Formu Outage: 27 June 2009

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 Jun 2009, 19:39

Sorry for the very long outage

My internet link died and I was away in Somerset at the time.

I returned home ASAP to fix. Whilst it was down I took the opportunity to do my yearly server maintenance, most of which involves removing it to the workshop and blowing an unbelievable amount of dust out...

Hopefully all will now be OK..

Again, my apologies..

Unread post by **Paul-R** » 27 Jun 2009, 19:42

Thanks Jim

It's much appreciated.

Do I take it that you host this site (and the others) yourself? What type of connection to the Internet do you have?

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 Jun 2009, 20:10

Hi Paul,

I host the databases for this forum and the BX Club. The web aplication server is hosted on a commercial VPS virtual server in in ISP.

It's a very long and tedious story why the application server and database servers are separate.

I also host my own website that provides linked content to the forum.

My internet connection is a Pipex one with a static IP and unlimited traffic. Pipex MAX if memory serves. It does well and the outages are never caused by Pipex; it is my Netgear router/modem that locks up every so often. It always chooses the worst time too

I find the Netgear is about the best. It runs about 3 months before going down whereas most others eem to only last the same number of weeks...

Unread post by **Paul-R** » 27 Jun 2009, 20:25

Thanks Jim, very interesting.

I think I once found myself on your own host site when things were misbehaving (Eastment?). Have you tried a small cooling fan on the Netgear to see if that improves things?

Ross_K · Unread post by **Ross_K** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:03

A couple of tips:
Never blow dust out of a computer. When you blow dust around the place it tends to get in any vacant memory or card slots leading to all kinds of random shorts.

Routers: I used to think Netgear were the bee's knees but they've got a bewildering array of models now. Some of which are alright, but most of which are crap. The one we use at work, a WGR614, comes in nine (!) different versions - each one made by a random Taiwanese company who was the lowest bidder that particular week. Firmware isn't interchangeable.

Try a Linksys WRT54GL or the equivalent ADSL model with DD-WRT firmware. I've been running one since before Christmas without a reboot (and only then because the power supply blew).

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:17

Thanks Ross

I'm presently using a quite old (in IT terms) Netgear DG834 Modem. I'll agree the laters ones are not as good. We use the DG834 at work and they hold up reasonably well. In the interests of forum reliability though, I'll have a look at tjhe Linksys you recommend.

On the blowing out of Servers, we've been doing just that at work for many years now with a 100psi airline and the item being dusted sitting on ain airbench that sucks the dust away. In the past 10 years, the only problem we've ever had is the blowing away of a poorly mounted suface-mout capacitor

We deal with IT kit from the four corners of the world and some of them come back to us in a right old state. We're experts on world dust and can almost identify the former location of a PC or server by the dust in it. Delhi dust is terrible stuff and blowing it is the only way to shift it.... The dust in my server was of the light, fluffy kind, typical of a server sitting in a domestic environment. Tomorrow I'll see if the tape drive stuill works when I do my weekly tape backup...

Unread post by **myglaren** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:38

I always blow out the muck from my own computers and any I get to fix. Take them to work and blow them out with an 8 bar line, after jamming all the fans to prevent them from spinning.

Works a treat and is sometimes the only 'fix' they need.

It is amazing how much muck they can suck in. Cat hairs the worst of all

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:49

myglaren wrote: after jamming all the fans to prevent them from spinning.

That takes all the fun out of it Steve! I love spinning up the fans with the air line

Must be the inner child in me

They make a lovely whirring sound and besides, it gives the fan bearings a good test.....

Unread post by **myglaren** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:54

It can also create back-EMF that will kill semiconductors stone dead if you are unlucky

Ross_K · Unread post by **Ross_K** » 27 Jun 2009, 21:58

myglaren wrote:It is amazing how much muck they can suck in. Cat hairs the worst of all

Hair is fairly bad alright. And not just cat hair... I could tell you stories about the amount of times I'd find what appeared to be pubic hair in laptop keyboards during my time in corporate IT. And people used to think I was strange for wearing surgical gloves when stripping down laptops.

Any PC thats been near a smoker is usually fairly rancid too.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 27 Jun 2009, 22:07

Speaking of things in/on PCs, I once unpacked a laser printer that had been returned from Dar Es Salaam when a very much alive and big hairy spider put in an appearance

I beat a hasty retreat from the workshop and returned with a can of solvent to attack and kill said spider...

We used to have a box containing a variety of Geckos, Cockroaches and other assorted exotic (dead) insects recovered from various items of IT equipment...

DickieG · Unread post by **DickieG** » 27 Jun 2009, 22:19

CitroJim wrote:Speaking of things in/on PCs, I once unpacked a laser printer that had been returned from Dar Es Salaam when a very much alive and big hairy spider put in an appearance I beat a hasty retreat from the workshop and returned with a can of solvent to attack and kill said spider...

I don't know, didn't your parents ever tell you never to kill a spider?

Unread post by **myglaren** » 27 Jun 2009, 22:46

Ross_K wrote:
Any PC thats been near a smoker is usually fairly rancid too.

I usually leave them running in an empty office for a week before tackling them.

Unread post by **RichardW** » 27 Jun 2009, 23:27

In 1997 I worked on site down the coast from Karachi in Pakistan - the ground was covered in a very fine dust that found its way everywhere. We had a photocopier in the office, which suffered from this dust / sand ingress - the tech used to come and fix it and the first thing he would do was to open it up and blow all the dust / sand out with a haridryer

It's a wonder the thing worked at all! Mind you, the office ceiling was held up with a permanent scaffold too - there wasn't much going for it - except the money 8)

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 28 Jun 2009, 11:09

Ross - the "short and curlies" are probably just chest or armpit hair.

I'm one of those unfortunate types with excess body hair (although discussions of back waxing are probably best left for another thread!

) and these sources can look rather similar...

Glad the Forum is fixed.