[kwlug-disc] Troubleshooting and Fixing a PC locally?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 11:36 PM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca> wrote:

> Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 12/02/2010 11:15 PM:
>
>> On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 10:45 PM, unsolicited <unsolicited at swiz.ca<mailto:
>> unsolicited at swiz.ca>> wrote:
>>
>>    Khalid Baheyeldin wrote, On 12/02/2010 5:28 PM:
>>
>> And it does not reach the stage where it attempts to read media (CD or
>> disk) most of the time. Just hangs in the BIOS saying scanning for USB
>> devices. The one time it booted (when I carried it upstairs), it did go to
>> the disk and loaded, and then locked up after I was running some Linux
>> commands.
>>
>
> Good, so you can take Linux off the table.
>
> Having 2 means not putting BOTH of them in mission critical roles! (-:
>
> You have no USB devices connected at the time, right? Including keyboard /
> mouse? [I've see a mouse, or was it a keyboard?, cause this sort of thing.]
> Perhaps ease up on the morning coffee, or at least keep it away from the
> keyboard?
>

Actually, there is a keyboard that is USB. The only thing plugged in, apart
from the power cord and LAN cable.

Now that I think of it, I may have not plugged the keyboard in when I took
the computer upstairs for troubleshooting, and maybe that is why it worked?

But I think I did plug it in before I got it to boot and run for a few
minutes.

Hmmm.


> KVM can be good, but for this sort of thing (pieces scattered all about),
> and usually having a computer I don't need to see the screen on for a while
> (vnc useful here), a simple video extension cable has served me well. I just
> snake it on the current monitor setup over to the box under test. [I do the
> same thing with PS too, putting the cases side by each.]


I use ssh, but that works when things work. Not when I am installing or
troubleshooting something low level (like this case).

There are 4 servers in this location, and one monitor. Moving the VGA cable
is a pain with the snake den that is there. Hence me contemplating a KVM.


>
>  So I'd rather hire a pro. And I got some pointers from people on this
>> list.
>>
>
> Fair enough. Although you can run memtest overnight and decide in the
> morning.
>

Re: memtest, that needs the stage where it reads media to boot from, and it
does not reach that stage most of the time.
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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