[CUBE] Strange error message

[Laurie A Duncan]

On 1/29/04 4:48 AM, "Phil Mitchell" <pmitchell at databanque.net> typed the
following:

> I can also say that the majority of our clients/users (including
> everyone in all our offices!) of OSX for a year or longer has had one
> of these anomalies! I personally have had two on my Cube and wasted
> many, many diagnostic hours on the first one - with no conclusive
> results. The second time, I just took my own advice and was back up and
> running again in a couple hours. I still have no clue as to what set of
> circumstances perpetrated either KP, as both occurred while I was
> actively engaged in production work - no new software, hardware...
> nada!

The problem with this is you seem to be talking about the occasional KP,
which it's entirely possible was a one-off thing and not a sign of impending
failure, software or hardware-wise. A single KP is no cause for alarm.
Reboot and go back to work. Most of the time you won't see one again unless
there's a clear indicator of why.  If nothing else, it's a good reminder of
why backups are so important. If you are getting them on a regular basis,
then the issue should be addressed.  To reinstall for one KP is a big waste
of time. Odds are good you wouldn't have gotten another KP anytime soon even
if you hadn't reinstalled. But you'll never know that, and invested a few
hours "fixing" something that might not have been broken.
 
> In closing, let me say that when a production user is unable to work
> because of a "down" computer system, their mission directive to the
> consultant is: FIX IT! DO IT NOW! Would they like to know the cause -
> if only to avoid re-creating the problem? Certainly! Do they want to
> know badly enough to justify hours spent analyzing logs, running
> diagnostics and explaining all their actions leading up to the
> crash/problem in detail? They do not.

I absolutely agree with the first part of this statement. I have worked with
helpdesks of huge companies with hundreds of users whose motto was "I don't
care why it's broken, I just need it to not be broken - NOW."  I cater to
their needs, obviously. But if they are getting frequent KPs (and let's be
realistic... This is not the norm.), I am not going to incapacitate them by
taking their machine away for a reinstall and leaving them with nothing in
the meantime.  I am going to quickly clone their HD onto another machine,
maybe an in-house spare or loaner or a rental from Tekserve, plug back in
the minimum they need to continue working, then I am going to take their
machine to the bench for diagnostics, consider and test other factors in the
user's environment (wonky, rogue USB devices and cables being a very common
cause of a KP) and usually have the problem pinpointed in short order.
Sometimes the user will get a KP on the replacement machine, which leads to
the conclusion that it's either a rogue device that is connected to that
computer or, yes, software-related.  If I swap all the cables and maybe swap
a few peripherals as well and the problem goes away, then we're all set and
neither of us has invested much time in it. If it's looking like it is
software-related, then I will re-image the machine and move the user's data
back over and test that setup out for a while before giving it back to them.
They aren't in a hurry since they are still working happily on their
replacement.

Yes, not everyone has a replacement available at their fingertips. But in a
production environment like you describe, they usually do. If they don't,
they really should, otherwise they lose far more money in the end in
downtime due to a variety of factors. It's cheaper to have a few machines on
standby (or rentable quickly) then to wait for even a simple software fix
before they can pickup where they left off.

To be clear - it's obvious we have different experiences on this topic.
Other people's experiences will be different again. It's all relative and
YMMV is usually the norm, not the exception :)

Laurie
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