Johannesburg, South Africa

James Ashforth

Hi

The Johannesburg Family History Center reopened a couple of months ago, however the FamilySearch is not operating correctly. The computers are not being recognized as being located at a Family History Center and consequently browsing microfilms is not possible. (See screenshot).

A further example is that the FHC Portal function allowing access to findmypast or ancestry is also inoperable.

The Missionaries are aware of this problem but cannot provide a good idea of when it is due to be resolved. They have reported the issue and suggest it will be fixed in February 2022. I was encouraged to write to you to seek further clarification.

Thank you very much indeed.

Kind regards

James

DavidBeck1

@James Ashforth

Hello James

I am heartened to hear that all is now will in the Family History Centre at the Johannesburg Temple site.

Could I invite you to add a comment in this discussion about your experience of the resolution?

Grateful thanks, Elder Beck.

James Ashforth

Thanks to Elder Beck the situation is resolved!

Personally I am SO excited and cannot wait to visit the center on Saturday :) I can hardly believe how it was resolved so quickly. Elder Beck contacted me early this week and here we are now.

Dear Elder Beck:

My sincere thanks to you. If it were not for you it may have taken another 20 weeks for a solution.

The Family History Center is delighted:

"The sites on portal are all working beautifully on every computer in the Centre. We feel like a real Family History Centre finally. We have many patrons who will be so grateful. We can't believe it. We have been trying to make this happen for 10 months!" 

Thank you so much indeed, Elder Beck. This means the world to me to have the situation resolved. Family history is my major passion. It was so disappointing when the center closed due to the Covid lockdown. It was a great loss. Then it was awesome when it re-opened late last year but it was so disappointing to discover that the Familysearch portal was down. I really appreciate you reaching out and through your actions every patron who visits the Johannesburg FHC is blessed to have the service restored.

My warmest wishes,

James

Áine Ní Donnghaile

@James Ashforth

I suggest you join the Tech Support group https://community.familysearch.org/en/group/76-family-history-centers-technical-support-north-america

The Tech Support guys have instructions for what needs to be done at your local center to access the restricted records and the portal. There are also monthly Zoom meetings, in several time zones, to cover any issues. The slides from the previous meeting are available in the Articles and Tools spreadsheet.

faunt95

The Family History Center Technical Support Community mentioned above is only for Family History Centers in North America.

James, you will need to wait for someone from your region to answer your questions.

Each region around the world has unique circumstances and family history centers in each region are to be handled by those responsible for that region.

James Ashforth

Thank you for your replies.

@faunt95 is this the correct place to report the issue?

My concern is whether Salt Lake is aware of the problem. A similar issue occurred several years ago and it took several months to resolve. I am merely a patron and the most I can do is report the issue. The problem is that from my perspective, the utility of the center is severely curtailed - after the center having finally been reopened I am so eager to be able to continue research. Having said that I am a patron mindful that this service is provided freely by the Church to the public and I have zero right to complain.

MaureenE123

I am not connected with FamilySearch

You could ask the staff at your Family History Center to read the comments in the following , which was a previous post on this Forum, and follow through on anything it is possible for them to do on their computers.

Family History Center Portals  (click on the blue) FamilySearch Community Forum 15 September 2021

James Ashforth

Thank you for all the replies.

I really do appreciate them. I will give them a try.

To further explain, it was mentioned that the initial issue was caused by the system being hacked by someone in South America.

Does anyone know who is responsible for sorting out the issue - is it Salt Lake headquarters or the Family History Center? And is posting on this forum the correct approach to reporting the issue?

Áine Ní Donnghaile

All the centers worldwide are upgrading their systems to better protect the information shared by the various repositories and record holders.

P Jeffrey

In each area, while responsible for the portal the process is the same. You need the chrome extension and it needs to show green meaning the computer and network are hooked up correctly. If the icon is gray you will get a message that needs to be reported to the area. In Africa, there is a support group that handles this. Typically from what I have seen in Africa, it's because the unit is missing a Meraki firewall. The area support can work with facilities and global to get that corrected.

James Ashforth

Hi again

Thank you to everyone for responding.

The Johannesburg FHC still does not have access to the portal - this means that any films with restricted access that require visiting a family history center or affiliate library remain unavailable.

In other words the only films that can be viewed online at the Johannesburg FHC are ones that you could have viewed from home anyway. The staff were under the impression that this issue would be resolved in February. As far as I know the issue has to be resolved from the Salt Lake City side. Does anyone know where I can get further information about when this issue is likely to be resolved?

Thank you very much😀