FC5 Installation Killing Computers

[Tod Merley]

Replies Interwoven:

On 8/18/06, Robert Gann <gannr at hughes.net> wrote:
>
>

Hi Robert Gann!!  Glad to see you here!!

>
>
> I have a most distressing problem.  I am a faculty member in the computer
> and information sciences department at a liberal arts college.
>

It was easy for me to find that.  This may be more of your problems
than you may first imagine (but then some call me paranoid).

>
>
> We have a lab with a number of computers with two AMD 32 bit CPUs and a few
> computers with two AMD 64 bit CPUs.
>
>
>
> Two years ago we ran FC4 on both types of these computers with no problem.
> However, attempting to install FC5 has killed several computers.  We have
> now burned out two of the 64 bit computers and two of the 32 bit computers.
> Generally, the behavior is that they go a ways into the installation process
> and hang.  After retrying the installation another time, the computer is
> basically dead; when I tried a Knoppix CD-ROM one of them could not get past
> the screen telling you to press a key to boot Knoppix.  One of the 64 bit
> computers went "poof", and I smelled smoke.  It is,of course, completely
> dead.
>
>

STEP ONE: CONFIRM THE SOURCE OF YOUR ISOs!!!!!  Do the checksums
match.  Can you trust the sources of your checksums.  Do you have pure
FC5 or do you have something designed to hurt you???!?!?

If you used source code, same story different ways to confirm purity!

STEP TWO: CONFIRM THE INTEGRITY OF THE BIOS!!!!  I mean find out how
to copy it from the flash memory and do a compair with what should be
there!!  I can think of a couple of things I could do at a Kernel or
driver level to smoke a computer (busy it with pci, agp, epci issues
or some such) but at a bios level I can turn up the voltage,
overclock, and then loop it!!!  One of Paul E. Proctor's points about
Computer Security (The Practical Intrusion Detection Handbook p.100
1999 CSI/FBI CCSS) is that only 20% of computer abuse comes from the
outside, the rest is from within.

STEP THREE: Test the CMOS batteries (obvious reasons).  Make sure the
holder is clean.

Step Four: Chart out as well as you can remember what you did.  You
need to be objective and accurate ("CSI" mode if you will).  Order of
steps, software loaded and run / running, power, net, phone, TV,
Video, all things connected!!  Were the boxes removed from their
normal place?  Was a different source for net, disk, or other "hose"
connected at the time?  Was the cover on?  Was a different source of
power used by the computer or ANYTHING connected to the computer.

Step five: Check the local environment.  Power filters ok?
Temperature, humidity, source of dripping water nearby, smoke,
chemicals, physical shock.  Any other computers in the lab down?
When?  Do the computers "glitch" once in a while,  Do they do so at a
predictable time?  If you are rural, or if you are city near
construction you can have some Hugh power spikes reaching you.  Is
there a source of RFI (Broadcast station, HAM, Linear CB, Leakey
Microwave, Linear Wireless ) or other EMI (Big Printer, Refrigeration,
other electric motor, dimmer switch, etc...)?

Step six:  If you have not found any other solid suspect for the
smoking of your computers, considering that your organization and
person have benefited from this OSS please do consider it your
responsibility to establish communication with the FC5 Kernel and
Driver development teams.  They need to know and we all need them to
know.

>
> I've used Google to see if I could find out about a problem to no avail.
> We're getting pretty desperate.  Can anyone offer any guidance?  At this
> point, we're even afraid to try another distribution.  We're starting to
> install Windows to get the remaining computers working.
>
> I'll be glad to provide more details if they will help.
>
> Thank you in advance..
>
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>
>

Robert, I regret to hear about the losses you all have seen.  I hope
this is "guidance" of some sort.  It is what I would be doing.

May you find the source!!!

Tod