Author Topic: Fettled any computer stuff today?  (Read 214083 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1250 on: 06 March, 2021, 05:35:29 pm »
Following on from the disastrous upgrade to pfSense 2.5.0, I have performed a fresh install using ZFS as the filesystem, restored the configuration from backup (which went flawlessly, hurrah!) and created snapshots of the working system.

At least if another upgrade goes wrong I should be able to roll back the changes next time.

Morat

  • I tried to HTFU but something went ping :(
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1251 on: 06 March, 2021, 10:11:31 pm »
Not a fettle so much as a rescue. I was to blame, of course. Lucky it was a Saturday...

We're still using Zimbra at work, running on a Centos 7 VM. I'm due to migrate to O365 but I'll be sad to see Zimbra go. But the VM is full. So full, in fact, that the root drive filled to the last byte and it fell over. Cue a phone call from my PFY who doesn't really understand email and views it with much the same bemused condescension as he would a postcard.
A bit of panic later, I was able to run xfs_repair -L which prompts all sorts of scary warnings about pending transactions being deleted. It booted fine.
Then I deleted a load of backups and it had tons of spare space.
I have already increased the disk size twice so I'm up to the max of four primary partitions and further extension is more "dangerous" although dangerous by linux standards barely registers on the Windows scale of "reboot and pray" IME.

I guess it's time to be assimilated.
Everyone's favourite windbreak

Afasoas

Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1252 on: 10 March, 2021, 03:29:26 pm »
Following on from the disastrous upgrade to pfSense 2.5.0, I have performed a fresh install using ZFS as the filesystem, restored the configuration from backup (which went flawlessly, hurrah!) and created snapshots of the working system.

At least if another upgrade goes wrong I should be able to roll back the changes next time.

I've deferred upgrading to 2.5 for now. Had a trawl through the open issues and figured too much stuff will be broken (Gateway groups/traffic shaping IIRC).
pfSense VM is backed up nightly to ZFS storage, with 21 days worth of snapshots retained, and restored to the backup server as a sort of poor-persons luke warm high availability. Oh and the config is backedup daily too. All belts and braces.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1253 on: 10 March, 2021, 05:42:21 pm »
Yeah, it was the traffic shaping that broke the config restore.

Mine's running on an APU4, and while I have a sufficiency of config backups, and figured any hardware failure would result in some screwdriver work and possibly a clean install, I hadn't really considered what happens if you aren't able to restore the config.

To that end I've archived the install image of the running version (as it appears they disappear from the website with each release), and set up the ZFS stuff for ease of rolling back errant upgrades.

2.5.0 seems to have fixed the bug where it would occasionally get itself into a state with no IPv4 default route, which is a major improvement.  It's still counting outbound bytes on the WAN interface twice (seems to be PPPoE related).  Lots of traffic shaper stuff has changed, and tbh I never fully wrapped my head around traffic shaping in the first place.  I've got a simple PRIQ setup that serves to prioritise ACKs and VOIP, and de-prioritise offsite backups and P2P, which are the only things that really matter for us.

There doesn't seem to be an elegant way to do L2TP failover to AAISP, as the tunnel takes priority over the DSL at their end.  Not that that's really a problem, as we've got a PAYG SIM that would need manually topping-up before non-trivial use anyway.  For now I'm leaving the L2TP interface disabled, in lieu of "enable this interface but keep it down unless brought up manually".

Morat

  • I tried to HTFU but something went ping :(
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1254 on: 03 May, 2021, 05:30:00 pm »
I finally got round to updating my personal Nextcloud install. It probably wasn't a good idea to put it on an elderly 32bit Synology NAS but that was all that work had going spare...

I still can't get imagick installed, and the cron tasks last ran 7 months ago, so there's still a bit to do.
Everyone's favourite windbreak

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1255 on: 21 May, 2021, 07:18:23 pm »
Just fixed a php routine that had been bugging me (and the server).

I know not a lot about php, so I'm quite chuffed.  ;D
It is simpler than it looks.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1256 on: 21 May, 2021, 10:27:11 pm »
After a great deal of faffing about Professor Larrington and I have managed to persuade Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.)'s Mega-Global Big River Corporation of Seattle, USAnia dimwitted Alexa thing to start talking to the Internets again.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1257 on: 22 May, 2021, 12:41:05 am »
After a great deal of faffing about Professor Larrington and I have managed to persuade Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.)'s Mega-Global Big River Corporation of Seattle, USAnia dimwitted Alexa thing to start talking to the Internets again.

Are you sure that's wise?  As opposed to, say, burying it in concrete...

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1258 on: 22 May, 2021, 11:14:58 am »
After a great deal of faffing about Professor Larrington and I have managed to persuade Lt. Col. Larrington (retd.)'s Mega-Global Big River Corporation of Seattle, USAnia dimwitted Alexa thing to start talking to the Internets again.

Are you sure that's wise?  As opposed to, say, burying it in concrete...

He does find it quite useful for reading audiobooks at him, since he ent able to read electronic or dead tree books any more.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

CommuteTooFar

  • Inadequate Randonneur
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1259 on: 09 June, 2021, 07:30:30 pm »
Today I installed a new processor and graphics card in my main computer.  Nothing is straight forward.

Problem 1.  Removing the old graphics card was really awkward. I could not find the release clip in the dark space between the card and the cpu cooler.  Eventually I found a torch and I was enlightened and pressed the lit up lever and the card popped out.

Problem 2.  Went to stick the card in but it would not fit.  So removed the back cover so I could access some empty drive trays and removed them.  The card could then be put in my case.  Old card had single 8-pin power connector the new card wanted two.  So I went looking through my modular power supply cables for another vga cable.  Found one with two heads at the card end so I decided to replace the currently connected cable wth this one.  After I removed the cable  from the psu I noticed this was also two headed cable. The third end had been pushed out of the way so I did not notice this.  So I reattached the original cable to power supply in the same place I had removed it from amd pushed the two cable though the wiring 'gromit' between the back and frontside of the case. Harder to do because there is now a big graphics card in the way.  I pull them through and connect them to the card.

Problem 3.  I start the computer it comes up as expected.  A couple of programs fail to start.  Another has lost all its settings. I looked at control panel the hardware is working. I was puzzled.  Then I realised I had one less drive than I should have,  The SSD with "My Documents" was not there. I open the back side again, notice a dislodged data cable, pushed it back in, pressed start and everything is back to normal. Actually a little faster.


woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1260 on: 04 August, 2021, 12:42:14 am »
Installed a SSD on old laptop. Them wee keyboard cables/bus things are a right old faff to get back in, aren't they?

I was sure I was smart as I created a recovery stick to re-install everything. Laptop needed a good clean up/rebuild anyway.

Just that I've forgotten that this laptop started life as an Acer with ALL the bloatware and win8.

So tomorrow it will be installed with a clean version of win10  Feck if I'm going to spend time removing all that junk.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1261 on: 04 August, 2021, 10:53:26 am »
Why doesn't win10's talky thing understand "SHUT UP !!!" ?

It just started to talk at me while installing a fresh copy, with the volume set to loud, the wee little bugger.

I'm only going to use these talky things when they understand that.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1262 on: 04 August, 2021, 11:42:28 am »
<Ctrl> is the standard button for telling screenreaders to shut up.  No doubt Microsoft do their own thing.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1263 on: 05 September, 2021, 12:27:15 pm »
Trying to get Logitech Media Server to see what's attached to a USB port on the router. The router thinks it's G:\ drive. I can navigate to it using Windows Extorter (This PC\Archer_VR900\Browse Folders\sda\Music) and play FLACs with VLC.

Other than that I'm a bit stuck  :(

Feanor

  • It's mostly downhill from here.
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1264 on: 05 September, 2021, 02:31:05 pm »
Has it ever worked?
Could be SMB version hell.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1265 on: 05 September, 2021, 02:50:58 pm »
Never tried before.

Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1266 on: 05 September, 2021, 03:11:06 pm »
I haven't backed-up any data on my desktop or laptop. I am thinking of buying a couple of SSDs
for the job. Would backing up the (windows 10) operating system to the external drives be as easy
as doing it for other files on the machines?

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1267 on: 05 September, 2021, 06:24:03 pm »
Trying to get Logitech Media Server to see what's attached to a USB port on the router. The router thinks it's G:\ drive. I can navigate to it using Windows Extorter (This PC\Archer_VR900\Browse Folders\sda\Music) and play FLACs with VLC.

Other than that I'm a bit stuck  :(


Has it ever worked?
Could be SMB version hell.

Got it. Went to Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off, then tick SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support.

It remains to be seen whether this buggers anything else up.

Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1268 on: 17 September, 2021, 02:39:47 pm »
I haven't backed-up any data on my desktop or laptop. I am thinking of buying a couple of SSDs
for the job. Would backing up the (windows 10) operating system to the external drives be as easy
as doing it for other files on the machines?
A few months ago we replaced the house desktop, because the old one had become painfully slow & occasionally froze. I told Mrs B that it might be fixable, but she insisted on a new one, so we got something with a shiny new NVMe SSD, & she was happy. Impressively fast starting up, loading software & closing down.

This left us with a spare PC which I thought was probably OK but for the HDD, & might do as a spare & for when we both wanted to use one - & we both prefer a proper keyboard & screen. So I bought a SATA SSD & cloned the HDD to it, after removing extraneous data & software then wiping all the free space.

Pretty easy. Just follow the destructions online. After I swapped over the drives, it started up with impressive speed (not quite as fast as the new one, but slower processor, slower RAM, & SATA vs NVMe . . . . ), & has been running happily ever since.

The old drive's been reformatted & is now in the new PC's spare drive bay, used for backups. Had some bad sectors. Not sure if that was all, but it's working fine at the moment.

The SATA SSD is a Kioxia (formerly Toshiba's memory division, & still 40% owned by Toshiba) from their 'Upgrader' range. Rather cheap. I have an old Toshiba external HDD which has been utterly reliable for several years, which influenced me, & the reviews reckoned it was good value & performance was reasonable - & it was only for the spare. Available in 240, 480 & 960 GB. There seem to be plenty of others out there which would also do the job, though.

Also - Windows lets you do image backups.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1269 on: 20 September, 2021, 10:56:04 pm »
All the FLACs are now on a SSD rather than an aged Ubuntu spinning rust laden box. It's quiet now  :)

Mrs Pingu

  • Who ate all the pies? Me
    • Twitter
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1270 on: 21 September, 2021, 06:19:58 pm »
\o/
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

HectoJ

  • 45 to go
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1271 on: 22 September, 2021, 10:27:56 pm »
I haven't backed-up any data on my desktop or laptop. I am thinking of buying a couple of SSDs
for the job. Would backing up the (windows 10) operating system to the external drives be as easy
as doing it for other files on the machines?

Can recommend buying a backup solution that does automatic incremental backups of the whole system (OS and data) to a local SDD, so you never lose any data (should the PC ever kick the proverbial)...

Take your pick from StorageCraft, Actify, Acronis etc. All are more or less good these days.

Or, if you are on Mac, just use Time Machine...

woollypigs

  • Mr Peli
    • woollypigs
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1272 on: 23 September, 2021, 07:32:11 am »
Even simple version on win10 is pretty good. Pick folder to back up, point to another drive, set it to do so in a time scale you need (I set every 30min) and time to keep (I set for a month*). Not noticed any slow down of PC when it runs. I have manged to get a file I had deleted from there dead easy. Since it is not some random compacted file/database you need to extract your file from. it's a direct copy.

My thinking is, if the puter falls over, either because hardware or software. It's time to reinstall of the OS anyway. Since the OS will prolly moan about something if it sees new hardware or is cloned back into the same system and you need to faff with the install of something or a random setting anyway. And even win10's install now of days is rather easy/fast/smooth.

* I got another local (as in house backup) and a remote (as in not in house) backup setup that I ssh/copy the files and folders I wanna backup for longer keeping.
Current mood: AARRRGGGGHHHHH !!! #bollockstobrexit

SoreTween

  • Most of me survived the Pennine Bridleway.
Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1273 on: 25 September, 2021, 12:02:27 pm »
Removed Microsoft's tentacles from my Pi fleet (which are there in the default raspian :( ).  Probably fairer to call them pre-tentacles.
2023 targets: Survive. Maybe.
There is only one infinite resource in this universe; human stupidity.

Afasoas

Re: Fettled any computer stuff today?
« Reply #1274 on: 24 October, 2021, 06:17:40 pm »
I haven't backed-up any data on my desktop or laptop. I am thinking of buying a couple of SSDs
for the job. Would backing up the (windows 10) operating system to the external drives be as easy
as doing it for other files on the machines?

Can recommend buying a backup solution that does automatic incremental backups of the whole system (OS and data) to a local SDD, so you never lose any data (should the PC ever kick the proverbial)...

Take your pick from StorageCraft, Actify, Acronis etc. All are more or less good these days.

Or, if you are on Mac, just use Time Machine...

Please don't use anything which relies on it's own proprietary backup format. I have no idea what backup solution I would use for Windows these days, but I do have painful memories of losing 6 months worth of photographs I took of various things because I trusted Acronis' incremental backups. I would probably script something up using robocopy in the worst case scenario. Or find an opensource GUI front end to robocopy if I didn't know what I was doing.