Wed Mar 23 11:48:21 EST 2005
Spyware World Record
I think I may have hit a record for the most hits of malicious software on a
Windows PC. This system was so slow that it literally took about 10 minutes
for me to be able to move the mouse. Ultimately Ad-aware found 2065 hits,
Spybot Search & Destroy found 40 or so hits, AVG Anti-virus found 70 or so
viruses, and Microsoft Antispyware found another 37 on top of all of that.
Also, Cwshredder cleaned off one variant of CoolWebSearch and then I had to
finish the clean up with Hijack this.
I don't think I'll ever see another system this bad. I can't believe they were actually using it this way.
I don't think I'll ever see another system this bad. I can't believe they were actually using it this way.
Fri Mar 18 21:44:32 EST 2005
Beer
As I sit here sipping one of the last of my first batch of beer I thought I'd
mention that my second attempt at beer fell flat on it's face. I made the mistake
of using bleach to sanitize, even though it says you can use it if you rinse
very well it still totally halted the fermentation.
So, I've learned my lesson and am sticking with the OneStep sanitizer from Mr Beer. I've already started my second try at Ginger's Castaway Ale and it's already fermenting after less than 24 hours. The only difference between this try and the last is what I used to sanitize.
I better sip this slow, I've got a long wait until this next batch is ready to drink.
So, I've learned my lesson and am sticking with the OneStep sanitizer from Mr Beer. I've already started my second try at Ginger's Castaway Ale and it's already fermenting after less than 24 hours. The only difference between this try and the last is what I used to sanitize.
I better sip this slow, I've got a long wait until this next batch is ready to drink.
Fri Mar 18 21:35:57 EST 2005
Allentown Mazda Volvo Customer (Dis)service
My wife has a Mazda Protege that out of the blue started with a rough idle and
would stall at stops. It would stall even more so when the Air Conditioning
was on plus the check engine light was on solid. I'm not a car person in the slightest but I think anyone can see that
a car isn't supposed to do this. So, we took it over to our local mechanic
over at Service Tire, one of the few mechanics that I actually trust. He did
his mechanic magic and explained that one of the valves was probably bad but
felt that he couldn't service it properly for me and recommended a trip to the
dealer since they are supposed to be specially trained in these sorts of
uncommon repairs. To put quality of service above making a buck and actually
turning away business and recommending the competition is a rare thing these
days. (See why I trust them? They are honest.)
Anyway, we called up Allentown Mazda Volvo and explained the situation and were promptly given an attitude and a refusal to give any kind of rough estimate until we paid them $80 or so to diagnose it. They also couldn't resist commenting that you never know what you'll get at a "Little Mom and Pop Shop" which I thought was an inappropriate thing to say. Fine, think it, but don't go verbally bashing. It make you look bad. So, we took it in and they came up with the exact same diagnosis at Service Tire, which was that a valve needed to be replaced but then proceeded to charge us around $120 for the diagnosis instead of the initial $80 we were told over the phone for "additional testing". Why the hell couldn't they have mentioned that additional testing may cost more? No, we were told $80 and then surprised with the extra after it was done. A minor annoyance, but the car needed to be fixed so we gave the go ahead.
Six hundred dollars later we got the car back and it ran better, but the check engine light was still on so we took it back in and ended up paying an additional $300 or so to replace an oxygen sensor, that $900 spent in a month.
Now, we get to the part where things happen that piss me off. On the way home from the sensor replacement the check engine light comes on yet again. Yes, we didn't even make it home from the dealer. Do they actually test drive these things or just replace the parts the computer tells them to and then park it in the lot? My wife was getting agitated since she now had to take the car back a 3rd time in a month, and I was getting annoyed at being the only transportation for the family. My wife called and ended up talking to Earl, the Service Manager and asked for a rental since the invoice she has said you could get a free one if the repairs were over $300. She was told that he can't give her a rental and only after some pushing and being reminded that we spent three times what was required for a rental already did he give in and give us one. That was bad move number one. He did assure us that if there was a problem with their previous work that it would be repaired at no cost, but was sure to mention that there were about 70 different possible causes for the check engine light. That give 69 different reasons that he could choose from to tell me and I'd have no way to really check.
Totally expected by me the next visit had something different, but related to the O2 sensor and, surprise, he would have to charge another $250 or so for that repair. The problem was the engine are intake duct if I remember correctly. I've been to dealers before where they keep adding things on in this fashion to get more money out of you so I called my trusted mechanic and explained the situation. He told me that depending on where the break was in the duct, it could have caused a false reading for the O2 sensor. This was my red flag and, in my mind, caused reasonable doubt that the $300 for the sensor was needed.
Another call to Earl resulted in yet more frustration. He was willing to not charge labor but wanted us to buy the part which was a nice move, but not enough in my mind since this would have been caught if they actually test drove the car before we picked it up. After dropping so much money on the car in such a short period of time, the fact that they over looked this duct problem, and the possibility of an unneeded repair was cause enough for me to demand a free repair. Earl had a bad attitude through all this but he refused to bend on this flat out. Saying he was doing us a favor already. I told him he could either loose the $79 or so for the part now, or loose the $300 for the O2 sensor when we dispute the charge on the credit card because we paid for a service we did not get. He then said, "You can do that, but you might not like what you're getting into. We've had to deal with this kind of thing before." That sounded like a threat to me. Granted I threatened first, but all other diplomatic talks were useless. It was obvious to me that Earl really had no regard for the customer. He could have defused the situation in a number of ways, the first being his tone of voice. Or offering to talk to the owner to see what he could do. At least make me feel like you care and are trying.
As it stands, I contacted the owner myself, who was much more reasonable to speak with. I explain the entire situation, left him know how I felt about Earl and his people skills, and simply wanted him to look into the chance of a misdiagnosis. I didn't demand a free repair and even told him I'd be willing to pay if he felt the work was legitimate. Much to my surprise Earl himself called, about a half hour later to tell me the repair would be free. He sounded a bit subdued so I'm guessing that the owner chewed on him a bit and chose to swallow the entire repair to try to keep a customer.
Earl's handling of the situation was far from good. Even in my short stint at Radio Shack they took extra steps to train us on how to deal with angry customers. Earl could use a little bit of that training and could have probably gotten paid for the final repair if he had a better attitude. The only one who made me feel like he cared at all about my satisfaction was the owner himself. No one should have to seek out a company owner to get help. And above all, even if a customer is wrong, the last person to give an attitude should be a manager.
Anyway, we called up Allentown Mazda Volvo and explained the situation and were promptly given an attitude and a refusal to give any kind of rough estimate until we paid them $80 or so to diagnose it. They also couldn't resist commenting that you never know what you'll get at a "Little Mom and Pop Shop" which I thought was an inappropriate thing to say. Fine, think it, but don't go verbally bashing. It make you look bad. So, we took it in and they came up with the exact same diagnosis at Service Tire, which was that a valve needed to be replaced but then proceeded to charge us around $120 for the diagnosis instead of the initial $80 we were told over the phone for "additional testing". Why the hell couldn't they have mentioned that additional testing may cost more? No, we were told $80 and then surprised with the extra after it was done. A minor annoyance, but the car needed to be fixed so we gave the go ahead.
Six hundred dollars later we got the car back and it ran better, but the check engine light was still on so we took it back in and ended up paying an additional $300 or so to replace an oxygen sensor, that $900 spent in a month.
Now, we get to the part where things happen that piss me off. On the way home from the sensor replacement the check engine light comes on yet again. Yes, we didn't even make it home from the dealer. Do they actually test drive these things or just replace the parts the computer tells them to and then park it in the lot? My wife was getting agitated since she now had to take the car back a 3rd time in a month, and I was getting annoyed at being the only transportation for the family. My wife called and ended up talking to Earl, the Service Manager and asked for a rental since the invoice she has said you could get a free one if the repairs were over $300. She was told that he can't give her a rental and only after some pushing and being reminded that we spent three times what was required for a rental already did he give in and give us one. That was bad move number one. He did assure us that if there was a problem with their previous work that it would be repaired at no cost, but was sure to mention that there were about 70 different possible causes for the check engine light. That give 69 different reasons that he could choose from to tell me and I'd have no way to really check.
Totally expected by me the next visit had something different, but related to the O2 sensor and, surprise, he would have to charge another $250 or so for that repair. The problem was the engine are intake duct if I remember correctly. I've been to dealers before where they keep adding things on in this fashion to get more money out of you so I called my trusted mechanic and explained the situation. He told me that depending on where the break was in the duct, it could have caused a false reading for the O2 sensor. This was my red flag and, in my mind, caused reasonable doubt that the $300 for the sensor was needed.
Another call to Earl resulted in yet more frustration. He was willing to not charge labor but wanted us to buy the part which was a nice move, but not enough in my mind since this would have been caught if they actually test drove the car before we picked it up. After dropping so much money on the car in such a short period of time, the fact that they over looked this duct problem, and the possibility of an unneeded repair was cause enough for me to demand a free repair. Earl had a bad attitude through all this but he refused to bend on this flat out. Saying he was doing us a favor already. I told him he could either loose the $79 or so for the part now, or loose the $300 for the O2 sensor when we dispute the charge on the credit card because we paid for a service we did not get. He then said, "You can do that, but you might not like what you're getting into. We've had to deal with this kind of thing before." That sounded like a threat to me. Granted I threatened first, but all other diplomatic talks were useless. It was obvious to me that Earl really had no regard for the customer. He could have defused the situation in a number of ways, the first being his tone of voice. Or offering to talk to the owner to see what he could do. At least make me feel like you care and are trying.
As it stands, I contacted the owner myself, who was much more reasonable to speak with. I explain the entire situation, left him know how I felt about Earl and his people skills, and simply wanted him to look into the chance of a misdiagnosis. I didn't demand a free repair and even told him I'd be willing to pay if he felt the work was legitimate. Much to my surprise Earl himself called, about a half hour later to tell me the repair would be free. He sounded a bit subdued so I'm guessing that the owner chewed on him a bit and chose to swallow the entire repair to try to keep a customer.
Earl's handling of the situation was far from good. Even in my short stint at Radio Shack they took extra steps to train us on how to deal with angry customers. Earl could use a little bit of that training and could have probably gotten paid for the final repair if he had a better attitude. The only one who made me feel like he cared at all about my satisfaction was the owner himself. No one should have to seek out a company owner to get help. And above all, even if a customer is wrong, the last person to give an attitude should be a manager.
Tue Mar 15 19:42:14 EST 2005
The Demonic Computer from Hell - The Demons Banished
After much toil, and with the help of the guys at The Linux Link Techshow I think Bob's system is
now stable. In a fit of desperation I checked the jumper settings yet again
and got the idea of trying to set memory and CPU manually instead of letting
the mobo detect it. It seems that, for some odd reason, the board wasn't
detecting the memory correctly and was running it faster than it was intended
to run causing all the oddness. I manually set it to 133MHz for PC2100 and it
is working fine so far. I tried to talk him into Linux but he wants Windows XP
on it. Just getting an OS installed without a freeze is an accomplishment.
When auto-detection works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a pain in the arse. Sometimes I think we should go back to setting jumpers. That way there is no guessing what a board was set at.
When auto-detection works it's great, but when it doesn't it's a pain in the arse. Sometimes I think we should go back to setting jumpers. That way there is no guessing what a board was set at.
Mon Mar 14 20:24:38 EST 2005
The Demonic Computer from Hell
My friend Bob gave me his PC to work on a few weeks ago saying it had random
BSOD and freezes. Being the friendly neighborhood computer guy I decided to
give it shot and get the thing fixed for him. Now, being that I do this for a
living you'd think something like this would be easy for me. But this system
is by far the worst thing I've ever seen. And at this point, it has me utterly
stumped. Here are the current hardware specs:
The system freezes so often that an install of Windows XP or Linux is unable to finish. When the installs die the problems range from a total lock up which happens in both Linux and Windows to a BSOD in Windows claiming the motherboard is not ACPI compliant which it clearly is. I've flashed the BIOS to the latest version which is F7. It does not consistently freeze or BSOD at any single point. It all seems random. I've also tried other versions of the BIOS including F5 and F6. With F6 none of the drives are detected consistently. All in all, it seems totally random.
I've tried many things so far. So many that I know I won't remember them all. I really should have started a troubleshooting log and taken notes but hey, hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, here is what I can remember at this point, in no particular order.
Feel free to leave a comment. I'm gonna need all the help I can get on this one I think.
- Gigabyte GA-7VT600 1394
- 512MB PC2100 Viking Memory
- AMD 3000+ CPU w/ Heat sink & Fan
- 80GB Western Digital IDE Drive (Master)
- 20GB IBM IDE Hard Drive (Slave)
- Sony DVD-RW/CD-RW
- Enermax EG301P-VB Power Supply
- 3.5" Floppy Drive
- Windows XP Pro
- ATI Radeon 9600 w/ 512MB RAM Video Card
Symptoms
The system freezes so often that an install of Windows XP or Linux is unable to finish. When the installs die the problems range from a total lock up which happens in both Linux and Windows to a BSOD in Windows claiming the motherboard is not ACPI compliant which it clearly is. I've flashed the BIOS to the latest version which is F7. It does not consistently freeze or BSOD at any single point. It all seems random. I've also tried other versions of the BIOS including F5 and F6. With F6 none of the drives are detected consistently. All in all, it seems totally random.
Things Tried So Far
I've tried many things so far. So many that I know I won't remember them all. I really should have started a troubleshooting log and taken notes but hey, hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, here is what I can remember at this point, in no particular order.
- Replaced Motherboard and CPU
- Tried each of the hard drives by themselves as master
- Swapped the hard drives so the 20GB was master and the 80 GB was slave
- Replaced the 80GB drive with a new one
- Replaced the power supply with another quality one
- Replaced all cables with new ones (IDE, Floppy)
- Replaced the system RAM
- Rotated the system RAM between all the memory slots
- Tried 3 other different CD-ROM drives
- Tried a different floppy drive
- Tried 2 other different video cards (a GeForce2 GTS and a Radeon 9200)
Feel free to leave a comment. I'm gonna need all the help I can get on this one I think.
Tue Mar 8 22:32:20 EST 2005
Why Do People Distrust Upgrade Tools for Slackware?
I've been tooling around on ##slackware on freenode the past few days and I've
noticed a general distrust for automated upgrade tools for Slackware Linux.
There are a hand full of such tools but the one that I use is swaret. Two others are slapt-get
and slackpkg.
Like I said, I only use swaret so I can't say much about the others.
Anyway, while just watching the conversations someone mentioned to just install qt with
So, here is how I've used swaret without problems. First, grab at least version 1.7.0test4 of swaret because it supports rollback. Everything from this point on is based on this version, hopefully it won't change much in future versions. Once you download it install using
That's it for the technical part of it. The rest of how I use swaret is just simply (un)common sense. I run
If something is wrong that I can't fix I now have a full system backup and the rollback of swaret to use if needed. Now, I've never had to actually use the rollback feature directly. I've only had 1 or 2 problems that were solved by rolling back an individual package using
The entire point of this is that swaret and anything else like it is just a tool. Applying a little common sense and taking time to do things right instead of blindly upgrading is all that's needed to make these tools work. To not be careful like this is just asking for trouble.
Anyway, while just watching the conversations someone mentioned to just install qt with
swaret --install qt in response to a question and another
person said something to the effect of "Are you insane?" and went on to say he
isn't responsible for the guy hosing his box because "swaret tends to do that".
This is far from the first time I've heard such talk and while I understand and
respect the policy of ##slackware to not support anything other than the
pkgtool I just don't agree with the blanket statement of tools tending to hose
systems. The reason I say this is I've been using swaret for several months
without a single problem and I think that's not because swaret is the end all
be all of tools for slackware but more because I use the tool in a sensible
way. In my mind, to blame swaret alone for hosing a system is much like
blaming the hammer for breaking your hand when you don't know how to use a
hammer in the first place. Just blinding running any upgrade tool
without some sane precautions is just asking for trouble, regardless of the
tool or the distribution it's being run on.
So, here is how I've used swaret without problems. First, grab at least version 1.7.0test4 of swaret because it supports rollback. Everything from this point on is based on this version, hopefully it won't change much in future versions. Once you download it install using
installpkg in the normal way. Then
edit /etc/swaret.conf and edit the file to your liking. It's well
commented so I won't repeat most of it. Be sure to enable rollback by having
ROLLBACK=1 and add EXCLUDE=aaa_elflibs* to the
excludes section. Based on the changelog it's a bad idea to ever upgrade
aaa_elflibs. One other change I did that isn't 100% needed is to set
DSEARCHM=1 so that swaret uses slocate instead of find to search
for missing libraries. Just make sure updatedb is run often. Since updatedb
is run as a cron job every night by default this shouldn't be a problem. As for
the rest of the conf file, just read the commends and go with personal
preference for the rest.
That's it for the technical part of it. The rest of how I use swaret is just simply (un)common sense. I run
swaret --update
followed by swaret --list -u every once in a while to see if
anything new is available. If it is I don't upgrade right away. This is where
I think most people mess up. First I go read the Slackware
Changelog and see if there are any notes regarding the upgrades. Then I do a
complete system backup. I have big external USB drive that I use partimage in Knoppix to store a complete
image of my system on just before I upgrade anything potentially dangerous like
gcc or glibc. If what I'm upgrading isn't terribly dangerous I just backup
/etc, /home, /usr/src, and any other data that's important to me. Once I'm
backed up and only then do I actually run swaret --upgrade which
downloads the updates, backs up the existing installed packages in
/var/swaret/rollback, then upgrades the packages using upgradepkg.
Swaret just uses the pkgtools (installpkg, removepkg, upgradepkg) to do
it's work so it's simply using the standard tools in a script for you. Once
its done upgrading I like to reboot and check my dmesg and /var/log/messages
for any oddness.
If something is wrong that I can't fix I now have a full system backup and the rollback of swaret to use if needed. Now, I've never had to actually use the rollback feature directly. I've only had 1 or 2 problems that were solved by rolling back an individual package using
upgradepkg
oldpackagename%newpackagename. As an example, a recent upgrade of udev
in slackware-current was bad, so I just rolled back udev like so upgradepkg
udev-054-i486-1%udev-050-i486-1.tgz. As I understand it swaret keeps a
certain number of upgrades in rollback, I think three by default. From what
I've read you would just need to run swaret --rollback # where the
# is equal to the number of the rollback you want to revert to. Failing any of
this though I have the full disk image from partimage that I can restore my
entire system from.
The entire point of this is that swaret and anything else like it is just a tool. Applying a little common sense and taking time to do things right instead of blindly upgrading is all that's needed to make these tools work. To not be careful like this is just asking for trouble.
Mon Mar 7 23:53:12 EST 2005
HP ScanJet 3300c in Linux
I've had a ScanJet 3300c that was given to me by a friend sitting on my desk
for months. I've been lazy putting off figuring out how to get it to work in
linux,
mostly because at the time the SANE backend for it was only available as a
patch. With the release of SANE-Backends-1.0.15 though it is included. So I
figured it was time to stop being lazy. Lucky for me, or so I thought,
Slackware 10.1 comes with the SANE-Backends-1.0.15. No matter what though it
just flat refused to work on my main system running Slackware-current which, at
the moment is essentially 10.1.
I can't fully explain just why it wasn't working, but I can say that on a default fresh install of Slackware 10.1 on an older extra system the scanner worked fine. After much Googling with not much of use I found a few hits saying that the scanner sometimes has trouble with USB 2.0 since it was one of the first USB scanners released and was designed for USB 1.1. This didn't make sense to me because it worked fine on Windows XP with the exact same hardware but I grabbed a USB 1.1 PCI card and gave it a shot, which didn't work.
I ultimately got frustrated and downloaded the source for the SANE-Backends and compiled it myself. Surprisingly it actually worked. It doesn't make any sense to me since the same binary package in Slack 10.1 worked on another system but not on this one. Apparently I changed something along the way on this system to make SANE unhappy with this scanner. I'm guessing maybe a library somewhere along the way that a compile corrected. Either way, the scanner works and I'm happy.
I can't fully explain just why it wasn't working, but I can say that on a default fresh install of Slackware 10.1 on an older extra system the scanner worked fine. After much Googling with not much of use I found a few hits saying that the scanner sometimes has trouble with USB 2.0 since it was one of the first USB scanners released and was designed for USB 1.1. This didn't make sense to me because it worked fine on Windows XP with the exact same hardware but I grabbed a USB 1.1 PCI card and gave it a shot, which didn't work.
I ultimately got frustrated and downloaded the source for the SANE-Backends and compiled it myself. Surprisingly it actually worked. It doesn't make any sense to me since the same binary package in Slack 10.1 worked on another system but not on this one. Apparently I changed something along the way on this system to make SANE unhappy with this scanner. I'm guessing maybe a library somewhere along the way that a compile corrected. Either way, the scanner works and I'm happy.
Sat Mar 5 22:21:51 EST 2005
Car for Sale
NOTICE: The car has been sold and is no longer available.
Since I have my newer car now I've decided to put the old Shadow up for sale. It's on display on the busy road behind my parents place with for sale signs in the window. But I figured I'll put info on it here in case someone who reads my humble site needs a cheap car. Here are the specs:
As far as what is wrong with it it's mostly cosmetic. The paint job isn't the best as is common with Dodges around that model year. The paint is pealing at spots and there is a little bit of rust. Also, there is a very slow oil leak. Slow as in I've been putting about 1/2 qt in every 3 months or so to keep it full. Also, the cassette tape plays but has a warbly sound. Really nothing major.
I figure, with just a little bit of work and the low mileage for it's age it's a good set of wheels for a new driver or anyone who doesn't want to take their nice newer car into harsh places.
Anyone interested can just send me an e-mail and let me know.
Since I have my newer car now I've decided to put the old Shadow up for sale. It's on display on the busy road behind my parents place with for sale signs in the window. But I figured I'll put info on it here in case someone who reads my humble site needs a cheap car. Here are the specs:
- 1994 Dodge Shadow
- 78038 miles
- Power Steering
- Power Breaks
- AM/FM Stereo w/ cassette
- 5 Speed Manual Transmission
As far as what is wrong with it it's mostly cosmetic. The paint job isn't the best as is common with Dodges around that model year. The paint is pealing at spots and there is a little bit of rust. Also, there is a very slow oil leak. Slow as in I've been putting about 1/2 qt in every 3 months or so to keep it full. Also, the cassette tape plays but has a warbly sound. Really nothing major.
I figure, with just a little bit of work and the low mileage for it's age it's a good set of wheels for a new driver or anyone who doesn't want to take their nice newer car into harsh places.
Anyone interested can just send me an e-mail and let me know.
Fri Mar 4 20:27:28 EST 2005
The Things that are Considered News
Some of the things that are considered "News" by mainstream media just annoy the
hell out of me. Take this quote from a recent New York Times article about the
the release of Martha Stewart from prison for instance.
Now, don't get me wrong, it's good that someone was finally punished for the business fraud that seems to be so common these days. (Worldcom, Enron, etc etc). But, once the verdict is given and the sentence served, lets move on and talk of things that are actually worth the time for the average Joe to read. Sure, this may be important to a shareholder in her company, but I think it's safe to assume that the number of shareholders is a small percentage of the total population.
I just can't wait for the deluge of useless news about the Michael Jackson trial.
Ms. Stewart left the prison around 12:30 a.m. in a small convoy of vehicles, emerging from a black sport utility vehicle a half-hour later at the Greenbrier Valley Airport. Clad in jeans, high-heeled boots and a floppy gray-knit poncho over a green long-sleeved top, she briskly strode the few yards across the tarmac to a waiting private jet, accompanied by her daughter, Alexis Stewart.Wow, the detailed description of what she was wearing at the time of her release is so important that it must be put in the news. Honestly, why don't they cover other things in such detail such as events in the Middle East, current bills being considered for law, etc. Really, I and I'm sure many others could care less about who went to prison for what and for how long they were there. Above all I don't care what cloths they had on.
Now, don't get me wrong, it's good that someone was finally punished for the business fraud that seems to be so common these days. (Worldcom, Enron, etc etc). But, once the verdict is given and the sentence served, lets move on and talk of things that are actually worth the time for the average Joe to read. Sure, this may be important to a shareholder in her company, but I think it's safe to assume that the number of shareholders is a small percentage of the total population.
I just can't wait for the deluge of useless news about the Michael Jackson trial.