Syzygy

[altivo]

The planets aligned. After a dozen or so abortive tries, I succeeded in getting Windows NT to install on the Alpha. It's interesting to discover how primitive an old friend can look after enough years have passed. This is NT 4.0, which may in fact be the only version of Microsoft Windows ever to have had support for its entire lifespan on a CPU other than the Intel line and compatibles. Even so, it's much too long in the tooth to actually be useful in most cases today. Support was dropped back in about 2001, so if I had the last service pack it would at least be Y2K compliant. Alas, Microsoft has removed the service packs from its support site. Dual booting with VMS seems not to be a good idea either, since NT appears to confuse the hardware clock so badly that VMS then thinks it is somewhere in the past and panics over all the file dates being in the future. Oh well. It was an interesting experiment.

(EDIT: Minor correction. It appears that version 3.51 of NT also had Alpha support, at least for a time. And it's the Y2K defect that causes the conflict with VMS. NT leaves the hardware clock set to 1989, turning off a bit that indicates a post 1999 date or something like that. Then when VMS is booted without readjusting the clock, it is thrown into the past by 20 years and thinks the HD is corrupt due to all the dates being "in the future." Linux makes the same complaint.)

Vet came today to give the ponies their first vaccinations of the season. I was at work, but I understand everyone behaved reasonably well. Of course it wasn't strangles vaccine day. Neither Archie nor Tess likes that one and they make a big fuss about it. Needles don't bother them, but getting stuff squirted up their nose does. Myself, I think I much prefer that approach to vaccination. The dogs used to get a kennel cough vaccine the same way.

A mess at work, thanks to the stupid "Conficker" worm. No, as far as I can tell, we didn't have it. But when I learned that it can spread on USB flash drives, I realized that I had only protected against such things coming in via the internet. We have a word processing station that is completely isolated from the net in everyday use, but people use USB drives to bring documents into and out from it. Bad me, I hadn't been keeping the antivirus software and Windows updates applied. Windows, my nightmare. All the Linux machines are immune to Conficker, of course.

So while the library was closed I went to apply the back updates to that machine. This entails unlocking its security, reactivating its web connection, etc. There were 34 updates to Windows. OK, download 'em. They downloaded, about 28 of them applied, and then one of them caused a crash. Locked up, keyboard dead, display blank. Powered it off physically. Now it won't reboot. "The file ntoskrnl.exe is corrupt or missing." So tomorrow I'll have to boot a live CD or something and copy the kernel back into the system. Goddess knows what else is corrupt now.

Comments

[corelog.livejournal.com]

Suggestion: first try booting the Windows Recovery Console, using a Windows install disc (at least if it's 2K or XP). From there, run a chkdsk on the drive. The file might still be there, just with a goofy filesystem.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That was more or less my plan. I'm more concerned, though, about the cause of the malfunction. It may be hardware. This machine has occasionally been found "seized up." That is, the power LED turns yellow rather than green, and it becomes unresponsive. The only fix is to unplug the power until the LED goes out, then replug and reboot. This is the first time I've actually seen it happen. Users, of course, don't usually report such things, perhaps because they are afraid of being blamed for causing it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That did the trick. Actually, there was an irritating glitch that turned out not to matter, but could have been a real problem: This is a Gates Foundation machine, and in the name of security, it has no "administrator" account. Instead they created an "exec" account with the same privileges. Consequently, when you get to the point in recovery where you would log into the affected disk drive, you can't do it. The script assumes the name "administrator" and only asks for the password, which of course won't work. I think I'll be adding an administrator account just in case.

The reason it didn't matter is that, apparently, choosing recovery automatically runs a scandisk and the problem with the drive was fixed by that so it would boot again and I could complete the updates needed.

I believe I found the cause of the crash, and it's not related to software at all. The fan in the power supply is dead, so it overheats at random long intervals. Hopefully I can find a replacement fan rather than having to replace the P/S.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

It makes one wonder what is the malfunction with worm/virus writers.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I used to think it was pure anti-social behavior, much like scrawling ugly graffiti on buildings or breaking bits off public statuary. These days, though, it's evident that some of these things really are organized at much too large a level to be just random miscreance.

The thing about this particular worm that puzzles me, beyond the stupidity that allowed it to propagate, is the claim that the "experts" have studied it for six months and still don't know what it does or is intended to do. It can't be that large, you disassemble the code and figure it out.

The media "explanation" that it "creates domains" is absurd. You can't "create domains" unless you have control of master name servers. And the claim that they can't tell which of those domains is real is also absurd. You run a list, even if it has tens of thousands of them, through a script that looks them up.

I don't believe the so-called experts are that stupid. Obviously it's the media who are stupid.

[animist.livejournal.com]

Yep! That's Windows alright. Good luck on getting things sorted out.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's Microsoft deficiency. Leading to the utter puzzle of why millions of people beat themselves over the head with it on a daily basis.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

If you keep perfectly up-to-date (and I'm talking about hardware, too), it doesn't usually break down, which means that for most people it would be more of a hassle to relearn an entirely new operating system.

Don't forget that some people hardly know how to get files off their cameras.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

But those people never keep Windows up to date, much less run adequate firewall and virus protection. The maintenance and protection required for Mac or Linux is far less these days than what is required to keep Windows safe. The cost of keeping the hardware up to Microsoft's ever-growing hunger for resources is really getting beyond the means of many people as well.

I don't mind upgrading hardware if I get some benefit from it. Expanding the memory and disk space and buying a faster CPU just to absorb the overhead of the OS, though, offends me.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Do you have a Windows server there? Microsoft offers their Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) as a free download. You can then configure the workstations to only retrieve updates from the local server, which can also be used to specify which machines get which updates and give you the status of the updates already installed.

I used WSUS at my last job and it made staying on top of updates SOOOO much easier. It also lowers the bandwidth usage somewhat since you only have to download the updates once and you can have it check for updates during the night.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I have a Windows Server and hate it. It's nearing the end of its hardware life (long past it by business standards but in libraries we make things work longer than that) and I want to replace it with a Linux machine in any case.

Out of 50 or so PCs in the library, we are down only ten active and three rarely used ones that are still running Windows.

[leopanthera.livejournal.com]

Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Datacenter Server were available for Itanium, as well as x86.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That explains where the energy and funding for the Alpha support disappeared, then. Right about the time that HP slurped up Compaq, which already had swallowed DEC. ;p

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Whinnyhi.


Over the past several days we gave Stormy, Thunder and Tonka shots from West Nile to Lyme and all took it well except Stormy thinks you are out to murder her horribly but easy, actually, only one launch forward me holding her lead rope tight. TONS of loving kisses and treats and hays immediately afterwards. So all basically protected except for rabies, al though true rabies is a thing of the past.

Doing fine, basically. Planting our victory garden. Still too cold and wintery but soon (week or less).

Glad you seem ok. BTW no good Internet. On a two-week Alltell trial right now but then, nothing unless willing to spend a LOT of money, which we do not have so gee.

Will be attending Furry Connection North but just driving there and back again, no hotel room expenditure. Bear cannot go due to work hours. Bear definitely needs to go to MFF this year so maybe we could spend the night at your place. (Barn, floor we do not mind at all).

Bye.

Steed and Imperator your forever flying stallion mount he knows you know.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Surely you could do dialup. Typically that's just $15-20 per month for as many hours as you want. True, you can't play WoW over it, but it works for e-mail, web (with some patience) and mucks and such. E-mail is so useful now that I couldn't go without unless it were just impossible.

If you're in AARP, Earthlink's unlimited hours dialup package is $19.95/month. That's what we use, mostly because I've been on it for over ten years and it's too much trouble to change. But you use the modem on one computer, and turn on Windows connection sharing so both computers can use it at once. You must have a network between them already since you've been on broadband. Just find a dialup provider who has a connection you can dial as a local call. Certainly they're in K-zoo but if that's a toll call, probably someone is in St. Joe.

I did get a voice mail message from you about this, but it was really hard to understand. That digital voice mail box isn't very good for much other than the simplest messages.

[saythename.livejournal.com]

Conficker seems to be a fizzle. I've had to fight (and win) against
harder opponents than this. I guess hype counts.

You said Syzygy.

*giggles*