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Re: [Wlug] REMINDER: Meeting Wed, May 15th

by Andy Stewart

HI gang, I have one person who has confirmed that he will bring his laptop to the meeting for a PLIP demonstration. Is there one other person who will do the same? Now, keep in mind that although one group member who shall remain nameless is notorious for yanking on power cords (most especially while they are still in use), it should be safe to be tethered to his laptop with my LapLink cable for the demo at the meeting. You have been warned! :-) Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

May 15, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Andy Stewart

On Tuesday 14 May 2002 08:53, dibb_jim(a)emc.com wrote: > Regarding the IDE hard drive going bad... can you elaborate more on the > symptoms? > > I've been trying to track down system instability on one of my systems > which is running *cough* XP pro. I think I've traced it down to a bad hard > drive, but I'm curious what symptoms you were seeing. > Thanks. At first, I was seeing random lockups (about one every two weeks). Sure, that could have been alot of things - bad memory, hot CPU, etc. I checked for all of these but found no problems. The failure seemed to only occur under load, so I ran 6 simultaneous Seti@Home jobs (on a 2 cpu machine), but then it refused to fail. One day, however, the disk started logging uncorrectable errors in the /var/log/messages file just before it locked up. It got bad enough that I had to work hard to recover a ReiserFS partition on that drive (did you know that ReiserFS has an fsck program? I do now!). I copied the data off of the drive, reformatted it, and put the data back. It worked fine for about 2 weeks, and then it got really bad (but still logging errors). I replaced the drive and have had no problems since. It was a 3 year old Seagate IDE drive (a little young by my standards and experience). Now, I have nothing but SCSI hard drives (I have yet to lose one of these, but I know that nothing lasts forever). Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

May 15, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Gregory Avedissian

Thanks, Charles. I installed java 1.3.1 using directions that you gave me in march. That pop-ip installer never worked for me. Charles R. Anderson wrote: > After installation, do this (as root): > > cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins > rm libjavaplugin_oji.so I had to put that one back into the plugin directory to get it to work. This is all under my home directory, in .mozilla/plugins and not where I installed mozilla. > > ln -s /usr/java/jre1.3.1/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so > > OR > > ln -s /usr/java/jdk1.3.1/jre/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so > OK, I found two different places where the ns600 folder is. There's plugins/java2/i386/ns600/, and also plugins/plugin/i386/ns600. I made the sym link to the first one. Does it sound like I installed twice, from two different places? > > I would also try setting this environment variable before starting > Mozilla: > > bash$ export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 > > OR > > tcsh> setenv LD_ASSUME_KERNEL 2.2.5 > I didn't do that. What will it do, and should I know how to un-do it? > Then type mozilla in the same terminal window where you typed the export > or setenv command: > > bash$ mozilla > Oh, that reminds me of another problem. When I installed Mozilla 0.9.9, I didn't uninstall the older version. The old one still comes up when I select Mozilla from the SuSE menu. I put an alias in /etc/profile.local to call the new version up from command line. How involved is it to wipe out the old version and get the menu to point to the new one? I'm in fvwm2, so I suspect that messing with the menus is another subject entirely. I tried that before and had no luck. > More info is available about this problem at > http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84093 > I looked at the bug report, and if I understand it correctly, they're talking about a consistent problem. Most of the time, I have no trouble with java. I tested it, and it does work after intalling 1.3.1. I'll have to go for awhile and see if it happens again. Thank you all for your help. Greg

May 14, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Charles R. Anderson

On Tue, May 14, 2002 at 01:59:36AM -0400, Baris Hasdemir wrote: penguen> if you are using java 1.4, I recommend using version 1.3.1_03 . penguen> 1.4 causes more problems. penguen> http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/download.html If you installed Java via the plugin installer window that pops up when going to a Java site for the first time, it installs the out of date version 1.3.0. I would recommend scrapping that version and getting 1.3.1 also. After installation, do this (as root): cd /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins rm libjavaplugin_oji.so ln -s /usr/java/jre1.3.1/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so OR ln -s /usr/java/jdk1.3.1/jre/plugin/i386/ns600/libjavaplugin_oji.so (Directory names may be different for your installation. Just find where the ns600 version of libjavaplugin_oji.so is and symlink it into your mozilla/plugins directory) I would also try setting this environment variable before starting Mozilla: bash$ export LD_ASSUME_KERNEL=2.2.5 OR tcsh> setenv LD_ASSUME_KERNEL 2.2.5 Then type mozilla in the same terminal window where you typed the export or setenv command: bash$ mozilla More info is available about this problem at http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84093 -- Charles R. Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu> / http://angus.ind.wpi.edu/~cra/ PGP Key ID: 49BB5886 Fingerprint: EBA3 A106 7C93 FA07 8E15 3AC2 C367 A0F9 49BB 5886

May 14, 2002

RE: [Wlug] Locked up

by dibb_jim＠emc.com

Regarding the IDE hard drive going bad... can you elaborate more on the symptoms? I've been trying to track down system instability on one of my systems which is running *cough* XP pro. I think I've traced it down to a bad hard drive, but I'm curious what symptoms you were seeing. Thanks. -----Original Message----- From: Andy Stewart [mailto:andystewart@attbi.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 8:14 AM To: wlug(a)mail.wlug.org; Gregory Avedissian Subject: Re: [Wlug] Locked up On Tuesday 14 May 2002 01:05, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Still? I don't know, as I've never logged in remotely. Can I do this > from a friend's house next time it locks up? I'm not set up as a server, > and I don't really know what I'd need to change to do that. > > Could I do it with the parallel port connection that Andy is going to > talk about on Wednesday? > > Greg HI Greg, If you setup the parallel port connection between two computers (A and B) and insure that its working, when computer A locks up, you could try logging in over the parallel port connection from computer B to see if it really locked up or simply not responding to keyboard/mouse input. Lockups really stink. It took me several weeks to finally figure out my problem (an IDE hard drive slowly going bad). Memtest is great - definitely try it out. I would also recommend the Cerberus Test Control System program (ctcs). It is the program used by VA Linux to burn in their hardware. It does some *really* stressful things to the hardware and will find anything that is flaky (supposedly). Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

May 14, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Andy Stewart

On Tuesday 14 May 2002 01:05, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Still? I don't know, as I've never logged in remotely. Can I do this > from a friend's house next time it locks up? I'm not set up as a server, > and I don't really know what I'd need to change to do that. > > Could I do it with the parallel port connection that Andy is going to > talk about on Wednesday? > > Greg HI Greg, If you setup the parallel port connection between two computers (A and B) and insure that its working, when computer A locks up, you could try logging in over the parallel port connection from computer B to see if it really locked up or simply not responding to keyboard/mouse input. Lockups really stink. It took me several weeks to finally figure out my problem (an IDE hard drive slowly going bad). Memtest is great - definitely try it out. I would also recommend the Cerberus Test Control System program (ctcs). It is the program used by VA Linux to burn in their hardware. It does some *really* stressful things to the hardware and will find anything that is flaky (supposedly). Later, Andy -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org

May 14, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Karl Hiramoto

First I would try and eliminate the possibility that it's a HW problem. Try Memetest86 http://www.teresaudio.com/memtest86/ Run it overnight, or better yet, 24+ hours. If you see ONE error you have a big problem. If Memtest86 doesn't find anything, chances are that your Memory, Mobo are good. It's good for finding memory, mobo, and cpu problems. What kind of memory? ECC? Have scrubbing turned on? So it happens under both linux and windowz? If it happens uder two OS's there is a good chance it is a hardware problem or a BIOS configuration issue. Reset you BIOS to "Safe Values", Borrow a keyboard and see if that fixes it. It would be a cheap fix if that's all it is. Like Michael said, try and login remotely next time it happens. I HATE LOCKUPS. The worst are when you have broken memory/mobo. Memtest 86 is good at finding those. On Tue, 14 May 2002, Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Sometimes my computer locks up completely, so that neither the mouse nor > the keyboard will work. I'm running SuSE 7.2 on an Athlon 1.2GHz/Shuttle > Spacewalker AK12A, 256M memory. > > It seems to happen when I'm in a chat room. Running Mozilla 0.9.9 with > recent Java plugin, also running Yahoo Instant Messenger, and it seems > like things were loading very slowly in the chatroom all the times this > had happened. I'm on a dialup line, so when I say slow, I mean like > go-and-make-tea slow. Otherwise, the connection is ok (46.6K) when > loading other pages. > > ctrl-alt-backspace does nothing, alt-F2,3 etc. does nothing, same for > ctrl-D, ctrl-C, ctrl-Z, ctrl-alt-Fx. I had to hit the kill switch. This > last time, it wasn't too bad, but the time before this, rebooting to > linux was pretty scary. This only happens once every couple of weeks. > > I'm suspicious of the keyboard, because it persisted once when I > rebooted to win98, then it cleared when I rebooted once more, first > wiggling the wire where it goes into the keyboard. > > Does it sound at all like a software problem, or should I just ignore it > and replace the keyboard? And is there some other way to bail out that I > haven't tried? > > > Thanks, > Greg > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > -- ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø Karl Hiramoto <karl(a)hiramoto.org> Work: 978-425-2090 ext 25 Cell: 508-517-4819 Personal web page: http://karl.hiramoto.org/ Zoop Productions: http://www.zoop.org/ KTEQ Rapid City: http://www.kteq.org/ AOL IM ID = KarlH420 ¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø QOTD: Some people have one of those days. I've had one of those lives.

May 14, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Baris Hasdemir

hi, if you are using java 1.4, I recommend using version 1.3.1_03 . 1.4 causes more problems. http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/download.html best wishes, baris On Tue, 14 May 2002 00:03:04 -0400 Gregory Avedissian wrote: > Sometimes my computer locks up completely, so that neither the mouse nor > the keyboard will work. I'm running SuSE 7.2 on an Athlon 1.2GHz/Shuttle > Spacewalker AK12A, 256M memory. > > It seems to happen when I'm in a chat room. Running Mozilla 0.9.9 with > recent Java plugin, also running Yahoo Instant Messenger, and it seems > like things were loading very slowly in the chatroom all the times this > had happened. I'm on a dialup line, so when I say slow, I mean like > go-and-make-tea slow. Otherwise, the connection is ok (46.6K) when > loading other pages. > > ctrl-alt-backspace does nothing, alt-F2,3 etc. does nothing, same for > ctrl-D, ctrl-C, ctrl-Z, ctrl-alt-Fx. I had to hit the kill switch. This > last time, it wasn't too bad, but the time before this, rebooting to > linux was pretty scary. This only happens once every couple of weeks. > > I'm suspicious of the keyboard, because it persisted once when I > rebooted to win98, then it cleared when I rebooted once more, first > wiggling the wire where it goes into the keyboard. > > Does it sound at all like a software problem, or should I just ignore it > and replace the keyboard? And is there some other way to bail out that I > haven't tried? > > > Thanks, > Greg > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

May 14, 2002

Re: [Wlug] Locked up

by Gregory Avedissian

Still? I don't know, as I've never logged in remotely. Can I do this from a friend's house next time it locks up? I'm not set up as a server, and I don't really know what I'd need to change to do that. Could I do it with the parallel port connection that Andy is going to talk about on Wednesday? Greg Michael Frysinger wrote: > you describe issues via just the mouse and keyboard. > can you still login remotely to the computer ? > i.e. can you ssh/telnet into it, or even get a ping response ? > -mike > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gregory Avedissian" <avedis(a)ma.ultranet.com> > To: <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> > Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 00:03 > Subject: [Wlug] Locked up > > > >>Sometimes my computer locks up completely, so that neither the mouse nor >>the keyboard will work. I'm running SuSE 7.2 on an Athlon 1.2GHz/Shuttle >>Spacewalker AK12A, 256M memory. >> >>It seems to happen when I'm in a chat room. Running Mozilla 0.9.9 with >>recent Java plugin, also running Yahoo Instant Messenger, and it seems >>like things were loading very slowly in the chatroom all the times this >>had happened. I'm on a dialup line, so when I say slow, I mean like >>go-and-make-tea slow. Otherwise, the connection is ok (46.6K) when >>loading other pages. >> >>ctrl-alt-backspace does nothing, alt-F2,3 etc. does nothing, same for >>ctrl-D, ctrl-C, ctrl-Z, ctrl-alt-Fx. I had to hit the kill switch. This >>last time, it wasn't too bad, but the time before this, rebooting to >>linux was pretty scary. This only happens once every couple of weeks. >> >>I'm suspicious of the keyboard, because it persisted once when I >>rebooted to win98, then it cleared when I rebooted once more, first >>wiggling the wire where it goes into the keyboard. >> >>Does it sound at all like a software problem, or should I just ignore it >>and replace the keyboard? And is there some other way to bail out that I >>haven't tried? >> >> >>Thanks, >>Greg >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Wlug mailing list >>Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org >>http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > >

May 14, 2002

Locked up

by Gregory Avedissian

Sometimes my computer locks up completely, so that neither the mouse nor the keyboard will work. I'm running SuSE 7.2 on an Athlon 1.2GHz/Shuttle Spacewalker AK12A, 256M memory. It seems to happen when I'm in a chat room. Running Mozilla 0.9.9 with recent Java plugin, also running Yahoo Instant Messenger, and it seems like things were loading very slowly in the chatroom all the times this had happened. I'm on a dialup line, so when I say slow, I mean like go-and-make-tea slow. Otherwise, the connection is ok (46.6K) when loading other pages. ctrl-alt-backspace does nothing, alt-F2,3 etc. does nothing, same for ctrl-D, ctrl-C, ctrl-Z, ctrl-alt-Fx. I had to hit the kill switch. This last time, it wasn't too bad, but the time before this, rebooting to linux was pretty scary. This only happens once every couple of weeks. I'm suspicious of the keyboard, because it persisted once when I rebooted to win98, then it cleared when I rebooted once more, first wiggling the wire where it goes into the keyboard. Does it sound at all like a software problem, or should I just ignore it and replace the keyboard? And is there some other way to bail out that I haven't tried? Thanks, Greg

May 14, 2002