Annoying IT issues

One afternoon I was ready to deliver lecture when I noticed it took the computer in the lecture theatre suspiciously long to log me in. That didn't bode well. Then it couldn't get to my desktop. I did have the bar at the bottom, so I could open programs like file explorer and web browsers, but if I clicked on a file, the computer complained it couldn't open it, because it didn't have access to OneDrive. And the browsers would open, but they wouldn't go to any of the websites I needed, like the module website. They were not working. The connection would time out.

I restarted the computer to see if that helped. It didn't! And if I  don't have a working computer I can’t really do my thing. And it was 5 pm, and the helpdesk was already closed. So I didn't really see many options other than tell the students we would have to reschedule. And we all went home!

The day after I had another lecture in the same room, but then everything was ok. I had an email from the helpdesk saying they blamed a fire in a data centre in one of the buildings on campus. That didn't sound very good! But at least the computer worked again.

When I went to the office afterwards though, and tried to log in on the computer there, I had a similar problem. I phoned the helpdesk. This time they were open! And to my surprise, the person I spoke with recommended that I take the power entirely off my computer, and then hold the own button for half a minute. I did that. It felt weird! But lo and behold, when I then switched it back on again it worked fine. And this still seemed to have something to do with that fire in the data centre.

Issues in the office too

The day after that the computer in the office was again not playing ball. I tried the same trick as the previous day again, but this time it didn't work. So phoned the helpdesk again. This time they suggested I fully unplug it. I would surprise if that would make the slightest difference. But I tried it! And it worked.

That was not the end of the problem! I later had some work that vanished from OneDrive, and a file I wanted to save of which my computer said "upload pending", and which made me reluctant shut down my computer when I had to leave. Would that upload then perhaps not happen at all?

I hope that was pretty much it when it comes to the fallout from that fire. But if not, I'll probably write another post! So for now: no news is good news…