LEC Mismanagement 🔌💡⚡🔦

See a message I posted below at the Liberia Expats Google Group. It's a closed Google Group which doesn't only have 'expatriate' members but also many Liberians and members of the Lebanese and Indian business communities. It's a useful forum to share and exchange information and, in this case, share frustrations. 

Dear friends,

It’s ironic that a Safe Streets Festival is being organised tomorrow but what about safety and improvement of LEC services? We have had a fire break out on our pole twice and both times we called the Emergency Hotline (Dixon on 0886 705715) and until now, no one has showed up. We rang them up again now and they said, ‘Don’t talk to much.’ 

Not only is LEC’s customer service extremely poor (it takes weeks and weeks to process a request and, we always have to tip the field technicians otherwise they will literally not do the work), but even reports of a fire will not wake them up! 

We pay some of the highest tariffs for electricity in the world but service and quality is poor. The LEC was mostly on in the rainy season but since the dry season started, voltage has been unstable (damaging equipment) and voltage is low. If you get something damaged, you will bear the costs. If the voltage is too low, you’ll have to spend extra money to run a generator. 

The LEC has been supported by donors, has its management outsourced and, money has been pumped in to restart the hydro. But it’s mismanaged, corrupt and frustrating! Our company (NATC) even shared its experiences on Bush Chicken but even such stories on public media don’t embarrass the management at LEC. 

That even requests to send technicians to check a fire did not produce any response from the LEC is shocking and scary! 

My husband had to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher, leaning out from the balcony and burnt himself. Ironically, the fire was at the same level as our balcony so he could lean out of the balcony and put out the fire. 

These are raw, frightening and disturbing experiences. Let folks know what the state of infrastructure and management is in Monrovia! 

Any advice on how to reach out to the highest LEC management will be appreciated. 

Regards, Farzana

These are responses that came up on the group:

1) Sorry but nobody is able to manage it. Maybe they're lacking resources. At the customer care center they're looking at you like is your fault. We are waiting for one month for the pole meter to be changed. Not even one reply from them. All your credit that you have on that meter is gone, nobody is talking to you. There are LEC employees who are ready to sale and install a meter for you for $350. Meter that probably was stolen before from somebody else, by themselves. It's discouraging. God bless Liberia!

2) I have eight years of bad experience dealing with LEC. I tried acquiring their service for 5yrs without success. Finally, I happened to work with a firm that managed and funded some of their activities. I discovered that I already had three separate connections, unbeknownst to me.

But fast forward to about six month ago. I needed my meter relocated from a public pole to a private pole. At customer service, yet I was the only one sitting, I had to shout my way through. They requested diagram, letter, estimate of current distance and then proposed relocation distance...plus more. Being an old unhappy customer, I had all those at hand. I was processed and asked to expect a call within two to three weeks. 

That was over six months ago. But I just needed to document my claim. I contracted some of the very workers to relocate my meter. Case closed.

Rome can a very complex city when you are from Egypt.

3) Early this month we noticed unusual brightness in all our light bulbs and many phone chargers damaged .when we tested the Voltage guess what?340 volts .-:)

4) I advise you all to install overvoltage to protect all your electrical equipment . You can buy it from powerline randall street. 

5) We experienced the same problem. As a restaurant it was double the frustratipn since we had to get a smaller generator as a back.up.for a back.up.generator. After all is done.they fix it and a mo th later they bring a new meter that on.its own.is consuming 1-2 kw per minute so now i have current but had to pay 3 times normal spending. Even when im using the generator and the lec is not connected our new meter still.consumes our credit on its own 

6) Hi Farzana

I had a court case against LEC. It started 6 years ago after they failed to connect my house in Congo Town, after having paid fees and bribes to get connected for two years, amounting to 2000 USD. The court case went on for 4 years until the chief justice ordered them to pay me back my money plus all the legal fees up to 10.500 USD now. 

Many times I had appealed to the (always changing)  management but all the consecutive CEO's didn't care.

Of all the corrupt and ineffective institutions in Liberia LEC is certainly in the top 10.

Only pressure from very high levels can make them move at all. They have a monopoly so, why should they care about the customers?

Good luck fighting the dragon

7) We all have the same or similar horrow stories. Its just blatant wicked corruption. Please let us know if this Joseph Howe does resolve yours, because we gave up on calling them since our pole has burnt so many times that it is actually out.

8) Call Joseph Howe on 0886884592. He should handle it..

Stolen cables

This morning, we saw that our cables were stolen! The cables connecting our generator and office were stolen. So, our handyman, our senior technician, Farman, ran some new cables.

What a way to start the week!

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)

Meeting Total Liberia's GM at our office ✍

We were honoured with a visit by Total's General Manager at our office a few weeks ago. We were connected through friends we made with folks who are working at the Salala Rubber Plantation, who in turn we met at our friends' birthday party at Libassa Ecolodge (the owners and managers of Libassa Ecolodge, in fact).

That's a good example of how so many new clients were added to our profile list. In fact, our friends at Salala Rubber Plantation also introduced us to their sister company, LAC (Liberian Agricultural Company), with whom we got the opportunity to repair a server that was damaged after a lightening strike. 

The meeting with Total's General Manager was a good moment to connect with one of the world's major oil companies. The GM is extremely professional, humble and kind. He was happy to learn about our experiences and expertise. 

During our chat we learned from him that despite the substantive expansion that Total has accomplished in Liberia, they are operating at a loss because of the currency issue. He also said growth is extremely slow at the moment but Total has committed itself to stay in the country for the long run. 

He asked us to provide a full profile to his procurement team. 

By the way, our predecessor company, NLTC, was doing regular maintenance work for Total. 

1 year at NATC

I am happy to inform all of you that I am completing exact one year in this company on 17 October 2016. My 1st project on build an 80 feet tower for installing internet equipment at Africa Heart Wood Zannah Town. When I joined this company a year back, I was totally new in this company's culture and it was a hard time to match with it.

It was you all who had taken pains to teach me the culture and working style of this company. Because of your strong support and my CEO Ms. Farzana Rasheed and Chief Operation Mr. Haresh Karamchandani. Who had guided me time to time in my work, I could successfully complete this one year period in the company.

I am sure you all will continue to provide your support and guidance, which will help me in performing the Best in near future.

I feel proud to complete one successful year with great satisfaction. Yes, this is my 367th day as an employee. First of all, I thank God for all the good things he gave in my first year and my fantastic team members whom I work with. They are of great support and fun to be with.

I, being a very optimistic person, hope that the coming years will be full of learning, challenges and fun. One last thing, not to forget to mention is that, I always feel that, I am updated with the moving technology. Thanks NATC management and staff.

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Farman Elahi, IT Technician

How to rebuild Canon iR 2420 CEXV14 Drum unit

Our client Monrovia City Hall brought a printer Canon ImageRUNNER 2420 with CEXV14 drum toner spots and light print issues.

 

This is one of the most common printer issues and at one time or another we’ve all sent a print command to the printer, only to be left frustrated and irritated when the printer prints something like this faded printout. 

There are many causes of light or faded prints. But in this printer the issue is due to a damaged drum. 

 

In this blog post i will tell you how to rebuild a printer drum unit and how to replace drum or change the roller in drum unit. If your printer has ink but prints faded or printing too light, we’re going to help you to find out why and help you to fix it and we’ll do it. You don’t need to buy a new printer!

How to rebuild Canon iR 2420 CEXV14 Drum unit:  General causes of print quality problems are given in the checklist below, followed by specific samples of common print quality problems. If the listed solutions do not work, call for help.

 

1. Remove the drum holding pin with electronic needle nose plier.

2. Remove the old drum. 

3. Remove the charge roller.

4. Remove the white charge roller support clip.

5. Remove the drum wiper blade by removing the 2 screws.

6. Cleanout all the reaming toner from the cartridge.

7. Reinstall drum wiper blade and the 2 screws.

8. Reinstall the charge roller support clip.

9. Clean and Reinstall the charge roller

10. Lubricate the drum with toner or the wiper blade may damage it.

11. Install the new drum securing it in place with the drum holding pin.

12. Rotate the drum.

Note:

1. If toner is visible on the charge roller dry wipe it with a soft cloth to prevent copy quality issues. 2. Clean the Charge roller with water and soft cloth and dry wipe in one direction only.
3. Be careful not to damage the recovery blade that is located to the wiper blade. If this blade is bent in any way the cartridge will leak.  Thanks for reading. We are glad that NATC finds a solution for all their IT problems.

Prepared By: Farman Elahi, IT Technician 

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