Problems and Solutions Anticipated prior to Install

1. Small lab space

2. Only two outlets available

3. Networking lab computers with preexisting office machines

Solutions

1. Tech-savvy church members

2. Teen techs available to learn

3. Church members will set up cabling for networking their computers with the new ones

Actual Problems Encounterd Upon Install

The problems listed above did not cause us much difficulty as we originally anticipated. Extension cords counteracted the low number of outlets and the church staff decided not to network the lab to other computers in the building, and were not prepared to get the lab internet-ready. So, our tasks once we reached MSMBC were much easier than expected. We completed the install within two hours. Since we finished so quickly, we had time to defragment the hard drives and set the user/administrator accounts to the MSMBC staff preferences.

Having finished ahead of time, we discussed with Martin the possibilities for the way we would spend the remaining time. He suggested that we bring their old computers (which they will be distributing to church members) up from Windows 95 to Windows 95. Pastor Hubbard accepted the idea and we set about doing just that Saturday morning. This was not as easy as we expected. Complications included not having appropriate disks installed, no allboot floppy, no way to change the boot order to boot from the cd, incompatible hardware, etc. All our good feelings from Friday died. We had the additional constraint on Saturday of a wedding that was being held in the church at 2 – but we had to be out of the room entirely by 1:30. After a discussion about the realities of the situation, we decided to bring the three computers we worked on/broke back to Champaign to fix. As of 5/9/06, they should be ready to return to MSMBC (with Windows 98 installed and software updates) with Vicky, who makes regular trips to East St. Louis.