It's been awhile since I have upgraded my blog here at Zoints.  And now that Zoints is SatelliteGuys official "blog" service I might as well update it.

Yesterday was our big upgrade at SatelliteGuys,  the new software the new look and the new features.

What a pain in the ass the upgrade was, I got in to the office early after dropping off the kids at my fathers house.  I got in and turned SatelliteGuys off so that no one could make any more posts.  After clicking the off button I then logged into the server to do a backup of the database.  I typed the command to start the backup and it looked like it was running.

After 15 minutes it wasn't done.  Something was strange.  I tried logging in again in another window.  I couldn't reach the server. I dropped to a dos prompt and tried pinging the server couldn't reach it.

I though since I was dumping the database perhaps I locked up the machine. So I went to our ISP's website where they have a ticket submission system for doing reboots.  I am greeted by the Welcome screen asking me to log in.

I log in and see, thank you for logging in you are now being taken to the Ticketing system.... And then the same login screen appears asking me to login.  Grr I say.  I go to another PC and try logging in and same thing.  So I pick up the phone and call support at the ISP.  I get a friendly tech on the other end and he tells me he is going to reboot the server, he said if its not back up in 15 minutes to call back.

I let 20 minutes go and still no access to the server, so I call back the ISP.  The same tech answers and I tell him my server is still down.  He tells me he can get to it from in his office and our site has a message up that the site is down for the upgrade.

So now we start trouble shooting my internet connection.  We then do a tracert and see that it dies at AT&T in Dallas, which then connects to our ISP. He says he is surprised that his phone is not rining off the hook, as he says the the phone light up, he says he will call AT&T. 

It takes AT&T 45 minutes to fix the problem.

Finally I can access the server again.  I do the software upgrade and it has an issue with the upgrade so I need to remove the blog feature to get the upgrade to take,  I do that and run the upgrade again all now runs the way it should.  The new software is upgraded.

Now I am working on applying the new look when BOOM an error message appears on the screen, the Server has had an Internal Error.  Every page I load same thing, however when I load up the other sites on our server they all come up fine...

I screw with it for 20 minutes and can't figure it out so I call Larry (LER) he gets his laptop and calls me back.  As soon as I pick up the phone I figure out the problem and fix it, it was a currupt .htaccess file.

So now 2 hours into it and I finallys start REALLY working on the site.  I apply all the changes apply the new look and I add all the new features.  I am almost ready to put it back online.  Before I do it I want to check it out through other browsers so I go to another machine and check it out,  oh my god I say, the new look goes off the screen!  I check the settings of the PC and see that it's in 800 x 600 mode.  I turn white.  The new look does not work correctly in 800 x 600 mode.  While most of our members are in 1024 x 760 we still have about 20% of our members still using 800 x 600 mode.  This is a problem.

I think about it for a few moments, and I figure how to import out old look into the new software.  It's now close to 2pm and the board has been down since 7:30am, I decide to put the site back online....  THATS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS.

I put the site online and the complaints start flowing in.  You should have seen some of the PM's I got with complaints.  Some of them from staff and folks who beta tested the new look.  My big question was HOW COME YOU DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING BEFORE?  Most of the same folks are folks who said how much they loved the new look, now they are saying how much they hate it.  Man what good testers they were!

It was a good thing I kept the old look and figured how to get it to work with the new software.  More comments are coming in wishing we had the old look available.  That when it dawned on me.  I did not make the old look an option so that users and staff could see it. (duh) a quick click to a check box and Old Look was now online.   People were now happy.

I worked till about 10:30PM working on the old look adding in all the new features that the new software can do.  I went to bed happy.

Now today (Monday which are normally our busiest day) more comments are coming in with the majority being positve.  A quick check of some stats show me that most are using the new look only about 35 people are using the old look.  But everyone now seems happy.

This makes me happy.  I do this site for the members, and when they are happy I am happy.  I don't like the fact that the old blog is not working, but it needed to be removed for this upgrade.  I do hope people give this Zoints a chance, it is very powerfull and as more forums join Zoints it means less work for the members since their profile can now be linked with a click of  a mouse.

Well today is September 7th, 2006 and today marks the 3rd Birthday of SatelliteGuys.US!

As you may know I started SatelliteGuys.US after I left DBSTalk.COM which I also helped to found.  It was a tough move to go out on my own, but with some encouragement from John Corn and others I decided to push out on my own.  Quite honestly its the best move I have ever made.

While we are only three years old, we are larger the DBSTalk and DBSForums combined with over 54,000 members!  In addition we have quickly built up a reputation in the industry.  I am still in shock and amazed that I am able to talk to folks like Charlie Ergen one on one.

Recently I went to Dish Networks HQ in Denver and was very happy to see SatelliteGuys.US on many screens around the campus. (And I should also note that I did not see any of the other sites on the screens while I was there)   Dish Network knows they can count on SatelliteGuys for unfiltered feedback of whats going on in their company.  And in talks with various execs at Dish I am amazed by how much they follow here on SatelliteGuys.

I am really excited about our upcoming CEDIA party next Saturday Night in Denver,  Gregg Loewen has gone above and beyond on this party for us, and you should see the list of whos coming.   I am happy to announce that most of the major home theater and satellite players will be there.   This event can really put SatelliteGuys on the map and we could easily be raised to the level of a AVSForum if we play our cards correctly at this event.

We have a lot of giveaways for this event as well,  I hear some of the attending companies will be bringing giveaway items as well such as T Shirts, Demo Discs and other items.  It should be a great time!  We now have almost 100 people confirmed for this party...

The only problem we have now is... we have the room, we have the food, we have the bar however we are still missing the DJ!   If you know of a DJ in Denver who is available please let me know ASAP!  If we dont find one it looks like I may be DJing the event.

Ok I promised you a secret here in my Zoints Blog, so here it is but keep this here don't post anything about this anywhere else (not even to SatelliteGuys)  but I am happy and excited to let you guys know that at our Party there will be a bunch of folks there from Dish Network guests include most of the "Peanut Gallery" from the chats, including Leslie Harper,  Paul Langer and a few other surprise guests.

I still have a lot of work to do for this party so I need to go, but again to all thank you to everyone for a great 3 years!  Here's to another 3 more!