Mark's Tech Notes

What the heck is he talking about you ask?  I was recently told by Intel Server support, that they do not support (or intend to support) using the Intel server diagnostics (Intel® Active System Console) on servers that provide a website using forms authentication (a really common type of login authentication).  I was told that their tools only work if you use ASP.NET authentication on the primary website on your server.

My understanding from them was that if  you authenticate against another database (which many pages do), then you can not check the status of the hardware on your Intel server.  WTF?

Over a year ago, we bought a couple of big Intel servers for a new website that our company was launching.  After several issues getting the hardware delivered, we were finally up and running.  Then, our hardware guy decided to check on the status of the RAID and things went downhill rapidly.

The tools that Intel provides to check the RAID, redundant power supply etc, just generated errors when we tried to start them up.  We spent a lot of time talking to support about this and getting stupid suggestions like “reload all the software” or “reinstall the OS”.  Finally, we had to actually take the machine apart in order to get ALL of the part numbers so that they would escilate the issue.  Apparently it had never occured to them that we might want to use this for a production server where we need it to reliably run 24/7 and not be taken down and taken apart to address unrelated software issues.  I begged and pleeded, but they would not escilate our software issue unless we did this!

After that, there were more delays.  Some days I would get told that they had replicated the issue and were working on it, other days they somehow could not replicate the issue.  This was pretty baffling since it is really simple to replicate and we had been told that they had gotten that far.  Then they returned to suggestions like “try reinstalling the OS and see what happens”.  Did I mention that this was the production server?

Eventually it came out that they assume that  you have a default website set up with the default ASP.NET authentication.  I was told that they do not support any other setup.  This is from what I thought was a serious sever!?

The last email that I got (7/31/2009, now I just get an automatic response when I email) said:

Hello Mark,

We have been informed by engineering that they have not been able to reproduce or fix the issue you are experiencing with your own form authentication. The only recommendation we have at this point is for you to uninstall the Intel® Active System Console completely, install its standard pre-requirements and use the software in the normal way it was intend to be used. If this is not suitable for you then you will not be able to use this software at this point.
Engineering at this point says that the only fact is that your authentication method will not work with the Intel® Active System Console 3.5.1, and the only other option would be for you to provide us with a copy of the software you use on this server and detailed information about the setup and the environment for us to try a more accurate reproduction.

Sincerely,

Jorge S
Intel Technical Support

Maybe I read it wrong, but it looks to me like it says “we can not reproduce the error, but we know that it will only work with authentication method that we intend you to use on your server”.  Seriously?  This is a server, but I can not use it to serve a website?

I have not heard from them since and since then, they don’t even bother to answer emails…

Needless to say, until Intel starts to support what they sell, we have stopped purchasing their equipment.

If anyone at Intel wants to explain this better, it is case number 8969057…

Tags: Intel, Intel Active System Console, Intel servers, Intel tech support, Intel Technical Support, tech support

Ever since using a relative’s GPS navigation system while visiting, I have been looking at getting a new Garmin navegation system.  We bought one for my Mother-In-Law for Christmas since she is pretty bad with directions.  It works great except for one HUGE flaw.  It is missing a huge divided provincial highway nearby (Stoney Trail in Calgary).  Now this thing took years to build and is super fast for us, but the navigator just chokes if you go onto it.

So, I reported it to Garmin and got a nice email back saying that they are aware that it is missing and it was delayed because they had to get NavTeq to add it in.  However, they go on to say that despite the fact that it is now in the NavTeq maps, it will not be in the next release and that hopefully (no promises though) it will be in one after that in July.  At that point it will be almost a year that the section near me has been open!  They are currently missing a section that opened Sept 2009 and more that opened Nov 2009.

So, right now, if I buy a Garmin, it will not be able to get me out of my subdivision for at least 4 more months.  Then it will likely work for about 6 months before they are closing a road nearby and I will have to wait another year for it to get updated.  And every time that I need an update, they are going to charge $60 to $100 for the update.

While Garmin certainly does not seem concerned about making sure that their products are close to up to date, they certainly know how to keep you paying.

For now, I think that I will pass on GPS navigation until I can at least get basic directions correctly.

Tags: Calgary, Garmin, Garmin map updates, GPS Navigation, NavTeq, Stoney Trail

The other day, I went to start my old Asus P4C800 based motherboard and got the dreaded “System fail CPU test.”  After a lot of swearing and searching, I tried cycling power, replacing the CPU (luckily I had access to another), unpluging everything, and a variety of other things…  Nothing worked.  Several people suggested loosening the CPU fan, but that did nothing.

Finally, I eventually found a post (Re: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe…”system fail cpu test”) explaining how to reset the board.  I did this, and presto, everything is now working just fine.  What a pain.  Apparently, sometimes (especially after a power outage) the BIOS can just get munged.

For future reference, you can also find the Asus P4C800 Manual online.

Here is what worked for me:

• Make sure the ATX 12V volt power supply is pluged in
• Connect an external speaker to the green port on the MB to hear the system post
  message
• Turn the system off and unplug the power cord from the power supply
• Disconnect the Hard disk, CD-Rom and floppy disk drives from the motherboard
• Take the cpu, memory, and video card out
• take the CMOS battery out and move the CLRT!  jumper from pin 1&2 to pin 2&3 for about 20 seconds.  This didn’t seem to work the first time, so Iwent off to do something else for a few minutes and left the jumper on pins 2&3 while I was gone.  That did it.
• Put the jumper back to pin 1&2, install the battery
• Connect the power cord and turn on the system for about 15 seconds
• Have a speaker connected on the green port on the back of the motherboard
• Turn the system on, the system should speak “NO CPU INSTALLED”
• Turn the system off and reinstall CPU, heat sink and CPU fan
• Turn the system on, the system should speak “SYSTEM FAIL MEMORY TEST”
• Turn it off and install memory
• Turn the system on, the system should speak “SYSTEM FAIL VGA TEST”
• Turn it off and install and video card
• Connect the monitor and turn the system on. If every thing works you should see
  display on the monitor.

If this did not help, please contact ASUS tech support at 502-995-0883 and request tech assistance.

Tags: Asus p4C800, cpu errors, hardware, motherboard, system fail cpu test