List (Score:2)
All joking aside the following have saved my Bum.. (Score:3, Informative)
My FSF membership card... (Score:4, Interesting)
Startup Cop (Score:3, Interesting)
On the other side of the fence... (Score:5, Informative)
* A 20-GB iPod
- 10 GB of music (legal, I might add)
- All three MacOS 10.2 disk images
- The synchronized
- A MacOS 9.2.2 disk image
- An OS 9 bootable system folder with all stock cdevs/extensions, plus Toast's latest CD-R drivers. This'll probably change to an OS X folder in the next month or so.
- A copy of Norton Utilities
- A copy of Roxio Toast
- A copy of ResEdit
- Non-gimped PHP, Apache, GDLib, Freetype and mySQL packages (from Marc Liyanage, www.entropy.ch)
- Backups of my dialup fallback connection config files
- Various Free/Shareware files
* A leatherman
* A paper clip
* A smug look on my face when I say "Sorry, I'm a Mac guy"
No problem I can't fix in under an hour. Win troubleshooting, on the other hand, takes ridiculous amounts of time. You said you were on holiday -- right?
Re:On the other side of the fence... (Score:5, Interesting)
This has got to be one of the most flexible and innovative "toolboxes" around. The cool thing about Macs for years has been the ease and flexibility with which they boot. One can boot any Mac going back years from the CD. Additionally, as the previous poster illustrated, one can also boot from a variety of devices like the iPod (Verrrry cool), to other computers functioning as boot drives. I used to use my old Powerbook 5300cs as a "rescue toolkit" for other Macs since I could boot from it via a SCSI connection treating it as an external hard drive.
Macs are so flexible that in fact, a couple of years ago I was accross the country at a scientific meeting when one of the other graduate students had a Windows harddrive melt down, corrupting her registry thus preventing her from booting or rescuing her Powerpoint presentation scheduled for early the next morning. (always bring a back-up of your presentation on CD) She was in absolute agony and on the verge of a total emotional breakdown. At any rate, I simply took her hard drive out of the Windows laptop, replaced my internal hard drive on my Powerbook with hers, and booted from a colleagues iBook via Firewire allowing us to rescue the presentation. Day saved and she became another Apple convert.
More input needed.. (Score:3, Informative)
Anyways, first, I'd be interested to know what OS's he encountered on these remote islands. My guess is that it would be some flavor of Win95 or 98 (or even, gasp Windows for Workgroups). Having a Linux boot disk isn't going to do much for you, unless you can't boot to the OS. And in that case, I'd try an MS-DOS disk and do a C:\>fdisk /mbr to rebuild the bootsector FIRST.
Second, what types of problems did these people report they were having? Were they strictly software based, or could hardware issues also have been a factor? If you're REALLY interested in doing tech-support in this type of situation, you need to carry more than just a bunch of boot disks. You'll need:
* RAM, in both the new 168-pin AND the older 72-pin flavors
* a spare Floppy Drive
* an ISA video card, and probably a PCI one too. (probably NOT an AGP)
* a spare hard drive, AND its Master slave settings, AND a few of those little jumper thingys
* several IDE and floppy drive connectors
* a tiny bottle of WD-40 type oil, for squeaky (or non-spinning) power supply of CPU fans.
* I'd say 'a bottle of compressed air' for blowing out dust, but I don't think you can take this on a plane nowadays
* a floppy-disk cleaning kit, with a bottle of cleaning solution (I have to admit, I rarely use these nowadays, but PCs on islands may benefit. YMMV, of course.
* a few blank floppies
* pad and paper, for writing down notes and configuration and jumper settings (BEFORE you change them)
* an ISA network card, preferably a 3COM 3C5x9 (or any older common network card, plus a bootable floppy with its drivers and the program that lets you configure the card
* a Cat-5 patch cable or two, plus a small 10mbps hub * tie-wraps, in a few different sizes. These things are second only to duct-tape in their usefulness and variety of applications.
I've supported Windows systems since the 'original' 3.1 version. More often than not, software based problems could be solved by either mucking with win.ini, system.ini, autoexec.bat and config.sys and/or other DOS and Windows files. Use scandisk to see if the harddrive is bad. Use FDISK to see what's up with the partitions.
Having a few flavors of MS-DOS boot disks can't hurt (www.bootdisk.com) I also agree with previous posters that having a linux boot disk with the NT password recovery utility would be great idea. And, of course, if these are WinNT or Win2k systems you can't go wrong with ANYTHING you find on www.sysinternals.com.
In general, if you're going to do this at all, and you can't just 'run home' and grab what you need, you really need to have anything and everything at your fingertips. The above list is what I carry with me when I get called to a client site to do support. I have all the cards in those static-proof bags, the cables are tie-wrapped to keep them organized, and I have a collection of print-outs of various stuff.
By the way, if you see any job openings for PC support next time you're down there, please forward them to me. Boston, Massachusetts (USA) is getting ANOTHER snowstorm tonight and I'm losing my mind.
In my toolbox (Score:4, Interesting)
60 gb hard drive
Cdrom
floppy drive
Socket/Slot 370 Motherboard (tyan board has both interfaces on one board)
Socket 370 cpu fan (coolermaster)
Case fan
DDR and SDRAM chips. I have a few PC100's and a few PC133's. The DDR is pc2100.
Power Supply -sparkle, full size 350w atx and smaller 175w
IDE and Floppy Cable
Power Supply Cable
50 pin scsi cable
68 pin scsi cable
68 pin lvd-se scsi cable
68 pin scsi terminator
Generic ati video card
Tekram scsi card
Several 10/100 nics
5-port switch
USB Switch
USB Cable
Print Server
Power strip
DC Adaptor with lots of tips in an altoids tin
Lots of tie straps (quick release)
Philips Head (not magnetized)
Straight Screwdriver
Small eyeglass screwdriver
Printer Cable
Several Cat-V Cables 6-ft to 50-ft
Several Phone Cables and line splitter
Extra DSL modem (our private wan is dsl-based)
DSL filters
Cdrom sound cable (fixes the "my cdrom only plays music through the headphone jack" problem
Power Cables intentionally redundant
Mouse/Keyboard extension cable
Mouse and Keyboard
AT-ps/2 adaptor for keyboards (I think it is AT)
PS/2 to usb adaptor
In my software pouch I have copies of:
Debian for PowerPC and i386
Redhat 8 (nearly outdated now,
Mandrake 9 for PowerPC and i386
Copies of win98, win2k, winxp, win95 (try to buy one of the recent issues that come with the Service Packs on cd. It is not current, but it is closer.)
Copy of Norton Antivirus (cd only, I need to add floppies)
Partition Magic (cd and floppy)
Partition Commander (I bought it without researching that it couldn't resize xp partitions)
Win98 boot floppy
A road-runner installation cd because I can install microsoft internet apps from it (sorry)
A cdr called stuff with securecrt, secureftp, wsftp, far, tridiavnc, mozilla, and openoffice
The most recent edition of Knoppix.(this is a sysutil dream unless the cdrom is bad or unbootable)
The name of the game is eliminating the variable, and if you have the diagnostic tools, working replacements, and enough time and patience you can track down the problem. It is a big box and I obviously have a business level budget, so to speak. I actually keep a ready to go machine that dual boots win98 and rhat8 in case I just want to swap it out and work on it at the house. All of this really would fit in a foot locker (not the spare machine unless a *small* case) that I am sure you can ship there with you next time. I hope others can suggest a comprehensive but generic enough book, I don't have one.
here is what I have in my toolbox (Score:3, Interesting)
2 nic cards
1 pci video card (5 dollar card for testing)
1 pci modem
rj45 crimper
rj45 ends
2 case fans
2 different types of heat sinks (nothing expensive)
any other old computer parts could help (old processors for fixing older computers)
different types of old ram if your like me you have tons laying around
1 dvd-r that includes windows OS's dos 6 all the way to windows xp (this disk is also bootable win98)
all windows patchs
1 dvd-r with all the rest of the utilities witch include
zipping programs
Browsers
burning software (nero with neros virtual drive)
drive imaging (drive image 2002)
Partition Magic Pro 7
drivers for the nic cards (in the toolbox)
drivers for the video card (in the toolbox)
drivers for the modem (in the toolbox)
ftp software
webpage design software
testing utilities (memory testing, fix it utilities)
ad busters (ad-ware, lsp fix)
virus scanners
other person programs will also fit on the dvd-r
a bootable win98 floppy disk incase the dvd doesnt boot on older systems
with everything here should be able to fix almost any problem or at least get to the bottom of it
Soup (Score:5, Informative)
System Software:
MacOS X Jaguar install disks
MacOS 9.2 install disk.
MacOS 8.1 install disk (for Oooold hardware)
System 7.1 boot floppy (for really, really old hardware.)
Software Utilities:
Alsoft DiskWarrior
Norton Utilities for Mac
Norton Antivirus
Retrospect
Hardware:
Apple-branded Firewire emergency backup and restore device (Or as we like to call it when not adding it to our equipment req: the iPod.) Go for the big one, you'll be glad you had it when you need to rescue your data from a flaky powerbook. Use Retrospect to make sure you get everything backed up proper.
Firewire to SCSI adapter (for getting data to and from older Macs.)
If you're going to dealing with real old Macs: AAUI dongle, phone-net adapters, Mini DIN 8 to DB24 and DB9 serial cables.
Unix Survival Kit:
Hardware:
Powerbook or iBook, with aforementioned Firewire SCSI adapter, USB serial adapter and a nice terminal emu program.
SCSI external HDD
Bunch 'o SCSI adapters/cables/testers
A SCSI CDROM... if you deal with Sun equipment, make sure it's able to boot a SPARC box.
Software:
Install CDs for your Unix flavors of choice.
CDs with the most current OS patch levels on it, one per OS.
Another CD with your customized dot files, shell scripts and all the useful stuff you really wished came with your vendor's Unix, but didn't (GNU).
NetBSD install CDs "for when all else fails." Comes in handy when you need to repurpose an old Motorola VME system previously installed with telco switching software to interface with lab monitoring hardware with shell scripts, a serial port and a prayer.
Documentation:
Unix System Administrator's Handbook on CD.
A copy of the "Fixing Solaris" howto in
Linux Kit:
Mac Powerbook or iBook, haughty sneer.
Software:
Slackware to inspire feeling of inadequacy in self proclaimed Linux gurus. Gentoo Level 3 on a USB keychain drive... especially usefull if you're stuck with a 2400 baud modem in a jungle where the pbone only works for three hours alternating tuesdays. (Ah, sarcasm!)
Copy of NetBSD or OpenBSD install disks to get real work done.
Windows Survival Kit:
Hardware:
Powerbook or iBook
Software:
Condescending sneer.
SoupIsGood Food
survival kit? (Score:3, Funny)
My top 10 survival items are.... (Score:3, Informative)
2). Windows 98SE boot floppy
3). Knoppix [knopper.net] 3.2 bottable Linux on a CD.
4). Memtest86 [memtest86.com] bootable CD for testing RAM - excellent!
5). DOS freeware F-Prot [f-prot.com] and recent virus definitions
6). Norton's DOS utilities
7). Various HD setup utilities (eg: Western Digital [wdc.com], Seagate [seagate.com] boot floppies)
8). Freesco [freesco.org] Linux router/webserver on a floppy
9). Sample linux config files (eg: XFConfig-4, fstab, etc)
10). Frozen-Bubble [frozen-bubble.org] bootable CD for times of stress
Khauyeung SuperUTL and Knoppix. That's all (Score:3, Informative)
SuperUTL is a damn useful CD. It features: bootable DOS with NTFS support, boot to partition magic, drive image, ERD commander (reset a lost password), Ghost, Norton SystemWorks, SpinRite, tomsrtbt, ...
On the CD, you can also find the Winternals Administrator's pack, recoverNT/98, tweakUI, 4dos, and MANY other small useful apps.
The author of that disc, Michael K.H. Au-Yeung has plenty of details on his site [rogers.com] about the way to create such many-boot CDs. Definitely worth a look.
Note that the CD image is not available on his website, only the way to build it from YOUR version of the applications. Of course, I'm sure it's crawling around the P2P networks. And no, I don't have it.
Of course, Knoppix is your other best friend as it'll bring you your beloved Linux system in no time.
Serial / Parallel Transfer Bits (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, and remember a double headed serial cable and appropriate parallel file transfer cable (4 UKP each last time I bought one, cheaper and easier than rolling your own!)
Field Engineer (Score:5, Informative)
It sounds like what you're going to be taking with you is a CD holder that holds about a dozen CDs, and maybe a few floppy disks. A little bit of hardware won't hurt either, but I'll try to keep it to fitting in a medium sized pocket.
You're going to want:
Windows 95c
This is a good version of Windows 95.
Windows 98se
This is the OS that most people in small business are still using. It's the best of the Windows 9x series. You'll find that it could come in right handy.
Windows NT
You never know when you'll come across it.
Windows 2000
A lot of people are using this product. It's not bad, and the repair utility can be nice.
NOT Windows XP
No real reason to carry this around. Most people who have their XP machines should still have their restore disks.
Office 97 Pro
Most small business are still using this
Office 2000 Pro
This is a better product that Office 97 Pro. Sometimes comes in handy when you just cannot fix Office 97 Pro
Norton Ghost
When a small business buys PCs, they tend to buy two or three at once. This means that you can just drop a copy of a good build onto a bad build. It saves a lot of time.
Norton Antivirus
It's a good thing to have. You can use it as a bootable CDROM to search for viruses on a PC.
Partition Magic
It's also a good thing to have. It can save you work when someone has set up a PC foolishly.
Your own utilities disk
You're going to want to get a CDR and put the following on it: WinZip, Novell Client, Adobe Reader, Various Microsoft Office Readers, Possibly AOL, Sun's Java, Microsoft's VM, WinAmp, Possibly RealPlayer, Quicktime. Recent versions of MDAC. You get the idea.
You're also going to want four or five 3.5" floppies.
Windows 98 bootable disk.
This comes in very handy.
Dos 6.22 Utilities Bootable Disk
Not quite as handy as the 98 disk, as it doesn't handle FAT32
Two Blank Diskettes
For Ghost to use during TCP/IP operations
As for hardware, we'll make it easy. You'll want 2 older Intel Pro/100 NICs. These things are beautiful.
You'll also want a cross over CAT-5 cable to make ghosting easier.
A good leatherman wouldn't hurt either, but a small toolkit would be best. Those leathermens just aren't very good screwdrivers.
Floppy (Score:3, Insightful)
It's amazing the number of times I've been at someone's house and I need to make a boot floppy and of course they don't have any blank floppies available. I've had to unseal quite a few of those blank floppies to save someone's computer.
I know what I'd put in.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:norton utilities, vintage 1995 (Score:5, Funny)
Hmm, maybe you'd better include calc in your list then...
Re:Business Card Distribution??? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Delpart (Score:4, Funny)
The Knoppix CD is a goodie, particularly the new ones with the newest KDE which is perhaps the tightest, least hoggish KDE yet.
BTW, don't leave Delpart.Exe on your hard drive. It WILL nuke your HD in situ. The result is a spectacular BSOD/Stop Error that will make your hair curl. We did it once at the tech school I attended, just for grins. Great BOFH tool. >:)
Re:Delpart (Score:4, Informative)
FDISK Info [computerhope.com]
Entire PC (Score:2)
If I found one I didn't have id copy it.. True not really legal, but it was purely for support ( I already owned what I USED.. ).
Also a networkable laptop with basic network tools on it.
Oh, and a spare hub and extra IDSN interface.. ( hey it was a while ago )
Re:The one thing (Score:2)
123 123456
1234 1234567
It was so easy to reinstall for customers.
Re:USB NIC (Score:3, Interesting)
Often I'll come across low-end Pentium and K6 systems with one or two USB ports. If a system is much older than that, well, we tell them how much more expensive our increased trouble will cost them versus an upgrade. Strangely, some people actually opt to spend upwards of several hundred dollars in