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Questions

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How do I get help?

To request help or report a problem or suggestion, use the G.R.I.D. Lab management contact form.

Who may use the lab?

The G.R.I.D. Lab is for the individual use of students, faculty, and staff in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences only. People from other departments are not allowed to use this lab, unless they are sponsored as guests by a faculty member or lab manager in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, who should send the authorization request via email to the G.R.I.D. lab management.

The G.R.I.D. Lab can never be reserved for courses - use the Mitchell A65 computer teaching lab for that purpose.

The lab door is locked. How do I get in?

The G.R.I.D. Lab is always open but the door has a combination lock. Use the Door Code link in the Quick Links section to get the door access code (web page access restricted to SUNet IDs of people in the School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences).

To get into the lab, you first need access into the Mitchell Earth Sciences Building. This building is always open on weekdays from 8 am to 6 pm, except for holidays and sometimes during quarter breaks. At other times (for example, evenings, weekends, and holidays), the building's first-floor lobby doors are unlocked during the same hours that the Branner Library is open. You can check their hours at the Stanford Libraries Hours and Locations webpage (scroll down to find Branner Library). From the lobby, you have access to the elevator, which you can take down to the sub-basement "A" level.

Which computer is the best?

The four iMac computers in the GRID lab are identical. Their capabilities are described on the Equipment page.

Some of the iMacs connect to flatbed scanners.

How do I switch operating systems?

The G.R.I.D. lab Apple iMac computers run both macOS and 64-bit Windows. 

By holding down the Option key while starting or restarting. In that case, you will get a choice between "Macintosh HD", which runs macOS, and "Windows, which starts Windows.

Note:  When starting macOS, you will have to enter a password posted on the front of the iMac to boot the computer before you are able to login.

Read this web page for complete instructions, including screenshots, to switch into the operating system of your choice.

How do I login to the computer?

You need a valid full-service SUNet ID and password to login to the G.R.I.D. lab computers. All regular students, faculty, and staff have a full-service SUNet ID.

A guest "base service" SUNet ID is not sufficient.

Windows

If the computer is running Windows, press the Control, Alt, and Del keys together to bring up the login screen (read and then click through the policy screen). Provide your SUNet ID name and password in the User name and Password fields, and click the OK button. Read the detailed login procedure for screenshots, including the logoff procedure.

macOS

If the computer is running macOS simply provide your SUNet ID name and password in the Name: and Password: fields of the login screen and click the Log in button. Read the detailed login procedure for screenshots, including the logoff procedure.

If you have just started or restarted the computer, for example, to switch operating systems, wait about 30 seconds before trying to login. The computer needs to resynchronize its internal clock with the campus time servers before a login will work. When it first starts up, macOS also needs to properly connect to the campus Active Directory to get login account information. 

Be sure to logoff when you are done with the computer. Otherwise, the next person can impersonate you and access your files or cause other mischief.

If you sit down in front of a computer and the screen shows the normal desktop with icons for programs that you can run, then someone left it logged in from a previous use. You should logoff that user, then login under your SUNet ID. You must be logged in under your own SUNet ID to access files you have saved on these computers.

Help. The computer won't accept my SUNet ID.

Only valid full-service SUNet IDs will work for login to the G.R.I.D. lab computers. If you have only a "base service" guest SUNet ID, or if you are a former student with an inactive SUNet ID, you cannot successfully login to these computers.

Assuming you have a normal full-service SUNet ID, first make sure you are following the correct login procedure. Remember that you must use your original SUNet ID username, not one of the email aliases you may have created at the StanfordYou or Accounts web sites!

Even if you follow the correct procedure, there are known problems with logins that may affect you.

First, are other users having problems logging in? If multiple users cannot login, there may be a problem with the campus authentication servers. This is rare, but has happened. In this case, you can still login to a computer running Windows if you have already logged into that same computer sometime during the past few weeks. This is because Windows caches your login credentials locally for a while in case it cannot contact the authentication servers. macOS does not do this, so if the authentication servers are not responding, you cannot login to macOS at all.

The next known problem may affect just a single user. SUNet IDs are defined in the campus kerberos servers. Account information is copied to the Windows Active Directory after every update to the kerberos servers. Both Windows and macOS logins on the lab computers authenticate to the Active Directory.

Sometimes, copying the account information to Active Directory fails for a particular SUNet ID. In that case, the affected SUNet ID will not work for logins on these computers.

The solution for this problem is simple: reset your SUNet ID password. The process of resetting forces the information to be updated in the kerberos servers and in the Windows Active Directory. You can reset your SUNet ID password from this web site (for example, from a computer where someone else is logged in).

After resetting your SUNet ID password, quit the browser that you used or logoff from the computer (otherwise, someone else at that computer could change your settings). The Windows Active Directory should be updated with your reset password within five minutes.

The final known problem affects primarily macOS. When restarted into macOS, the computer must resynchronize its internal clock with the campus time servers, because macOS stores the time value differently than Windows. Then macOS must establish a connection to the Active Directory. This process can take up to 30 seconds after the login window appears. During this time, you will see a red dot and message "Network accounts are unavailable" next to the username field. You cannot login until this message disappears.

In principle, logins to Windows right after a restart could also fail if time resynchronization has not finished, but that seems to happen less often. Just try again after waiting 30 seconds.

Where can I save my own files?

You have three options for saving your own files, described in more detail below:

  1. Save them to cloud file storage service where you have an account, another file server on campus, or to your own USB flash drive or external hard disk.  The Google Drive application is installed on the computers and can be used for this purpose.
  2. Save them on the Desktop or Documents folders.  Anything saved to these locations will only reside on this same computer.
  3. Save them on the local Scratch disk partition ("D:" drive or "Scratch" volume icon on the desktop). They can only be used on this particular computer and are not backed up. They may be erased at any time and will certainly be erased at least once per year.

Each computer also has a local "Scratch" disk partition that is around 100 Gigabytes in size. Any user may save files there, but their integrity is not guaranteed. At least once per year (generally in early fall), the entire hard drives on the lab computers, including this scratch partition, will be erased to rebuild the software image and make room for new projects. Also, files saved to this partition are not private.

Users can mount other network file servers to save or transfer files. Users can save files to their own external hard drives or USB flash memory devices. An "sftp" client program (read the Supported Software list) is also provided to transfer files to other computers on the network.

Do I have to use the same computer every time?

No. The four general use computers in the lab have identical software configurations.

If you saved your files on the local Desktop or Documents folders, or "Scratch" disk partition, then you must login to that same computer again to access those files.

How do I use the lab printers?

The printers in the G.R.I.D. Lab will only accept print jobs from the computers in the lab, which already have the correct print queues defined. Workstations in offices and personal laptops brought into the lab cannot connect to these printers.

The "gridproofer" printer in the lab is intended for proofing posters before sending them to the large format printers. Do not abuse this privilege by printing lots of general materials or a cumbersome charging system will be implemented.

How can I get help printing my poster?

The G.R.I.D. Lab is a self-service operation. You can find complete instructions for printing posters on the wide-format printers "Escher" and "Ptolemy" under the Making Posters tab.

Most problems are caused by failing to follow the specific instructions on this website when making and sending your poster.

The Common Problems web page also tells you how to recover from printer problems such as running out of paper or holding a job rather than printing it.

If none of the instructions on the website help with your poster printing problem, contact the G.R.I.D. Lab management.

May I print non-Doerr School of Sustainability or personal posters in the lab?

The short answer is no. We have a strict policy: poster printing in the Mitchell B21 G.R.I.D. Lab is only allowed for people connected to the Doerr School of Sustainability and sponsored guests in support of their research or teaching.

Please realize that poster printing in this lab is not a commercial service. There is a significant cost of paper and ink/toner - not any of the capital costs, system maintenance, or management time. Therefore, we need simple rules that don't require a lot of effort to administer.

The computer asked me to restart - can I ignore it?

The lab computers are setup to automatically download and install new critical security patches released by Microsoft for Windows or by Apple for macOS.

A dialog box may appear while you are working that asks you to restart the computer in order to finish installing updates. You may continue working. When you are done, completely shutdown (or restart) the computer instead of just logging off. The install will finish when the next person starts up the computer.

How do I use this funny Apple keyboard in Windows?

The iMacs use an Apple keyboard designed for macOS. However, there are equivalents for the special keys normally found on a Windows keyboard that you can use when the iMacs are booted into Windows.

  • The key on the bottom row labeled command is equivalent to the Windows logo key.
  • Use the F14 key on the top row to dump a screenshot of the entire screen into the copy/paste buffer.
  • Press the option and F14 keys together to dump a screenshot of the currently active window into the copy/paste buffer.

For other keyboard equivalents, read the Apple knowledge base article HT1216.