Subject: Re: Learning old lessons: again
From: Greg Madden (pabi@gci.net)
Date: Fri Oct 11 2002 - 12:53:43 AKDT
On Fri, 2002-10-11 at 09:55, Mike Barsalou wrote:
>
> It has been such a long time since I have dealt with hardware that was
> marginal that I thought I would share a recent experience.
>
> As most of you know, I am installing RedHat 8.0 on some surplus machines
> that I have in my office. On one of them, the installation went like
> clockwork..however...on another, it failed miserably.
>
> Some of it was because of the CD-R medium that I have been talking about.
> But a bigger part was the fact that the harddrive was bad, and I didn't know
> it.
>
> Why didn't I know it? Because I failed check for bad blocks.
>
> I haven't selected the check for bad blocks when setting up a machine
> because of the time it takes to do the bad block check, however, this
> practice has led to a failed install and some degree of frustration as I
> tried to figure out the problem.
>
> Moral of the Story: It is a good idea to check the drive for bad blocks,
> even if it is going to add an hour or so to the install.
>
> Mike
>
Don't forget to test the memory . They have a bootable GPL iso image.
http://www.memtest86.com/
Re: clearing a disk drive or directory, I use 'wipe' It may call other
routines but you only have to remember one word :)
-- Greg Madden Precision Air Balance, Inc. email:pabi@gci.net Phone:(907)276-0461 Fax:(907)258-0461--------- To unsubscribe, send email to <aklug-request@aklug.org> with 'unsubscribe' in the message body.
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