SOP Minimon Vista Platform Cfg Procedure

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Standard Operating Procedure
Subject:
SOP Minimon_VistaBuisness_Platform_Installation
Author:
Scott Livingston/Troy Humphrey
Approved by:
Don Warf

Contents

Objective

The objective of this procedure will be to ensure that a tried and tested installation practice is followed by any individual that is required to configure and deploy a system described in this procedure. This is done to ensure a consistent configuration that should yield high uptime and performance required of the data collection platform.

Scope

This procedure will describe the necessary steps and process required to successfully install the Minimon Interrogation software on a Dell Optiplex 755 PC with the Windows Vista Business edition upgraded to service pack 1. The scope of this procedure will be limited to data collection platforms that serve only non-SByC interrogation sites. This procedure assumes that the computer to be configured is new (brand new out of the box). This procedure could be used as reference for other computers that are not new but need to be reconfigured for various reasons.

Responsibilities

The configuration and deployment of these non-SByC site computers will be the sole responsibility of field personnel stationed in the Kennewick Field Office.

Procedure

Step 1

Access the BIOS configuration

  1. Power on the new PC.
  2. As soon as the POST (Power On Self Test) starts, press F-2 repeatedly to access the BIOS settings.

Change Boot Drive Sequence

  1. In the left pane,top of menu under "System",arrow down to the option "Boot Sequence" and press enter.
  2. You should see that device 1,2 and 5 are (Not Present) Arrow down to each Not Present device and press the space bar to remove them from the Boot Sequence. Notice that the Boot Sequence changes as devices are removed.
  3. Ensure that the SATA0-WDC drive is the 1st boot device and that the On-Board CD-ROM Drive is the 2nd device.
  4. Press <Esc> and accept changes.

Configure Power Management

  1. Arrow down to Power Management option and press <Enter>
  2. Then arrow to "AC Recovery" press <Enter>.
  3. Change setting from the factory setting of OFF to ON=System Powers ON after AC power is restored.Then press "enter"
  4. Press <Esc> then arrow over to "Save and Exit"press <Enter>


Step 2

Initial O/S Setup

  1. Boot PC and follow directions.
  2. Define the Computer Administrators Account
    • Standard format for this account name:<Site Name>-PC?
      • Example:Clark Flat-PC1
  3. Enter administrators Password. This will be the standard PTAGIS password.
    • Note that the auto login for the administrators account will be setup later in this procedure.
  4. Enter the password hint as "PTOC" Click <Next>
  5. Enter computer name.Standard format for this entry will be:<3-Digit Site Code>-<PC1 or 2> Click <Next>
    • Example:"CFJ-PC1"
  6. For now, Choose the option "Use Recommended Settings"
  7. Time and Date Settings are as follows:
    • (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
    • Uncheck the "Automatically Adjust for Daylight Savings Time"
    • Set clock to "Current Pacific Standard Time"(PST) Click <Next>
  8. Select the location option "Work" Click <Start>
    • Note that the system will check the computer for required performance. After that a login prompt will appear with the computer name and ask for a password.
  9. Enter the standard PTAGIS password.
  10. Close the Dell Start Up window, do not select anything other than cancel or exit.
  11. Close the Welcome Center window(Need to turn this off)

Advanced Time Settings

  1. Click on the time in the lower right corner of the desktop and open "Date and Time Settings"
  2. Then click "Change Date and Time Settings"
  3. Under the "Date and Time" tab, "Uncheck" "Remind me one week before this change occurs"
  4. Under the Additional Clocks tab, "Uncheck" everything in this tab.
  5. Under the "Internet Time" tab, Uncheck" "Synchronize with an Internet time server"
  6. Click "Apply" then "Exit"

Uninstall Unnecessary Applications

  • "At any time the computer installs updates and asks that the computer needs to be restarted, proceed with restart"
  • "Only restart the computer when it is mandatory to do so" This will save time during the installation.
  1. At this point "Uncheck" the "Run at startup" box for the Welcome Center.
  2. Navigate to the "Control Panel"
    • Goto------>Start----->Control Panel----->Programs----->Programs and Features----->Uninstall a Program.
  3. Below are the applications that should be un-installed
    • Google Tool Bar
    • Google Desktop
  4. Uncheck "Keep Indexes"
  5. Select "It's not compatible with another program"
  6. Then select "Uninstall"

Turn Off Energy Saving Features

  1. Right Click on the Desktop and choose "Personalize"
  2. Navigate down to "Screen Saver Settings" and Choose "None"
  3. In that same window, click "Change Power Settings"
  4. In the "Select a Power Plan" window, Choose "High Performance"
  5. In the left pane of that same window, click on "Choose what the power button does"
  6. In the drop down menu next to "When I press the Power Button" Choose" "Do Nothing".
  7. Click "Save Changes"

Turn Off User Account Controls

  1. Navigate to the "User Account Control"
    • Goto------>Start----->Control Panel----->User Accounts----->Add or Remove user accounts----->Click link "Go to the main user accounts page" .
  2. Click on the link "Turn User Account Controls On or Off".
  3. Uncheck the box, "User Account Control" Turning this feature OFF will circumvent the obnoxious warning that appears every time a user wants to perform a task.

Configure Windows Security Options

  1. Right click on the Windows Security Icon in the lower right side of the tool bar and "Open Windows Security Center".
  2. In the upper left corner of this window, click on the "Windows Update" link.
  3. On the right side of this window,click the "Install any Important Updates" Note: This is a "One Time Process" as this option will be turned off later in this procedure. This is done prior to installing Service Pack 1 as suggested by Microsoft.
  4. In the upper left corner of this window, click on the "Windows Firewall" link. Then Click "Change Settings" then turn"OFF" firewall then click OK.
  5. In the upper left corner of this window, click on the "Windows Defender" link.
  6. At the top of this window click "Tools" then under "Settings" click "Options".
  7. Reconfigure each section below as described below.
    • Automatic Scanning: Uncheck "Automatically Scan My computer"
    • Default Actions: Under the pull down box for "High,Medium,Low" alert options, select "Ignore"
    • Real Time Protection Options: Uncheck "Use Real Time Protection"
    • There should be nothing checked under the "Choose if Windows Defender should notify"
    • There should be nothing checked under the "Advanced Options" or "Administrator Options"
  8. Then click "Save"

Step 3

Installing Service Pack 1

  1. First, Verify that the computer your are configuring does NOT already have SP1 installed.To verify, right click on computer,select properties.Refer to the Windows Edition heading
  2. Go to Microsoft.com and download the Vista Service Pack (SP-1).File Name:Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave0.exe
  3. Start the SP-1 installation. For more information about the SP-1 upgrade, refer to MS knowledge base.
  4. If the installation is successful, proceed to the next step.

Turn Off AutoUpdates

  1. Goto------>Start----->Control Panel----->System and Maintenance----->Windows Update.
  2. On the left side of the current window, Click "Change Settings".
  3. Select the option:"Never Check for Updates"
Note:
The deployed systems will NOT be updated during the course of the fish run season.
This will only be considered if the updates to the system prevent a detrimental effect
on the integrity of the data collection platform.

Step 4

If this is a Non-SbyC site you will install Rocketport cards. If this is a SbyC site you will intall Device Masters.

Install Rocket Port Card(s)

  1. Rocket Port Card Required: PCI 16 Port
  2. The driver for Vista can be downloaded at:FTP.Comtrol.com/rport/drivers/u_pci/winvista/rp-winxp64-5.01.exe and extract this file on to the hard drive of the computer being configured.
  3. Do NOT install card until you have completed the previous step.Turn PC off and install the RP card into Slot 2.
  4. Power on computer, you may see a window that prompts you for the following 3 options.
    • Locate and Install Driver Software."Choose This One"
    • Do nothing and remind you later
    • Do nothing, your device will not work properly until you install the driver.
  5. Cancel out of the "Found New Hardware Window".
  6. Windows at this time will not find a device driver for this device and will install the RP card as a "Simple Communications Device" as shown in Device Manager.
  7. Navigate to Device Manager and "Right Click" on "Simple Communications Controller" and select "Update Driver".
  8. When prompted,browse to the location where the device driver was extracted too and press "OK"
  9. At this time, the device installation will continue. You may be prompted with questions about "Do You want to install this software?" Just click YES to all these questions and let the driver install.
    • You will see the device manager go through several gyrations and screen refreshes but this is normal. After the process ha completed, Verify under "Ports(COM & LPT)" that the expected number of ports were correctly installed.



Install Device Masters

  1. You will need to load PortVision Plus from Comtrol's ftp site.
    • ftp.comtrol/dev_mstr/portvision_plus/pvplus_v3.02.msi
    • Download to the desktop.
  2. Run the installation.
    • If windows pops up and warning that the program is 'un-signed' choose to install anyway.
  3. Uncheck 'view Readme' and check 'Launch PortVision'.
  4. Click on 'Finish'
  5. When PortVision starts a pop up message will appear asking: Do you want to have access to the following COM port utilities through this application; select YES.
  6. From Comtrol's ftp site navigate to ftp.comtrol/dev_mstr/rts/drivers/winvista/nslink-winxp64_5.05.exe
  7. Save to desktop and run the .exe and un-zip the file.
  8. Close PortVision, Go to control panel.
  9. Select Add New Hardware.
  10. Add new hardware wizard will start, click next.
  11. Select 'Install hardware that I manually select from the list' and click next.
  12. Scroll down and select 'Multiport Serial Adaptors', and click next.
  13. Select 'Have Disk'.
  14. Browse to 'C:\Comtrol' or type in C:\Comtrol.
  15. Select RTS 32 Port from drop down list, click next twice.
  16. Check 'Always trust software from 'Comtrol Corp' '.
  17. Install.
  18. If you haven't already done so hook up the Device Master to the network your computer is on.
  19. Open PortVision and Scan the network, note the MAC address of the Device Master.
  20. Go to Device Manager.
    • Start - (right click) Computer - Properties - Device Manager
  21. Expand the tree on Multiport Serial Adaptors.
  22. Right click on Device Master RTS 32 Port and select Properties.
  23. Click on the Network Connections Tab.
  24. Select the MAC address of the Device Master you are loading on this machine from the pull down menu next to the MAC Mode.
  25. Click on Retrieve Network Address from the Device.
  26. If the MAC address doesn't show up under Device Network Addresses you will need to go to Trouble Shooting Device Master
  27. Click on Program Addresses into Device.
  28. Select the Use following Static IP Address: radio button.
  29. Enter in the IP Address:, Mask:, and Gateway:.
  30. Click OK and answer YES that the unit will be rebooted.
  31. Click on Retrieve Network Address from the Device to verify that the addresses took.
  32. Click on the Advisor tab
  33. Under Summary you should see Device is active and OK.
  34. Go to the Port Settings tab and note the COM port this Device Master starts at.
  35. Go back to PortVision and select Scan.
  36. Click on the Device Master that is being assigned to this machine and click Configure.
  37. Click on the Port Settings tab and change the Baud Rate: to 115200 if it isn't already set to that.
  38. Scroll down and ensure that the Enable check box under TCP Connection Configuration is un-checked.
  39. Scroll to the bottom and check the Clone Port check box.
  40. Select Apply Changes and close out of the configurater.
  41. Close PortVision.
  42. Close Device Manager.

Step 5

Install MiniMon.exe

  1. Download the interrogation software "MiniMon.exe ver. 1.5.1" This can be retrieve at: ftp.ptagis.org/Software/MiniMon/MiniMon151.exe Save the application to the desktop.
    • Do not install MiniMon until you have read and followed the directions below.
    • We have experienced that this installation file does not contain a required file "MSCOMCTL.OCX". This file needs to reside in the following location of the target computer:"C:\Windows\System32"
  2. Copy file "MSCOMCTL.OCX" into the directory specified above.Ask Scott for this file until John T. can correct the installation.
  3. Run the MiniMon installation executable file and proceed with the installation.
  4. Configure MiniMon with the appropriate devices etc... with the required information.

Configure MiniMon Start-Up properties

  1. After the MiniMon installation, there should be a MiniMon icon on the desktop.
  2. Right click on the icon and open properties.
  3. Under the "Shortcut" tab within the properties box, the "Target" string will read as such:
    • "C:\Program Files\PTAGIS\MiniMon\MiniMon.exe"
  4. Edit this string in order for MiniMon to autointerrogate. Add AutoInterrogate (Note the Caps A and I)to the end of the string "After the quotes" and put a space between MiniMon.exe"SpaceAutoInterrogate.
  5. When done the initialization string should read:"C:\Program Files\PTAGIS\MiniMon\MiniMon.exe" AutoInterrogate
  6. Drag and Drop the MiniMon shortcut created on the desktop to:"Start"----->"All Programs"----->"Start up"
  7. Right Click on MiniMon shortcut within the "Start up"group, then click "Advanced" tab and click the box, "Run this Application as Administrator" Click "Apply"

Step 6

Set Autologin for administrator

  1. Goto----->Start----->Search Box type "Netplwiz". This will open the user accounts dialog box.
  2. Under the "User Name" highlight the user.
  3. "Uncheck" the box "Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer".
  4. Press OK, then a box will appear to enter the password for this user.
  5. Enter information and press OK. Done.

Step 7

Install PcAnywhere

  1. Need to define any incompatibility problems between Version 12.5

Trouble Shooting Device Master

If you are having trouble with the MAC address not showing up under Device Network Addresses' when you select Retrieve network Addresses from the Device from the Network Connections tab in Device Manager you can try the following.

  1. Open PortVision
  2. Make sure that when you run a scan that the Device Master you are working with appears.
    • It should be noted that you are looking at the MAC address not the IP address as the IP address most likely has not been programmed in yet.
  3. If you do not see the MAC address of the Device Master you are working with there is most likely a cabling problem, check all cabling.
  4. When you see the MAC address of the Device Master you are working with in PortVision proceed to the next step.
  5. From the Device Manager right click on the Device Master you are working with and select disable.
  6. Go back to PortVision and reboot the Device Master.
  7. Immediately go back to Device Manager, right click on the Device Master and select enable.


Some times this has to be done a few times for it to work. You can check that is working by going to the Networks Connection in Device Manager (right click on Multiport Serial Adaptors and select Properties) and clicking on Retrieve Network Addresses from the Device. The MAC address should appear under Device Network Addresses.

References

Write references here.

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