Subj : Re: USB locking up To : Barry Martin From : Ky Moffet Date : Sun Oct 04 2020 20:04:00 BARRY MARTIN wrote: > Hi Ky! > > > > > > > Sure; remember when you had amnesia?! > > > > > KM> Is that what I forgot?? > > > > > We don't recall now... > > > > KM> Wait, now we both have amnesia? > > > > Maybe - what do we compare it to? > > > KM> Why are you asking *me*??! > > > You were handy. :) > > KM> But I'm way over here! > > Physically -- who knows where your mind is!! > KM> It should be right here... somewhere... > Check behind the pillows again. Was that lazy bugger lounging on the couch again?? > > Played a bit with a thumbrive last night: no lockups and no voltage > > spikes/dips ... caught! One second is an awfully long time! Don't know > > if can change the time to less than a second, plus need to log. Will > > continue fiddling with that later. > KM> Most of these things take times in milliseconds...?? > That long?! Yes, that was a thought was it probably takes longer to > write the file than the lockup action takes. And I wrote last night the > log file disappears on boot, so even if I did happen to catch the error > the information escaped. Or the logfile is never written?? usually when it's hardware blipping, there's no chance to write one. > Will try with the USB Tester -- difficult to see a spike but may > discover something. And of course the problem seems to be with the > Southbridge, so no work-around other than a new motherboard eventually Yeah, seems like it. :( > KM> So... have you popped the lid and looked for bad capacitors? When > KM> I did so, they were so obvious you couldn't miss 'em... had > KM> boiled up what looked like a rod sticking out of 'em! Yes, my > KM> computer threw a rod. > > Haven't been inside for a while. If I do see 'capacitor throw-up' > that'll hasten the search for a new motherboard! Won't it tho! Too often they act like something else is wrong for a while... video gets iffy, works for a while then locks up, locks up if you do the wrong thing (Barry! No touchee the USB!) ...but soon enough one checks the caps and well, there's the problem!! While back I was testing some of the old old stash (P3 era) and had several come up dead... on closer inspection, guess what was wrong!! > Yes, I've reused cases as well as other components. All but one of mine are recycled cases > > KM> Anyone care to guess whether they're associated with the > > KM> southbridge chip?? > > Oo! Oo! Oo! Pick me! Pick meeee! > KM> Barry, can you tell us the answer? :D > > Ugh-ugh, I just gotta go to the can, man! (Autumn, our > granddaughter, is in first grade and has done some remote learning here > as well as playign School. Every once in a while that line from the (I > think) Sister Mary Elephant skit pops in [but I don't dare say it > aloud!].) I have no idea who this Sister Mary Elephant is... > KM> Well, that's what happened with Tarnish -- USB no workee, and it > KM> also refuses to boot with more than 4GB RAM (normal max capacity > KM> 8GB, but at a guess that much overloads the bogus circuit) but > KM> it's perfectly fine with PCLOS as a media streamer that never > KM> sees USB nor serious work. > > Although based on the Wikipedia article it seems that's a little > dangerous as the Southbridge deals with just about everything: USB, > Ethernet, hard drives, BIOS accesses.... Almost seems more important > than the CPU! Well, all Tarnish does right now is be a secondary media streamer, using Cash's PCLOS setup. I don't think that install has written a file to disk, other than the odd screenshot or whatever logs it keeps, in close to 3 years. And I'm not expecting ReactOS to do real work as yet (tho it's reached a state where it's usable enough, if one had to -- decent choice for, say, an old 32bit laptop with limited RAM). But I wouldn't trust it with My Precious Files, for sure. > KM> I do note that everything loads slower than the same hardware > KM> with 8GB RAM, but once loaded you can't really tell, given all it > KM> does is stream baseball. Or sometimes run ReactOS, which can > KM> scrape by on 128mb RAM and doesn't like over 4GB anyway. > > Something like the MythTV Frontends here: the computer could take a > couple of minutes to load and get in to Myth but once it's loaded runs > just as well as any other. As long as a decent video card, of course. How decent does it need? > > > be fine as long as don't touch USB, and even then if plug in a USB > > device and it does lock up seems to be fine on reboot (the USB device > > is connected at boot). OTOH talk abouit overkill: eight core CPU. And > KM> Eight core or four cores with hyperthreading?? AMD got in trouble > KM> for 'confusing' the two in its marketing... > > I'm not sure: it's using an AMD FX8320, which is "8 cores" and I didn't > see anything about hyperthreading in various advertisements, though did > skim through some debate in a Tom's Hardware thread: a couple of posts > said it used hyperthreading, a couple said no, eight separate cores, > while a couple other seemed to indicate it was a eight cores with a form > of hyperthreading.... Ah, that family. What I've read is that it's not really 8 cores, but rather that was AMD's usual ... too enthusiastic ... marketing; I found this: "All Bulldozer and its revision (Steamroller, Excavator, etc) have 4 processor modules composed of 2 integer and 1 floating point processor." Meaning it's really 4 cores, but 8 threads. > Also noted the FX8320 (maybe the whole FX series) is marketed toward > gamers. I think I had the idea a 'gamer computer' would be fast overall > when really it is probably fast in video. Yeah... gaming benchmarks are not realworld benchmarks; they are indeed geared toward best frames-per-second in high-end games, rather than CPU-actual-work as done in business apps and the like. That's why I pay less attention to Passmark benchmarks nowadays... it too is geared toward the fps wars. CPU-Z just does raw run-everything, which oughta be more accurate for the CPU alone (no influence from the video subsystem). > > could swap for a single core but AMD and the new motherboard would want > > Intel. > KM> Yeah, not worth messing with. Also, single-core AMDs are > KM> painfully slow with today's OSs. In fact were painfully slow with > KM> antique OSs. WinXP was beyond 'em. Leave well enough alone, I > KM> say. > > One of the posts I had skimmed though for the hyperthread question had > mentioned a 3 GHz Intel is faster than a 4 GHz AMD. The post used more > specific speeds like 3.2, but that was the idea. That's my experience too -- the AMD, nominally 25% faster, is actually about 40% slower than the Intel. True of every one I've benchmarked, across about 18 years of AMD CPUs. http://twilightasylum.com/pc/cpus3.htm Westworld's CPU makes a good example... supposedly way faster than those in the Intel quad-cores (Tarnish, Lightfoot, Cash, Bullet), but in fact is about 40% slower. > Did have to unplug the speaker (yes, had a speaker) in one years ago > because for some reason the sound from MythTV came through! AFAICT Oh my... usually you have to go out of your way, special driver and everything, to get an application's sound to come through the case speaker!! > everything was configured correctly; couple of options to quiet the > speaker also stopped the HDMI audio so reluctantly unplugged the speaker > -- and taped a note inside to remind me it was unplugged just in case I > needed it for troubleshooting noises. Linux is weird. And it turns us all into weirdoes, with weird PCs. > KM> Yeah, I have some random AMDs that fell on my head, but closest > KM> I've come to buying one is a $15 upgrade for Westworld, since the > KM> one that came with the board is just painful. Newer one is still > KM> 40% slower than the equivalent Intel, but at least it's not > KM> masochism to use anymore. > > So overall a low-cost fix. Yeah. I could gain ~20% with the fastest CPU that board supports, but it would still be no better than the quad-core Intels, which I already have more of than I need. And all the faster CPUs still cost $60+ used!! So I settled for roughly tripling performance for $15. :D Paint It Black (which unfortunately is BIOS-locked, so stuck at quite a bit slower than the board otherwise supports) ... could take what's supposed to be a 10% speed upgrade, but per all the benchmarks I found, that upgrade CPU actually runs slower! WTF. I should actually bench it with Westworld's original CPU, given it's the same board otherwise. > > KM> Wait, tell me about VNC? > KM> Ah, so sort of Remote Desktop for your local network. > It will also work on the outside: port 5900, make the Firewall exception/ > allowance, probably a couple other things. (Looked it up, I haven't > needed to do that here.) I wouldn't either! > KM> tho I have one of those dim-the-lamps 1000W PSUs in the parts > KM> pile, just in case someday I need to power a huge pile of HDs. > KM> (It has about 25 connectors and weighs 8 pounds!) > > Or use that one 1KW (well, 1,000 equals!) to power several of your > computers! I'd leave the original 'wimpy' PSUs in place as backups. LOL! Friend in Canada does something like that... PSUs are sort of daisy chained between boxen, so one might support this here mainboard and that there pile of HDs. Adding to the confusion he uses Stacker modular cases, which can take two PSUs. > ..Wonder if they make PSU cable extensions?! They do, but I've not seen any more than about a foot long. > I'm lost. MotionEyeOS doesn't seem to be able to handle partitioning a > card greater thaan 32 GB. the only reason the drive got changed from > /dev/sdi to /dev/sdg was because the 64 GB card was seen at I and the 32 > GB card at G. Now my brain hurts. > > KM> NOthing prevents you from cloning the card... > > True: copy over the (say) 16 GB original and then s-t-r-e-t-c-h the > storage partition to - oo! - 1 TB! LOL, I do that sort of thing with Ghost all the time... > Actually have been mostly doing on this system (64bit Ubuntu 18.04, AMD). > Wonder if gparted hasn't been updated or just still working on it: > there's a format chart and the exfat line does not allow to create, > grow, shrink, check, label, UUID. Does allow moving and copying. https://gparted.org/ Looks like the main requirement is enough RAM. [Oh, I see they've updated it...] > KM> I don't even know what MotionEye IS... KM> some sort of home surveillance system> > > I'm causing you to learn all sorts of things!! (I'll try to be a good > influence!) ;> > > I've got an old PSU for a Sanders 720 with capacitors about 4" in > > diameter by about the same in height!! > KM> Holy crap!! you don't want to touch those for a month or two > KM> after powering down... > > Might make a good battery backup for an emergency lighting > system - wonder how long it would power a few LEDs?! Probably not very long, actually. > KM> Is there some linux util that IDs hardware by brand and model > KM> number, like SIW or Speccy for Windows?? > > 'hwinfo' might work. At this point would just be easier to pull the > unit from the storage stack and look at the label - would have to plug > in power and monitor anyway!! Hmm. Synaptic says it's installed, but it does not want to run. (Might be objecting to Chrome streaming stuff at the same time...) > > KM> I can't find the7 M51 on their site at all. Closest is the M53. > I might have something incorrectly set in the BIOS, or just limited > because of something in the way the motherboard is wired. At this point Or might need a BIOS update? > an old and slow system doesn't do me much good, though reluctant to get > rid of it as good for a back up or test unit. Yeah, I have this whole pile like that... > > > > > Sounds like winter projects! > > > KM> At least, after the baseball season. > > > But now they're showing reruns! > > KM> Not yet! > > You sure? Maybe your memory... > KM> I still have all 8GB! > > But did it pass MEMTEST86?! What is this "test" of which thou speaks?? > > but think it was Chopin Chusacks who lived on the wrong side of the > > road: across the street was able to get some service but he could not. > KM> I remember him but not these woes! > May have been someone else. Seems like the person I'm trying to recall > lived in a warehouse. I have a fictional character who lives in a warehouse. Who was it whose packets went from the midwest to a California BBS ... by way of Singapore?? > While I think of it CenturyLink apparently changed their name to > 'Lumen'. Called one of their Billing numbers and got an announcement > which indicated it was for business customers and half-heard something > that sounded like 'Lumen'; checked out later and is their new name. > BTW, did get a credit for the five days without telephone service -- > almost 32x what I calculated! Oh, that explains the very confused postcard I got from them. Your account number will change, your account number won't change, you need to do this, you need to do nothing. Bah. I plan to ignore it. > As for $100K per unit, sure it's an expense, but here they've (CL/Lumen) > have lost customers because of not supplying. No doubt. > .. Devote your spare time to neglecting your duties. Oh, THAT'S how you get spare time! þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .