Frustration

[Dr A V Le Blanc]

I am reposting this in an expanded form; my original message got
blocked because I'm never certain which of my email addresses I have
used to subscribe to this list, and the moderator hasn't yet released
it.

Once again, I have a Dell machine which has a hardware problem.
We know this because the blue light on this poweredge 2850 has
turned yellow, and because the system event log contains this:

     Drive:Drive  #1 asserted fault state

Dell support sent me a shell script called delldset_v1.3.0.bin,
which they asked me to run.  I did, with the following result:

# ls -l delldset_v1.3.0.bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 13092007 May 10 13:20 delldset_v1.3.0.bin
# ./delldset_v1.3.0.bin
/tmp/delldset_v1.3.0.bin-14839-10286/install.sh: /tmp/delldset_v1.3.0.bin-14839-10286/install.sh: No such file or directory

Naturally I tried to find out what is wrong.  The script produces an
rpm file, which I have been able to extract elsewhere, since my system
contains no rpm command.  The rpm produces three files that don't
execute and a README file.

We got back to Dell support, and they sent another rpm.  Again,
I used alien on it, and got something which doesn't work:

# linttylog
/usr/sbin/linttylog: line 1: /sbin/consoletype: No such file or directory
/usr/sbin/linttylog: line 27: [: =: unary operator expected

	Serial Port Output History Handling Application 1.00 (Date 10/01/2003)
	        Copyright (c) 2003 LSI Logic Corp.

Depending on the buffer size, it may take several minutes...Please wait...

	TTY History Updated in the file tty.log.

Exiting.
/usr/sbin/linttylog: line 1: /sbin/consoletype: No such file or directory
/usr/sbin/linttylog: line 45: [: =: unary operator expected
# 

About this point they sent us a .exe program which is supposed to
produce a floppy disk.  In the past, since we don't actually have
any machines running Windows, we've had serious difficulty with
this, since we haven't any way to get the image out of the .exe file.
We also found that these files won't run as an ordinary user on the
University's public windows machines, since they require privileges
which only the administrator has.  So we arranged for someone to
run the .exe elsewhere and give us the floppy.  This time, we were
lucky to have a machine that has a floppy drive in it; considering
the difficulties we have getting virtual drives to work, I'm
not sure I want to try.  The first attempt with the floppy failed
as well:


          ************************************************
                        Dresm3 Version 3.09
          ************************************************
                        Conversion OFF
  :( :( BMC COMMUNICATION FAIL
  :( :( Failed to Execute Get Device ID Command

Finally they sent us a program, ttylog.exe, which we copied to
the floppy and which worked to the extent of producing some useful
information.  The problem has existed for over a week, and we still
have no solution.

I write to this list not in hopes of getting support for the hardware
problem, but to mention some of the difficulties which we face, and
which I suspect many Dell owners share:

(1)  Things like floppy images need to be supplied in a form which
     does _not_ require access to Windows to use.
(2)  Programs which are supposed to run under Linux should not be
     dynamically linked against libraries from one or other distribution.
     They must not assume the existence of utilities which exist only
     on one or other distribution.
(3)  People in the Dell support centres should be aware that there is
     not just Linux, but there are varieties of Linux with which their
     proposed solutions just don't work.
(4)  Dell should realise that they are doing a rotten job supporting
     some of their customers.

Would it not make sense to have a CD with the necessary diagnostic
tools on it, a CD from which you could boot without assuming you have
any particular software on your server?  Of course, if Dell were really
on the ball, they might even put BIOS upgrade programs on the CD
as well.

In this university we are more or less compelled to buy Dell because
of policies, but very many of us in the computer services department
would be happier with hardware from other sources precisely because of
support issues like those above.

     -- Owen
     Dr A V Le Blanc
     University of Manchester