QuickBooks Enterprise 17 installation error due to lack of important Windows Updates.

While a on a maintenance visit to one of our clients in Buchanan, 3 laptops were delivered to us from another client, Population Services International (PSI) for installation of:

1. Microsoft office
2. QuickBooks Enterprise Solution 17.0 
3. and other software

My colleague managed to install the MS Office and other software on the laptops except for QuickBooks. According to him, he tried several times, but the installation keeps giving an error message. He quickly messaged me about what was unfolding on our WhatsApp channel. I requested him to give me full access to the laptop via TeamViewer connection. Disabling the anti-virus and other security features still didn’t help us out.

Due to insufficient time and bad internet connection from my end, we had to inform the customer and escalated the job until my return. I got back Monrovia on a weekend with a lot of research on resolving this issue.  I powered on both laptops to run a system check and know if the system meets the requirement to have QuickBooks installed. The result showed that the RAMs, Hard Drive, Operation System, BIOS, Video card and others were okay for installation.

I copied the QuickBooks software from one of the client’s laptops to a USB drive to run a test on my computer and it ran very smoothly on my PC. But there was one thing I noticed during the installation process which was the Microsoft NET Framework 4.6 and 4.7. 

This important update was lacking from the many Microsoft Updates downloaded on the client’s PCs as NET Framework is a software development platform developed by Microsoft to create applications and support web services. I became more concerned as to why Windows wouldn’t download such an important update. Than I discovered that the Operation System installed on these PCs were counterfeit and not a genuine copy of windows instead. 

My mind ran back to one of the days where we had an issue with a counterfeit Windows installed on a customer PC when they brought it in to do a hardware repair. The moment the customer received the PC in a few days he said the PC was giving pop up notification of counterfeit Windows and blamed it on the repairs we did. 

But in this case, there’s no notification or pop up message to display. Even if you check the System properties it shows ‘Windows Activated’. 

There are lots of software tool available on the internet to crack Windows OS, Office suites and other applications. But the good thing I have learned and like about Microsoft is that you may use your crack software on any of their products but once it gets on the internet, Microsoft automatically recognizes or detects the counterfeit or pirated copy you are using and blocks all important updates to it. 

This leads you to future problems until the right thing is done and this is what our client's problem was.

I backed up all the data from the Client’s PC and an external HDD and pulled out a CD from one of our many Windows Operating Systems. To be specific, Windows 10 Pro. A fresh installation of Windows 10 Pro was installed including MS 2016 office suites, and a transfer of all data from the external HDD back to the PCs with all important updates downloaded and installed; giving these laptops a new life once again.

Early Monday morning I took the 2 laptops to the customer site. I ran the QuickBooks Enterprise version 17 on the laptops with a successful installation. I mapped the QuickBooks server data drive on each PC to locate the data files for backup. The end-user could work in their respective departments using his/her username and password to have access since it was configured on a multiple user mood

So, Windows 10 Pro Activated did the trick. It could be any edition of Microsoft Windows Operating Systems - reach out to New Africa Technology Company for genuine licensed copy of software to safe yourself the stress of future problems.

Prepared by:

Daniel Collins

New Africa Technology Company

CCTV Cameras Synology Setup

From behind the IT desk of the Population Services International Liberia (PSI), I can piece together some troubleshooting and resolution of their CCTV cameras being disconnect/shutdown.

We got an approval to install 8 D-Link CCTV cameras to strategy areas in the premises of PSI office, connecting through a battery bank for power/electrical backup. After a week of smooth access to the cameras both in and outside the network, the client started to notice a slow connectivity to their network even to the extent they couldn’t access the camera’s server (Synology NAS) remotely.

I got back from Buchanan on an ICT maintenance trip to one of our clients site only to check my mail with lots of email exchanges about the situation with my boss: the Head of Operations.

As I learned the CCTV technicians who set up these cameras didn’t understand the network layout of the client and also didn’t follow instructions from the ISP in my absence. They assigned any IP of their choice to the cameras as they could in other to complete their job. This was very embarrassing getting back to them as there was no answer on their phones. My boss then instructed me to accompany another tech who was recommended by a friend to assist us. We arrived at the client site and explained to him about the situation of the cameras switching OFF and ON.

The tech admitted to me that he had no idea about D-Links cameras and Synology NAS server; on HKVISION and told me that he would be back the next morning to figure out the problem.  We scheduled the time for 10:00 AM prompt. I was on site before the time by the tech didn’t show up. I was left alone to solve this issue. I downloaded the D-Link DS cam and Synology catalogues. I first took out all of the cameras down and reset them to factory default and assigned a static IP addresses that are not in used and all fall behind the DHCP rang to avoid disruption of access as it used to be. The DHCP range of the core router was from 192.168.11.30-192.168.11.254 that means any number below 30 can be assign to a device. So I assigned 192.168.11.28 to the Synology NAS server and the rest of the eight cameras were from 20-27. 

The port forwarding was configured both on the router and the NAS server for remote viewing with secure password protection enabled and shared with the client. After doing all this, I called the ISP to bypass the hotspot on the network from accessing internet which is one of the aspects in the MikroTik which I love. I really like working on these devices especially when it comes to networking. This was my very first time handling camera issue but because networking access was attached to it, I got a few clues and interested in understanding how it works. To be frank, the installation/setup was quite simple and easy; just the matter of understanding how the IP blocks were arranged before assigning them manually to those devices. At least I can say the cameras are now accessible with a 24hr battery backup system running to keep them on throughout the night. I was glad to be a part of this project and looking forward to more prospect development in the fresh start of 2018.

Prepared by:

Daniel Collins

Server Installation Error message: (NO HDD FOUND)

Dear Reader, 

Having setup and installed Servers for most of our clients all over Liberia such as, Water Aid- Liberia, Populations Services International-Liberia, Tetra-Tech ARD, Equatorial Palm Oil etc. on numerous occasions without any headache, last month January 20, Saturday morning was an experience a System Administrator wouldn’t want to miss or get to the bottom of.

An order arrived in our office by DHL that morning for a customer named Master Trading dealer in auto mechanic and spare parts located on the same street we are located.  An instruction was given to us from our Head of Operations to unpack and set up the server for installation at the client site.

As techies, my colleague and I removed the item out of the box (HP ProLiant 360 dl 360 Server G8, 1x4 TB HDD, 16GB RAM, Intel/Dual Processor and a RAID Array System already installed.

The power cord of the server was plug into the electrical outlet and to the power port of the Server. It booted up smoothly showing no operating system installed. I quickly arranged my Windows Server 2008 R2 software disc and inserted it into the CD ROM of the server, and booted from CD in the boot setting. It started up well where I could select the edition of Windows (Server 2008 64bits Standard Edition). In the process of installing, the software should detect each of the 1TB in total of 4 drives in other to select which one the OS is to be installed on, but in the process, it displayed the error message on the screen shown below:

I tried several times of installing the OS using different CDs and bootable USB drive, but the problem persisted. I did many online research on the error message but couldn’t find a suitable solution. All I could see from other websites was to download and update some device drivers which I did download but that didn’t work as well.

This drew my colleague, Farman Elahi attention after verifying that all the hard drives installed were brand new and reading from our HDD tester. He entered into the BIOS and System setting from one option to another until he found ‘’Enable RAID ARRAY’’ and then he hit enter. The option was enabled, and the system prompted a restart. Because the Server was running a RAID security, all HDD would show invisible until they were enabled.

 During this restart all the 4TB hard drives read and an option to select which drive to install the OS was shown. Many thanks to Mr. Farman my colleague who came in during the middle of my server installation nightmare. As a team, together everyone accomplishes a mission. The software installed successfully enabling me to complete the below necessary configurations.

1.    Connect to mains and network switch – allow for a network cable.

2.    Install Windows Server 2008 R2Standard Edition and Server name Administrator

3.    Configure server with static IP address.

4.    Run DCPromo.exe and install basic domain

5.    Configure DNS on the server – set it up with forwarder details of local ISP’s DNS or Google 8.8.8.8

6.   I set the local DNS of the Server to point to its own IP address and not the ISP or Google’s.

7.   Add all workstations to the domain and create usernames and password for users,

8.   Copy existing profiles into the new domain profile.

9.   Users are set to local administrators for their workstations.

10.   Set up network share for HP and Dell printer and, a folder. (username: admin PW: *****)

11.   Test connectivity of all workstations to share.

12.   Set up router to allow connection to the server via the internet for support purposes – Port  redirection (3389) to the server IP address.

       13.   Installed TeamViewer Host 10 on the server for outside support or remote login

A week later, the customer requested a remote desktop connection configured on the server. In the server manager, I installed the remote desktop feature. Got back to the user’s laptop, entered username and password an error message pop up! “cannot connect remote desktop, you must add the user in the group manually or use terminal service” In resolving this I click on “Start”, right click on Computer and click ‘’Properties”. Click on add users. Like for the client I created a login credential in the Active Directory called ‘Admin’ so when I click on ‘Add’ I selected Admin, click Apply and Ok. Restarted the server and all was okay with the end-user. Thanks to my colleague Farman who helped me cross the first level of all these configurations.

by Daniel Collins

October blog post 📝

Hello everyone,

As an IT technician, there’s a lot of amazing small and complex issues I encounter on a daily basis and I embrace them with interest as technology is improving every passing day.

On Friday evening we got call from one of our clients in Buchanan which we have a 3-day monthly ICT maintenance contract with.

They informed us that their network had been down for a day. We advised the client to informing the Internet Service Provider (ISP) as they have no IT person on site to be sure before taking an action. The ISP than confirmed that they could ping the network from their server so there was no problem from their end.

I quickly arranged the next morning with all necessary equipment (RB 951 MikroTik router, RJ 45 connectors, Crimper and pitched network cable in case there was any power failure of the core router.

I got to the customer’s Head Office at about 9:30 am. They quickly arranged a vehicle to take me to the effected site, about 1-hr drive.

They were quite happy when I arrived and welcomed me by saying ‘’NATC’’ is here.   Well, this is how most of our client/staff called me even though they know my full name but some prefer calling me that way.

I opened the server rack and found the main Juniper router on with all status led(s) linking green. That was good enough to know that internet was reaching the device but not being distributed. I started by pinging the switches IP addresses and surprisingly the main Cisco switch could not be reached, but the power adaptor led of the switch was blinking. Immediately I replaced the adaptor with a new one, I could ping the switch, desktops and laptops were connected, and network printers automatically started printing out stored job and so on. All the departments I checked were working okay accept for the Field Department. The switch was on but there were no sign of signal.

By using my cable tester found out that one of the RJ 45 connecters was damaged. I replaced both ends using my crimping tool to restore network for that department.

I informed the Site Manager and Head Office on progress made.

When heading to have my lunch, an accountant staff complained that any Microsoft Excel email attachment received in her inbox opens blank and really don’t know what could be the issue. I told her, me take a look. She turned on her computer and displayed the problem to me.

I have seen this issue several times before. So, I knew exactly how to figure it out in less than a minute. The lady insisted that I show her how to resolve this issue in case it happen and I’m not around. Though we have an ICT contract with them and wouldn’t be an issue even if she complains hundreds times. As a technician, I’m there to resolve problem. For me, she sounded very smart. I told her yes we can do it together.

Here are the few steps to go on resolving issue like this for any Microsoft version. Now, open the Excel again that opens blank.

Open Microsoft Excel.

Click the File tab and select Options from the drop-down menu.

Click Advanced, then locate the ‘’General’’ section.

Uncheck the box next to Ignore other applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

Click OK and restart the Excel.

In a joking and friendly manner I asked her. ‘’Now everything works fine. Anything else I could help you with? Can I get back at the canteen and have lunch now’’?

After a heavy lunch, I drove back to Monrovia the same day and resumed work at my office the next day.

Reach out for NATC, the one stop IT Solution Company!

Prepared by: Daniel W. Collins (Senior IT Technician) New Africa Technology Company (NATC)

LIBERIA AGRICULTURE COMPANY HP PROLAINT 360 G8 SERVER NOT BOOTING

Dear reader,

NATC has proven to be the one stop IT solution center. We are continuing to deliver customers satisfaction like no one does and through this means we are adding new clients based on customers’ recommendations. We recently provided tech support to the second largest rubber plantation in Liberia: The Liberia Agriculture Company (LAC) in Grand Bass County. 

On the 29^th of September, our Head of Operations received a call from the General Manager of LAC to report a failure in powering on their data server HP ProLiant 360p Gen8, running Windows Server 2008 Data Center. The in-house IT officers assumed a power surge caused by a the lightning strike had damaged the server. A team of two senior staff, Hardware Specialist Farman Elahi and myself Daniel Collins, Software and Network Administrator, were dispatched with a new 460w power supply unit and software for troubleshooting incase the problem could be power supply replacement. We arrived the same day at around 5:00 O’clock PM due to the bumpy road condition.

The LAC IT team welcomed us and we were introduced to all the senior management staff. We provided an overview of our company and ourselves. They later took us to their staff canteen for snacks and fresh air after a long day of driving. After lunch, we proceed to the server room and started our work. We checked the two power supplies and they were all working well, but the server was still not powering on. We carefully started a one-on-one check of all the ICs and MOPET ICs as well then found out they were lot of damaged ones on the motherboard that prevented power or current to flow from the power supply to these components to power on the server. That took us up to 11:55PM. We could not work on repairs on the motherboard on site so decided to inform the client to take the server to our lab in Monrovia. The next morning we had a short meeting with the senior management and the IT officers. As technical as the other guys were, they agreed to our request and gave us a go-ahead. Before leaving we inspected the electrical grounding system and lightning arrestor. We noticed that lightning arrestor and grounding of the equipment was not properly done.

We arrived with the server late on a Saturday evening back to Monrovia along with the In-house IT Head. We could not do anything as it was close of office hours. Early Monday morning we were able to thoroughly check the server's motherboard in our lab with our tools and equipment and concluded that it would be difficult to do any professional or guaranteed repairs on the motherboard as there was so much damage. These diagnostics were done in the midst of their IT officer so he understood exactly our next step on replace the motherboard.

The information was shared with LAC General Manager and we were given the green light to order a new motherboard with same part number from our USA partner and prepare material for the installation of the lightning arrestor and grounding. The order was placed the same day and expected an arrival over the weekend. 

It arrived on the 6^th of October. I received a WhatsApp message from our Head of Operations about the arriver of the said item. I got prepared for the next morning's trip to Grand Bassa.    I was picked up from my Junction with the team including our Head of Operations that Saturday morning and arrived at noon and immediately starting on replacing the motherboard. The important parts such as Network Interface Card, Power Supplies, Heat Sink and RAID Array Card were extracted from the old Motherboard and inserted on the new Motherboard to secure the existing configurations and data files. 

The Server was powered on and came on initially with ‘’Power Supply Mismatch’’ error. I was like gosh!!!!! Another problem again? But you know, there’s always a solution especially when it comes to IT; either repair or replace in this scenario. A critical thinking was done quickly and decided to remove the redundant power supply unit and left the server one supply. It boots up successfully with all configurations and data in place. We contacted their Home office to login remotely from Switzerland to confirm it everything was ok from their side, too. He then confirms ‘’Yes’’. 

He suggested that we do a backup immediately on a 4TB external hard drive. After completion of the Server, we had a good lunch and proceeded back to site to continue the installation of the new lightning arrestor. 

Installation of the pipe.

The Company provided us few men to help with digging of 5’ deep pit and prefabricated 30’galvanized pipe to weld the lightning arrestor on top of the pipe securely and planted into the pit and filled with concrete mixture. The tower was secured with 3 cable attached to the ground. 3 more pits were dug and 3x5’ x 37.5mm thick copper rods were inserted into these pits and connected the lightning arrestor with a 25mm on insulated cable. The resistance test was 0.3 Ohm, this was a good value.  

These pits were filled with fertile soil. The old arrestor was reading 0.0 Ohm. They understood that the old one was not working and should not be relied on. We also installed a 10000VA Voltage Stabilizer and instructed their in-house electrician on how to connect the server rack and other IT equipment due the time as we did not plan to sleep on site. They have confirmed that it is connected and working well.

The customer was very excited with our quick intervention and solution. Other vendors had advised that they should replace the server and by replacing the server they would have lost all data because the hard drives were configured with RAID protection. These drives cannot be read in any servers or backup equipment.

NATC always provides the best solution for its clients/customers that why that’s why we remain the one stop IT solution company in Liberia running for years with experience management and staff.

Thanks for following our technical blogs and hope you enjoy reading!

Prepared By:

Daniel Collins

Senior IT Technician