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Date:      Tue, 29 Mar 2005 15:49:41 -0500
From:      Bart Silverstrim <bsilver@chrononomicon.com>
To:        freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Anthony's drive issues.Re: ssh password delay
Message-ID:  <f801f5dd277642a8373fc9db6b7e0ec5@chrononomicon.com>
In-Reply-To: <1651925454.20050329182327@wanadoo.fr>
References:  <42480F8B.1060405@makeworld.com> <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNEEPAFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <1648629793.20050329122346@wanadoo.fr> <42496060.1060404@makeworld.com> <467487023.20050329162852@wanadoo.fr> <f7e70252fe751b0827e1938ae87a11bb@chrononomicon.com> <1651925454.20050329182327@wanadoo.fr>

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On Mar 29, 2005, at 11:23 AM, Anthony Atkielski wrote:

> Bart Silverstrim writes:
>
>> If a machine with a gig of memory runs fine under DOS but actually has
>> a bad big of memory hardware near the 512 meg address range, it would
>> probably still run "flawlessly" for a very very long time...
>
> This machine has 384 MB of very expensive RAM, and all of it was used 
> by
> Windows NT.

That's nice.  I wasn't talking about NT there.  I was talking about 
DOS.  Command line, popular before Windows but after CP/M...maybe 
you've heard of it?  It was a reference to the non-use of extended 
memory by DOS, so if there was a problem on that computer with the 
hardware DOS would run just fine on it since it didn't *use* that area 
of memory, so it would run fine despite there being a problem...?  An 
example of there being a problem with the hardware that the OS wasn't 
reporting or wasn't aware of?  Not that far out of the ballpark for an 
example here...<tap tap>....this thing on?....

>> But if you swap the hardware with a replacement and it works, how do
>> you explain Windows being broken when that would suggest it was the
>> hardware that was broken?
>
> I don't recall ever swapping anything.  I have no reason to believe 
> that
> a hardware failure has occurred.

They're trying to help troubleshoot over the list.  They ask, what 
happens when you swap X out?  You refuse.  Hello?  They're trying to 
rule out other problems.  Its' troubleshooting.  This list isn't a 
bunch of slackers with nothing better to do than dive into your problem 
with debuggers, frothing rabidly at the mouth to prove they can get an 
eight-year-old frankenserver resurrected to serve Anthony because 
Anthony taunts them.

What's the matter, McFly?  Afraid your drive is junk compared to 
WINDOWS NT?  Are you...YELLOW?
Why you...oooh!!!  Fine!  <tap tap tap tap tap tap> trace 
here...break...<tap tap tap tap>

>> You never put it on another identical Vectra to prove it was
>> reproducible.
>
> Why does it have to be reproducible on another machine?

Did you pass science class?  This would show if it's reproducible as a 
bug.  Slap it on the same damn hardware, *right down to the firmware* 
(remember you have modified firmware?).  If it isn't running on two 
machines that are exactly the same, that shows an increased chance that 
that is indeed a bug in some driver, and you should contact the driver 
maintainer.

If you have it running on one and not the other, then maybe, just 
MAYBE, it's a problem with the hardware.

It's troubleshooting by eliminating variables.

> It doesn't work
> on my machine, and that's sufficient.

Bzzt.  Wrong.  Not if the hardware is going bad or has a problem.  See, 
in our magical and mystical world, we need to be able to reproduce the 
problem in order to help.  Otherwise we have to troubleshoot and 
speculate.  You know, the things you insist we don't need to do.  On 
top of that, you never even commented on the possibility of someone 
being able to FIX your problem *IF IT IS* a FreeBSD software problem 
WITHOUT THE DAMN HARDWARE on which to test the fix.  Sheeyit!  How can 
I fix something on a configuration that I don't even have?  <scratches 
head>.  Hmm....

> If you can tell me what all the
> error messages mean, then please do so.  If you can't, you're just
> throwing darts.

Wow, how long have you worked in the field as a troubleshooter?

Can someone give him some lawn darts to play with?

>> The problem being asserted is that the hardware was tweaked.  The
>> firmware microcode.
>
> No assertion is worthy of my time unless it is preceded by an
> explanation of the exact meaning of all the error messages I'm seeing.

So...unless everything is handled exactly as you wish it, unrealistic 
or not, by volunteers no less, it is a waste of your time.  You must be 
management.

>> Really?  Windows XP must be broken.  I can't install it on my Mac.
>
> Swap out the hardware and see if it goes away.  See if you can 
> reproduce
> the problem on another Mac.  It's possible that Windows uses the
> hardware much more efficiently than the Mac OS X, and it doesn't run on
> your machine simply because you have a hardware failure that OS X
> couldn't detect.

And here I thought it was because it uses a PPC.  Oddly enough, 
removing the motherboard and putting in a PC-based motherboard with an 
Intel processor makes the problem magically go away...holy frijoles, 
Batman!

But no matter how many Apple motherboards I use, XP just won't install. 
  Maybe it IS the hardware?!

Your turn.  Pull out that shit controller and set of drives, put in new 
drives and a new controller that's generic instead of modified, and see 
if FreeBSD works.  Even your misguided sarcasm would lead to the same 
conclusion!  I just said that swapping the motherboard WOULD FIX IT!  
You'd be insisting I go to Apple and demand that they "fix" their 
PowerPC-only OS to run on Intel...(oddly enough, Darwin already does!)

>> Fine.  FreeBSD is broken.  Reinstall Windows and stop complaining.
>
> I'd rather fix FreeBSD.

Then fix it.  Or pay someone to.  Stop demanding someone else do the 
work for you gratis without the hardware in the first place to 
troubleshoot on and do it exactly your method without going through 
other steps first to get it running.

In the length of time you've spend insulting people on this list you 
could have swapped out the drives and controller and probably have 
things working already.

>> PS-if you can still get a driver for the timex Ironman triathlon 
>> watch,
>> care to share the link?  I can't seem to find it anymore for the
>> Windows 2000 system to work without some IR interface...I wanted to 
>> use
>> the screen to update it still...or is Windows broken because I can't
>> use it anymore?
>
> Did it ever work on Windows NT-based systems?  All I recall is that it
> looked like a custom-written trigger for photosensitive epilepsy.

It did, it used an IR interface to do the transfer...hence the note 
*right in my question* about the IR interface.  NT wouldn't allow the 
access to video that their program used to transfer data to the watch.  
But I can't seem to even find that driver anymore...thus by your logic 
it's broken?



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