GRoK This!
What a friggin' relief
The computer's working again. I finally figured out that it was because I had my little 1GB USB drive plugged in. The BIOS was trying to boot off of that. Once removed, everything came back fine.
Posted at 07:50PM Jun 14, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers |
Invalid system disk. replace the disk, and then press any key
That message is known to strike terror into the hearts of the most stalwart men and women. I got that message today on my computer. I had logged in and was doing some work when I noticed a problem with Norton Anti-Virus. I really don't think there's a virus on my system, as I am always running Norton and it always checks the downloaded files. I had also recently updated Firefox and some of its extensions. The problem with Norton was that it was complaining about some .dll files. So, I decided to reboot, and that's when I got the message. A wierd thing was that the boot order changed, and it was looking for my floppy first. Very odd. Well, I have two computers, and that one is my "private" one, and the one where my blog, etc, resides is my "public" one. So, at least I have one computer still running. Tonight is Drinking Liberally, so I won't have much time to spend on the problem tonight. And, wouldn't you know it, I've been doing monthly backups except for the last two months because I had run out of CDs.
Posted at 10:28AM Jun 14, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers |
Testing apache roller 3.1
Testing.[Read More]
Posted at 06:01PM May 30, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[3]
*tap* *tap* *tap* Hello? Is this thing on?
*sigh*
My mind has been bruised and battered in a battle of wits against JBoss (my application server) and Roller (the app I use to blog), and I lost. I was trying to upgrade Roller on my server from version 0.98 to version 3.1. The idea being that once that was done, I could perhaps look for some plugins that would allow me to crosspost to MySpace and LiveJournal and others. However, I'm now running JBoss 4.0.4, which has Hibernate3.x built in. That's where the catch is. Roller's versions from 2.x on also use Hibernate3. JBoss has a nasty classpath issue in which it insists on using some classes from the server's own lib directory as well as some of the classes from a web application's own set of classes. And if the same class exists in both places, but have different versions to them, kapow! Nightmare. I give up. I'm now back on Roller 0.98.
Having JBoss use Hibernate and not have it be completely off of a web app's classpath is one of the worst ideas ever. It wouldn't be so bad if I developed all the apps that I deploy onto JBoss, and that each of those apps use the same exact version of Hibernate. That's not reality. If I want to deploy an app using Hibernate 1.x, 2.x, 3.x or a future 4.x, I should be able to without JBoss knowing or caring.
Posted at 06:05PM May 23, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
XDoclet, Hibernate, many-to-one lazy attribute
I mentioned earlier about how XDoclet was not generating Hibernate's "lazy" attribute for the many-to-one tag. Well, I found an easy fix. I had to download the XDoclet source code and peruse it, but after a while I understood that there's a lot more XML files than Java files, and so all I had to do was modify the correct XML file instead of changing the Java code and rebuilding XDoclet. The file you want to change is in the xdoclet-hibernate-module-1.2.3.jar file that comes with XDoclet binaries. Explode that file into some temp directory and edit the file xdoclet\modules\hibernate\resources\hibernate-properties.xdt. Find the element that has this attribute: tagName="hibernate.many-to-one". Add the following child element to it. I put it after the element that has this attribute: paramName="unique".
Save the file and zip it back up into a jar file. I called this new jar file xdoclet-hibernate-module-1.2.3.1.jar. Use that jar file instead of the normal xdoclet-hibernate-module-1.2.3.jar file.
Posted at 08:45AM Apr 26, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
ClassCastException, IncompatibleClassChangeError
So while on an enforced vacation from work, I decided to try and get some software projects done, specifically, Dr Dee. I did have something running on JBoss 3.2.3, but now I've upgraded to JBoss 4.0.4 and now I'm getting weird errors. It took a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth and pulling of hair, but I found out what was happening. The new version of JBoss has a Hibernate service built in. As part of that, the hibernate3.jar is included in the server/default/lib directory. This put it in conflict with my hibernate-3.1.3.jar that I was compiling with. JBoss has its own set of troublesome class loading issues, I've found out, but the simple solution for me was to set Java2ClassLoadingCompliance to true in the server\default\deploy\jbossweb-tomcat55.sar\META-INF\jboss-service.xml file. Now that that problem is dealt with, I can get on with the true task of writing the code.
Posted at 08:21AM Mar 13, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
iPhone or Treo?
I've had a Palm device since they first came out. When I saw one at COMDEX, I knew I had to get one. But this week, Apple's iPhone came out. Looks intriguing. However, after reading some reviews, including the one at Palm Info Center, I'm not so impressed. The biggest win in my book was the ability to view your voicemail message list. Imagine seeing your list of five messages, and then deciding to only listen to the third one?
Posted at 03:29PM Jan 14, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
Goodbye LA Computer Fair
...it's been fun. Oh, don't worry, the fair is not closing or anything. It's just that I think that today was the last time I'll visit it. I've been going off-and-on to it for a decade or so. But, in the last 2.5 years, I've only been twice. It's going downhill. It used to be in two buildings. Now, it's in one. It used to be nothing but computers. Now it's got gizmos and gadgets and jewelry. Oh, well. I'll have to find another place to go.
Posted at 03:13PM Jan 14, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
The Geek Side Of Me Is Drooling
From the PC World article:
Are you ready for laptop storage with no moving parts to spin up, break, drain your battery, add weight, or make noise? That's what you get with Samsung's new 32GB SSD (Solid State Drive). Built using NAND flash memory, the SSD is the first consumer unit with enough capacity to compete against standard notebook drives; 32GB may not satisfy multimedia addicts, but it's plenty for average business users.
We looked at a preproduction model to see how it fared against 5400-rpm Seagate drives using the latest perpendicular recording technology or traditional longitudinal recording. The SSD found files more than twice as fast, and accelerated boot-up. Its cumulative speed advantage over the other two drives was an impressive 25 percent, though it was slower on two tests that involved accessing the drive many times rather than performing longer sequential reads and writes.
Posted at 02:10PM Jan 04, 2007 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
My Book Library
Alrighty, then. I've updated My Book Library to use some new technology. I think I've got the bugs out. Time to tell the owner of isbndb.com about it (again). It's working with the new JBoss 4 that I installed, except for the automatic emailing of exceptions. It seems to be a JBoss issue and not a commons-logging or log4j issue. If anyone knows how to solve it, please let me know.
Posted at 08:25PM Dec 11, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
Upgraded JBoss
I was having some problems with classloader issues with JBoss 3.2.3. So, I've finally upgraded to JBoss 4.0.4. I've gotten the apps to work fine now. The only oddity is that I've had to remove commons-logging.jar and log4j.jar from all of my apps and let JBoss use its own version.
Posted at 11:49AM Dec 08, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[5]
The video card did it in the billiard room with a lead pipe
I've finally gotten my computer back up and running. Since the last post on this, I bought new RAM, but that didn't cure it. So, I looked once more on the web, and they mentioned the video card. I had thought it unlikely that that was the case, but then I noticed that the new motherboard had a VGA port on the back panel. So, I removed the video card and plugged the monitor into the motherboard. Voila, it worked. So, I went out and got a new video card, a PNY GeForce FX5200 and put it into my system. It's not the top-of-the-line card, but I don't have any time for video games anymore, so it should be good enough. This must have been a multiple failure, because I tried the video card on the old CPU and motherboard, and that didn't work. So now my system has a new motherboard, CPU, power supply, RAM and video card. Nearly a whole new computer.
BTW, CompUSA was having a 9pm-midnight sale on Thanksgiving. I thought I'd pop on in there, buy the new card, and get back home quickly. Boy, was I wrong. When I got there, the store was full, and there was a line of about 200 people waiting to get inside. I nixed the plan and came back the next day, when there were no crowds.
Posted at 05:37AM Nov 26, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
Damned computer
Well, I've tried all combinations of new/old CPU and new/old mobo, but the only thing that happens now is that the fans turn on for a moment. Sounds like a power problem, but I've plugged in the stuff time and again. Maybe I've shorted something? I dunno. I'll try googling a bit more, but I think it's time for a trip to CompUSA for them to look at it.
Addendum: I found a web page where it suggested turning the power supply off at the back and then turning it back on. Also to hold down the power button for 4 seconds and then try to turn on the machine again. Voila! I now have power, but am back to no beeps and no bios. Harumph!
Posted at 09:42PM Nov 02, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
Dead Computer - Take 2
Well, damnit, I tried my system with a new CPU as well, and no good results. I first tried the old motherboard with the new CPU. No dice. I got an alternating high and low beep, which seems to mean "Either the CPU is not seated properly or the CPU is damaged. May also be due to excess heat. Check the CPU fan or BIOS settings for proper fan speed.". I then tried the new mobo with the new CPU and got no beeps and no display. This is really frustrating.
Posted at 10:35PM Oct 30, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]
My computer died
I have two computers, one of which is my "production" box which has servers on it and the other is my "development" box, which I use on a daily basis. The development box (named Capital) died sometime while I was at OOPSLA. The fans come on, which indicate power is good, and the hard drives start up momentarily, but the BIOS screen never appears. After surfing the web, it seems as though it's probably my CPU or motherboard (mobo). I currently have an ASUS P4S8X using a Pentium4 2.4GHz CPU. I bought that around 4 or 5 years ago. I took my time researching the exact mobo I wanted. Now, however, I need something soon, and I need it cheap. Normally, I'm really happy to go out and buy new tech stuff, but this comes at a time when we have no spare money. So, I went out and bought an MSI PM8M-V board and spent tonight replacing one mobo for the other. Finally got that completed, turned on the computer - and nothing. Damnit. I was hoping to take the cheap way out since the MSI mobo only cost $80. Now it looks like I'll have to shell out for a new CPU. :sigh: The only other problem I could imagine it being is the video card, but I really don't think that's the case as the hard drives don't continue to be accessed, and there is no beep(s) from the BIOS upon startup.
Posted at 08:32PM Oct 29, 2006 by Gary Kephart in Computers | Comments[0]