Power Outage horror
 

Well, I finally got Mandrake 10.1 installed, with php5, and the database software I created.

Finally.

Last night, there was a power outage, and things are really screwed up.

Upon boot up, the computer hangs on Listening for an NIS domain server........

Everything takes way, way to long to do. After the interactive screen, it will take about 20 minutes before the log in screen shows up.

Of course, this was after a lot of finageling. The monitor setting are screwed up. I booted from the cd, and reset them. However, there was always a problem. I suspect the video card is a Diamon Viper II, but I am unsure. The original installation settled on a Sagave 2000 (Generic). It does not seem to like it anymore, so I selected a Savage (Generic) and things are good. (There is no viper II driver, and none of the others will work.)

Sometimes, the video is really screwed up, but some things are readable. Other times I boot up, and things are OK. All of this without changing settings.

Anyway, it takes 15 minutes to log in, 5-10 to launch a program, even a Terminal. Everytime I check the network settings, the Primary DNS is 127.0.0.1, and not what I set it to be. The values I set for primary and secondary and now secondary and tertiary.

This is the only Linux box in the office, there is a TiBook and two XP machines. There is no NIS, although I _think_ the system is continually looking for one.

Any thoughts on how to get the system back to pre-power outage status?

-Dave

thats just one more benefit of having a laptop, power fails you still have your battery ;)

lets be more helpfull here.....
 

Was the power outage complete? what I mean, did the machine had an unexpected shutdown? did the machine came back up on its own after power was restored or did you had to turn it on? is the machine connected to at least a surge protector?

From experience, at least in my home, depending on the compents that you have, the time that yu have had them and the stress that the use (and abuse) they get everyday, sometimes they survive, sometimes they give you a false sense of security, meaning they work for a couple of days or weeks and then unexpectedly they quit working., or better yet, they don't work at all after power is restored. I find this the ideal situation, since you know then that you will have to replace the faulty component.

The second situation is the worst because you do not know which component is the one that is going to fail at a later time.

Ok, having said that.....see if the syslog has any type of messages regarding errors accessign informaiton on the discs, etc. if that is not the case, then see if you can get a replacement videocard and see if that solves your problem.

I would advice you to also enable S.M.A.R.T. monitoring in the bios and also install a smart monitor daemon on linux and make sure that you keep an eye on the logs just to make sure that you are not running into data corruption problems.

Additionally, get a surge protector (APC), connected the computer and monitor tothe protected outlets and then connect the surge protector to a UPS, that gives you enough time to shutdown everything in case of a power outage....

The power outage was fairly complete. No DSL for two towns, several schools closed, and at least two radio stations were silent.

At this point, the only thing I can think of is to format and reinstall. If anyone has any better Ideas, I would appreciate them. (I'm trying to convince the Office that Linux is Superios to XP, and failing horribly.)

Thanks

-Dave

Dave, everything is as strong at its weakest link. In your case, your weakest link was that you did not had a proper plan to deal with the situation. Don't take this the wrong way.... ;)

The issue that you experiencing is completely unrelated to the OS that you are using. also the isue with OS that you should apply the OS accordingly to the situation., and here the Linux purish will flame me but that is the reality.... on some things Linux is better , on others Ms softwar eis better.

Depending on the size of your company and what you are trying to do.....maybe Linux is better......if you have the knowlegde to support it...that is why companies like mandrake and Red Hat charge for their support. I use Linux at home because honestly is cheaper for me.....my wife's computer runs on windows xp. I'm using Samba to connect between them etc. and for me this solution works better.....

Again, getting back to the problem at hand.... you need first to assess your risks....then you implement that solution that fits. Before reformatting and all that, take the time to do that and think how I could have avoided or mitigated the effect of the power outage .....

Well, I'm a Mac guy, running on a journaled file system. I've never personally had a problem with power outages, and have rarely yeard of problems with power outages in the Window's world. I expected Linux to be more robust........

My "plan" was not set up yet. I just got the whole thing set up that afternoon. When the new HD arrives, it will have RAID.

What I am looking for is advice, or at least some reasons why it is horrendoudly slow. (Even from a remote terminal, processes take a long time to start, but not nearly as bad as a gui app.)

As of this moment, I am planning on reformatting the HD, and reinstalling everything. This also requires that I upgrade php, reinstall the software I wrote, and restore a bunch of other files. I am not looking forward to this.

If the $499 Mac had been offered two weeks ago, that is how we would have gone.

-Dave