Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Here is the rundown on the instability problem. The system hung and had to be unwedged on:

2003/11/01  08:28
            20:14
2003/11/02  05:44
2003/11/03  21:59
2003/11/05  13:13
            17:56
            21:48
2003/11/09  15:38
            19:50
2003/11/11  11:44
2003/11/12  09:09
2003/11/15  11:45

The average uptime between hangs was 28 hours, with a maximum of 78 hours.

Found out how to read audio CDs:

dd if=/dev/acd0t1 of=test.dat bs=2352

This reads track 1 off the CD and puts in file as raw PCM data. Also, it is necessary to create the ‘acd0tX’ devices:

cd /dev
./MAKEDEV acd0t99

All the futzing around with X over the weekend broke mod_php’s graphics capability. I think this is because I had to install a new version of expat. I rebuilt mod_php and now it works again.

Installed a new ATAPI CD writer on Moe today. I was able to sucessfully burn a CD of the contents of our web pages. The procedure was:

moe# mkisofs -L -R -o output.raw /home/html
moe# burncd -f /dev/acd0a data output.raw fixate
next writeable LBA 0
writing from file output.raw size 133120 KB
written this track 133120 KB (100%) total 133120 KB
fixating CD, please wait..

I was able to then mount and read the CD, so I guess it worked.

Went to the office this morning and retrieved the old PC100 memory from my old computer in the junk pile. Brought it home and reassembled Moe with all the original components, but with the old memory. So far it hasn’t locked up, so I’m hopeful.

Made an attempt at fixing the system today.

Since the board and CPU I have are over two years old, I thought I’d start there. I got a new MSI board and Athlon 2000 processor at PC Club in Monrovia. Brought it home. Put it together. The thing wouldn’t power on. The CPU fan twitched a bit, so I knew there was power, but it wouldn’t start. Back to the store and exchange the board. Bring the new board home. Same thing. So I get a new power supply from Best Buy. Now it powers on. I don’t know why, but what the hell.

So now the machine boots. But now Xwindows is broken. My old S3 video card can’t fit in the new AGP slot, so I have to use the built-in VGA card on the new board. Turns out that I need to upgrade Xfree86 to be able to use it. So I build a new X server from the ports collection, and then I fire it up. The monitor goes blank and says “OUT OF RANGE”.

So I spend a couple of hours tweaking the XF86Config file and searching with Google before I finally find the problem. I have to have ‘Option “Use BIOS” “off”‘ in the X config. I do this and now it works. And then the computer locks up hard.

The system locked up hard several times. At this point, the only original components in the system are the memory stick and the Linksys Ethernet card. I took out the Ethernet card and ran for a bit until it locked up again.

Mommy took Lucinda to see the Caltech-Occidental Concert Band this evening. The show was Lucinda’s first time seeing a real concert.

The machine locked up again today at about 11:30 or so.

Installed the new chipset cooler.

Today we went to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. We had heard that they had an exibit about Hedy Lamarr and the invention of spread-spectrum radio. When we got there, they said that the exhibit had been canceled, but we decided to go in and have a look anyway. They have the Max Factor collection from the former Max Factor Museum, so we wanted to see it again. We saw the head analyzer, the kissing machine, and lots of other fun stuff. So it was still a fun time.