Argh!

[babysimon]

The light on the front of garedunord went on. The light meaning "something is wrong".

Of course, this was the debian server.

To find out what's wrong, I need to install the SNMP packages which came with it.

The ones which support both versions of Linux - Red Hat 7.2 and 7.3.

So I can install them if I use alien here, patch those scripts there, and keep my fingers crossed. OK. Fine. (Teeth clenched.)

But the packages need to install a kernel module. Oh good. They support Red Hat kernels, and ones you've compiled yourself. OK. Fine. (Teeth starting to grind.) Compile the kernel. Long time since I did that. Hope I got everything I needed... Reboot.

Wait.

Wait.

Well, I can't ping it, so I guess I didn't get everything I needed. Grab keyboard and monitor, go to server room.

Switch off, plug in keyboard and monitor, switch on. Machine hangs in POST.

Try with just monitor. Machine boots.

Try with different keyboard. Machine hangs.

Try with just monitor. Machine boots.

Try with third keyboard. Machine hangs.

OK. Maybe the light was trying to tell me the keyboard controller was about to fail. Maybe I shouldn't have bought Dell.

Computers suck.

Update:

Apparently the monitor I plugged in was incompatible with a PowerEdge 1650. Monitor? Incompatible? In the sense of "stops the keyboard working"? Apparently so...

Comments

[conflux.livejournal.com]

Yep, I had nothing but grief with Dells at my last job. I'd be tempted to boot it with a hardware diagnostic tool (something like PC Check if it's a PC) and find out how much of its hardware is dead.

[random-c.livejournal.com]

Lee seems to like dell despite every major component in his laptop having been replaced at least once. We had some when I was at Radicle. Awful things, the SDS boards corrupted the display in DOS, the cases were almost impossible to get into and usually required a blood sacrifice once opened.

[josh-the-cat.livejournal.com]

Computers suck.

*All* hardware suck. *All* software sucks. It just the amount that varies.

[babysimon]

Finally, someone who agrees with me.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Some very short programs don't suck, except insofar as the languages they are written in suck.