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Journal GeckoFood's Journal: [work] The problem that never ends 10

Journal by GeckoFood

I am stuck here in the office this evening, and I am working alone late into the night. I am chasing a problem that has hamstrung me for 3 days, where an installation I create writes a bogus partition table to the HDD. I can't trace it to a specific change yet and I am now 2 days behind schedule. I guess you could say I am frustrated.

This discussion was created by GeckoFood (585211) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

[work] The problem that never ends More

[work] The problem that never ends

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  • are you writing to the end of the disk, but going (sector|cyl|block) over therefore overflowing to sector 0,1,2,....
    • are you writing to the end of the disk, but going (sector|cyl|block) over therefore overflowing to sector 0,1,2,....

      Though that's a good through, it's not the problem. Something weird happening in configureClient1 is dropping the installer to its knees. As soon as I make a small change to configureClient1 (setting up the eth* interfaces), the partition table writer blows a gasket.

  • One technique I've heard is to 'talk' to someone, telling them what they would need to know to describe the trouble to another tech support person.

    Essentially, they have a doll (rather like Wilson the volleyball in Cast Away) to whom the programmer speaks. By reciting the process to the volleyball, so that the volleyball could relay the information to tech support, the programmer sometimes gets that flash of insight as to what is wrong.

    Hey, if the build process gets too long, the worse thing that could ha

    • Hey, if the build process gets too long, the worse thing that could happen is that the boss drops by, and you are talking to a doll....

      If he drops by this late (11:30pm here) there's a bigger problem...



      • Well, I hope that your problem clears up soon and you get a good night's sleep. :(

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Degrees ( 220395 )
        Dang.

        "Uh, I was talking to a doll, uh, because I'm, uh, sleep walking? Yeah - that's the ticket. I'm sleep talking. Talking in my sleep. To my wife, Morgan Fairchild. Do it all the time. I invented sleep talking. You should try it."

        • LOL! Thanks. I needed that right about now. I am about to bag it for the night and think about it some more later.

  • If not, take care, breathe, and take a few minutes to give your brain a rest. I will often wander the halls late at night when I have a problem in the wee hours. YMMV, but I've found somewhat refreshing.

    You know your tech skills are greater than mine, but can you either delete or rename the config file and create a wholly new one? Maybe it's a corruption in the file itself? You may not be to blame, but that was certainly a shot in the dark;-)

    • I made it home, though I am wiped out. I figured it out just before I left and I made a note of it so I could knock it out when I have gotten some sleep. It's a tricky fix but conceptually easy.

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