The ITS Distributed Learning and User Services (DLUS) section provides technical support for UH network connections, supported desktop computers, and supported software. Support is provided to UH faculty, staff and students systemwide via email, telephone, and walk-in. Contact the ITS Help Desk for support by calling 808-956-8883 (Oahu) or toll free (800) 558-2669, sending email to help@hawaii.edu or visiting the ITS Help Desk/Lab walk-in stations located in Keller Hall 105, Keller Hall 213 (PC Lab), and Sinclair Library 1st Floor (CLIC lab).
If the ITS Help Desk is unable to resolve the problem, the level of support is escalated to a staff member in User Services. For the Manoa campus, a trained student will go on-site to diagnose and fix the problem. On-site visits are provided for UH-owned and supported computers as noted below.
ITS supports UH-owned computers, generally identified by the presence of a UH decal. In addition, ITS will give first priority to computers that were purchased through UH sponsored contracts. This includes the Dell computers (via WSCA contract) for PCs, and the Apple contract for Macintoshes. Unfortunately, ITS doesn't have the resources necessary to support computers purchased for departmental computer labs. The support for these computers is the responsibility of the departments.
Although ITS doesn't support foreign language computers or computers that have had a foreign language installed, users are encouraged to check within their department for other faculty/staff with similar configurations or search Internet sites for help. The College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature (http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/) provides limited help to their college faculty and staff and maintains a lab with Chinese and Japanese fonts which is open to UH students. UH Hilo maintains a website for the Hawaiian Language at http://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/. If you have some knowledge of foreign language support that you'd like to share, please email pc-help@hawaii.edu.
ITS will troubleshoot problems on the following Operating Systems:
Windows 2000 and Windows XP Pro workstations
Mac OS X
Vista OS Advisory: Currently ITS is recommending that the UH community continue to use Windows XP, as many UH applications have not been certified by the software vendor or thoroughly tested. New PC systems purchased should be Vista-capable or ready, but should be initially configured for use with Windows XP Pro. Past experience is that early adoption of a new operating system is most appropriate for individuals with significant personal technical expertise and interest in specific new features. These early users of Vista should plan on encountering problems that interfere with their work until resolved through subsequent releases of Vista or other software packages. If newly purchased UH computers are preinstalled with Vista (without the option for Windows XP), one alternative is to purchase the lowest cost/version of Vista (e.g. the Home version) from the vendor and then purchase the MS Windows Vista Business Upgrade License (with or without Software Assurance [SA]). [Note: Computers purchased with Windows Vista Business have the option of purchasing SA ONLY within 90 days from the computer purchase date.] The Windows Vista Upgrade and/or SA license may be purchased from the ITS Site License Office: http://www.hawaii.edu/sitelic The Vista Upgrade and/or SA license allows you to downgrade the OS to use Windows XP Professional. When you are ready to convert to the Vista OS, or when all the applications you use in your work are certified to function correctly with Vista, you will have the option to use your Vista license to install Vista Business or Vista Enterprise (only if SA is purchased).
Please note that this is only for UH owned computers using specific UH administrative applications. Also, the ITS Site License purchase of Software Assurance for the OS is only for UH departments. This advisory does not pertain to personal home computers or personal purchases.
A website with a Vista Application Compatibility matrix is available at: http://www.hawaii.edu/askus/773
By "best effort" ITS will assist with one on-site visit of one hour and try to resolve any problems as best we can within that time frame (no reinstall of the OS.)
The following systems are in the "best effort" category:
Windows XP Home, 98, ME
Mac OS 9.x
A list of ITS Supported Software is available for download at website: http://www.hawaii.edu/help/software/supported.html or active UH faculty/staff/students may obtain an ITS CD-ROM (one per user) from our Keller 105 or Keller 213 Labs.
Please note that software not on our list is only supported on a "best effort" basis.
Because of the size of the faculty, staff, and student population and variety of their home computers, ITS can only troubleshoot home computers for specific problems i.e., problems with UH network client software installs, and problems with a UH network blocked computer due to viruses. If you have a private Internet Service Provider (ISP) please call their technical support for help first as their configuration settings would differ.
If home desktop computers or home laptops are experiencing hardware or other software problems i.e. hard drive failures or system errors, users are encouraged to take their computer to a local computer repair shop. If the option exists, it is strongly recommended that the extended warranty offered by computer vendors be purchased.
A designated staff administrator is required for any UH server. That person is responsible for installation of server, programs, and upgrades, management of userids, actively applying security and OS patches, backups, maintenance, and general troubleshooting of the server.
In earlier years, many Novell and Windows servers were installed to provide departmental email, file and print sharing services . With budget cuts, many departments have reduced internal support staff. This has caused many problems with support and security. Currently some servers have no qualified departmental administrator. With over 400 servers in the University, ITS simply cannot trouble-shoot or service servers with individualized configuration setups and no dedicated departmental administrator. If a department has no designated staff server administrator, and that server has problems with hackers, viruses, or security, ITS reserves the right to take that computer off-line from the Internet. If trouble-shooting or clean-up assistance is needed for that server, contract services are approximately $50/hour.
Today, most of these services can be handled without a departmental server. ITS has taken a more aggressive strategy of providing a robust, reliable and friendly email service on our central servers - at a scale suitable for serving the entire University community. It is also now possible to share network-connected printers within an office without a specialized LAN server. Operating systems i.e. Windows 2000 or XP allow for file sharing among workgroups without a server.
For those departments that still require a server and have no IT personnel, ITS offers contract services for Windows server management. This service is now done on a fee basis as resources for server management have become more specialized. If departments would like to have more information on the fee service or have ITS manage a server for them, please call Osamu Makiguchi at 956-3877 for information regarding contracting services.
If problem resolution is not successful by telephone, ITS may send a trained student to the on-campus site to troubleshoot and attempt to resolve reported problems.
At present, on-site service is free and limited to a time-available basis. First priority will be given to computers purchased through UH contracts. Although every effort will be made to accommodate users, if “time is of the essence,” users may need to make their own arrangements with outside vendors for immediate servicing.
What does ITS support for the general user on campus in terms of hardware?
CAUTION: Equipment under warranty should be checked with the vendor first, as some warranties may be invalidated if a non-authorized person tampers with the computer.
For items not under warranty, faculty and staff may call the ITS PC Repair Office at 956-6421 to schedule an appointment to bring in their computer for hardware repairs or installation of upgrades. (Currently service is free, but all parts are purchased by the department.) Laser printers and monitors may also be checked at the ITS PC Repair Office.
ITS User Services will install or troubleshoot on-site standard extension cards e.g. video, ethernet, or sound cards. If you are experiencing problems with Hewlett Packard (HP) networked printers, these may also be checked. If the faculty/staff require other on-site services i.e. installing RAM or peripherals e.g. hard drives, floppy or CD-ROM drives, ITS may optionally assist, if time and resources are available. ITS can install or remove units, but not necessarily repair the equipment e.g. power supply. ITS can also assist installing and troubleshooting a scanner on a "best effort" basis. It should be noted that laptops often have different set of specific hardware requirements and are not serviced to the same extent as a typical desktop computer. Most service for laptops are "best effort" only.
If work is done on the hardware, a waiver of liability should be signed by the customer.
If reinstallation of an OS and/or reformatting of a hard drive is determined to be necessary, ITS students may provide assistance. Users should either have their own OS system diskettes or CD-ROMs available for the students, or if the OS was purchased through one of the UH Site License programs, users should make arrangements to have the media on-hand at the time of the scheduled appointment.
Students may also install the ITS network clients but the user is responsible for re-installing their application software. The user is also generally responsible for backing up any necessary files they need. Diskettes, zip disks, and hard disks can and do fail, often without advance notice. (ITS doesn't do backups of your personal computer.)
For a new computer, ITS can do an initial install on-site for network supported programs e.g. Eudora, Internet Explorer, SSH, Acrobat Reader, and anti-virus software, and will check to see if the latest Windows Updates have been installed. However, users should be responsible for the security of their computers and should regularly check http://www.windowsupdate.com/ to install any Windows critical updates, The UH community should also apply the anti-virus updates, which occur on a daily basis.
ITS will not install any unlicensed software and will assist with unsupported software only on a "best effort" basis, if time permits.
ref: http://www.hawaii.edu/its/micro/
