[Info-vax] Weird Bugcheck

[Tom Adams]

On Sep 21, 11:26 am, "Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilber... at comcast.net>
wrote:
> Tom Adams wrote:
> > On Sep 1, 3:26 pm, tadamsmar <tadams... at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> My technical lead reached behind a DS10 and jimmyed the video
> >> connector. (He was trying to disconnect it, and has that bad habit of
> >> jimmying things that are screwed in instead of gently unscrewing them
> >> and removing them with minimum force. He has been lectured on the
> >> matter.)
>
> >> I got an immediate bugcheck and reboot.
>
> >> Where do I start on analyzing a bugcheck, by the way?  I have not done
> >> that in a long time.
>
> The stack dump should show you what was being executed at the time and
> the contents of the general register.
>
> If you have your system configured to write crash dumps, you can try to
> analyze it yourself.  It's not easy!  It requires a good knowledge of
> system internals and a lot of practice.  It is extremely helpful to have
> the source listings available.
>
> If you have software support, pick up the phone and ask HP to analyze it
> for you.  If you allow telnet from outside, they can log in and, in an
> hour or so, figure out why the system crashed.  Otherwise you will have
> to copy the crash dump to removable media and send it to HP.

I decided not to dig into the crash dump.  I figure the jimmy took the
system out of its comfort zone.  I am up-to-date on patches.

I guess I could find a bug or configuration issue if I analyzed it,
but seems unlikely.

>
> While you're waiting you can fire your "technical lead"!

He won't do that again.

>
>
>
> >> This is VMS 7.3-2 up-to-date on patches except those since the recent
> >> cumulative update 9.
>
> >> When the system was not in use, I tested carefully unscrewing and
> >> reconnecting the video connector. No bugcheck.
>
> > The video board was screwed in and appeared to be seated properly.
>
> > I pulled the board, examined it, and reseated.  Nothing appeared to be
> > wrong
> > with it.
>
> > I guess the moral is don't jimmy connectors on a booted machine.
>
> Alternative moral: Do not allow assholes in the data center!

It's a scientific/engineering support system, not isolated from PhD
chemists.