Xref: utzoo unix-pc.general:914 unix-pc.uucp:30
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!uunet!zorch!pacbell!maxepr!ken
From: ken@maxepr.UUCP (Ken Brassler)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general,unix-pc.uucp
Subject: Re: 3.51a keeps dying; even HDB is a mess; any ideas out there?
Message-ID: <513@maxepr.UUCP>
Date: 25 Jun 88 20:00:15 GMT
References: <422@kosman.UUCP>
Reply-To: ken@maxepr.UUCP (Ken Brassler)
Organization: Brassler Engineering Co., Mill Valley, CA
Lines: 33

In article <422@kosman.UUCP> kevin@kosman.UUCP (Kevin O'Gorman) writes:
>I have been having bad results lately, and don't quite know what to blame
>it on.
>I am distressed because my machine keeps freezing on me.  It seems pretty
>clearly related to uucp traffic.
>It was just at the end of an
>incoming uucp call (my unix-pc feed, to be exact), and it left something
>for cunbatch in /lost+found.

My machine has run continuously and flawlessly for 2 1/2 years. A
few weeks ago a had my first kernel panic, due to a kernel parity
error. I used the reset button to recover.

Later that same day, my machine crashed (froze, locked-up, etc.)
twice while receiving news. The second time, I was using 'rn' at the
same time, and after reset, I found that my .newsrc file now
contained the text of a news article.

Since both crashes occurred while uucico was running, I surmised
that the disk image of uucico had probably been partially
overwritten with garbage during the first kernel panic. I reloaded
new copies of all the uucp executables, uucico, uux, uuxqt, and uucp
from my archives, and the problem immediately disappeared.

Personally, I think that kernel crashes are due to a dram address,
where the kernel is loaded, missing a refresh cycle, or being hit by
a cosmic ray (not completely a joke). If no damage was done to the
files on the hard disk during the crash, you can get by with a
reset. If crashes increase in frequency, I think it's time to
reformat and reload the hard disk.
-- 

Ken Brassler {ihnp4|qantel|pyramid|lll-crg}!pacbell!maxepr!ken