Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1986 15:18 EDT From: LAUREL%OZ.AI.MIT.EDU@XX.LCS.MIT.EDU To: alan@AI.AI.MIT.EDU Subject:Maintenance on AI an ML Resent-To: cent@AI.AI.MIT.EDU Resent-From: Alan Bawden Resent-Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 14:47 EDT Resent-Comments: Here are my notes on repairing ITS machines The idea behind geting computers fixed on an on-call basis is getting a repair PO from MIT Purchasing. Then you take the repair PO and call DEC and they ask for the repair PO and you give it to them and they send someone over. MIT has made getting repair PO's very easy so things can get fixed quickly. What you do is take the serial number and Model number of the broken equipment to anyone in the Fiscal office (Priscilla, Beverley, Marilyn) and ask for a repair PO. They also ask you how much money the PO should be made out for. It's a not-to-exceed figure. I always say $800. If the repair costs less Dec bills us for less and it's no problem, if it's more we put through a change order later and it's no problem. It's usually not more. They might also ask for the name and address of the company fixing the computer. You can just say "Digital in Marlboro" or "Digital in Woburn". Then the people in the Fiscal office make a phone call and a minute or so later you walk out of their office with a PO number. Then you call DEC and log the call the way you would log any service call except that they ask for a PO number and you give it to them. [ When Marilyn calls Purchasing they invariably ask if DEC is "on campus" or something like that. Neither Marilyn nor I have ever figured out what this means. They seem to be able to generate the PO in any case... When you call DEC, they always ask for a "System Serial Number". I always tell them we haven't got one (since we don't have a service contract), but when the bill shows up the number "84019009N" always shows up in the box with that label, so perhaps I should just tell them this right off? When DEC asks what kind of processor it is, say "2020". They have absolutely no idea what a "KS10" is! Contrary to what Laurel says, you will only confuse the DEC phone person if you try to give them the MIT PO number. You should explain that we don't have a service contract and that we will be paying for this with an MIT Purchase Order, but I don't think they have a place to insert a PO number on the form they fill out. Unless they volunteer to take it, I just wait and give it to the DEC field service guy who shows up to do the work. (-Alan 7/12/89)] All the Model numbers and Serial numbers for ML and AI are listed below. They can also be easily read off the back of the equipment. Equipmet S/N Model Number ML MR04648 KS10 ML's RP06 CX23207 RP06 AI MR04627 KS10 AI Drive 0 CX23590 RP06 AI Drive 1 CX19713 RP06 AI's Tape Drive SP15545 TU77 [ These serial numbers are out of date (because we move equipment around all the time). You should always go and look them up before going to the Fiscal office (they like to put the serial number of what is being fixed on the PO). (-Alan 7/12/89)] I called DEC to ask if they really believed that the serial numbers listed above meant something to their less-than-perfect service database. They said that equipment that is not on service contract is not in their database so they just take whatever number you give them and Lester checks it. It sounded reasonable. I didn't argue. Does this make sense? Did I miss something? [ The guy from DEC will have to fill out a form after he finishes. He will want an address to send the bill. I have never discovered the right answer to this. There is some post office box number that is the official billing address, I think. You could get the Fiscal office to tell you what that is. The carbons I have show various attempts like "MIT; 545 Tech. Sq ..." and "MIT; Cambridge MA" etc. If you find out the right answer, let me know... This whole exercise generates two carbons: a blue copy of the MIT PO and a pink copy of the DEC form. You might not get one or the other of these, but you usually do. I file them in a manila folder in the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet. (-Alan 7/12/89)] [ The correct MIT extension for generating PO numbers for this is apparently x8397. Marilyn always has to look this up, so I wrote it down once. (-Alan 5/24/88)] ---------- Use PO #95333 (or whatever the general lab # is) DEC # = 800-542-4556 give Laurel's name and # as alternate contact