Solaris 9 UNIX system won't boot

So today I troubleshooted my very first real live UNIX disaster. Luckily this is on the machine I am learning on so no big deal. But I finally got to apply what I learned for the first time in a real life situation.

First off, a couple links that really helped me out.
Link #1: How to change the default boot device
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/817-1985/6mhm8o5oa?a=view

Link #2: Booting problems in Solaris
http://www.adminschoice.com/docs/booting__problems_in_solaris.htm#%22The%20file%20just%20loaded%20does%20not%20appear%20to%20be%20executable.

I wish I could thank whoever wrote those pages. But for now, here's what happened.

One morning, I came in and the screen displayed this:
"Timeout waiting for ARP/RARP packet"

I am still new to UNIX (been taking classes for only about 6 months so far) so I wasn't sure what that meant. So how to fix it? Well, just like in Windows, power off the machine and power it back up. Right? LOL. Well normally wrong but this time I got lucky. It booted and away I went.

Then this morning, same thing happened. And coincidentally, it all happened at the same time I started learning about file systems and formatting and whatnot. Maybe I mucked something? Well either way, I finally figured out how to fix it.

1> While it repeats that ARP message thing, press [stop]+[a] on the keyboard. This gets you to the OK prompt.
2> Then I type "printenv" from the OK prompt. I see a list of things with settings. There are 3 things that should be set like this:

boot-device disk
mfg-switch? false
diag-switch? false

I first noticed that "boot-device" was set to "disk net". So somewhere along the line that got changed. Was my machine hacked perhaps? Who knows. Also, "diag-switch?" was set to true. So I changed these items to their correct options like so...

OK setenv boot-device disk
OK setenv diag-switch? false

And then typed "reset" to reboot the machine and take the settings.

OK reset

And whaddya know? The machine begins to boot! Hooray. Somehow, someway, I must've fubarred the boot block. So that was part of the problem. Another part of the problem is that I managed to get it connected on the network but I'm not real good with that yet so it's possible that it got hacked. Or maybe I am just paranoid? Either way, after "correcting" all the block parameters, it's not fixed and I'm back in actioon. Hooray!

Outlook 2003 - Contacts Not Showing in Address Book

Subject: Outlook 2003 - Contacts Not Showing in Address Book

Outlook 2003 - Contacts Do Not Work as Email Address Book

The Contacts Database in Outlook has replaced the Personal Address Book as the
preferred place to store custom email addresses. But sometimes it is not
enabled and doesn't work (or show) as an email address book.

Enabling Contacts Database As An Email Address Book in Outlook 2003

1. click on 'Tools' menu then 'Email Accounts' option - see dialog.
2. click on the 'View or change existing directories or address books' option.
3. click 'Next'.
4. click on the 'Add' button then 'Additional Address Books' option.
5. click 'Next'.
6. click on the 'Outlook Address Book' option.
7. click 'Next'.
8. click on 'Finish' button.

9. click on the 'Contacts' tab - see contacts database.
10. right-click on the 'Contacts' option on the left-hand side (under 'My
Contacts').
11. click on the 'Properties' option - see multi-tabbed dialog.
12. click on the 'Outlook Address Book' tab.
13. ensure that the 'Show this folder as an e-mail address book' option is
selected.
14. click OK.

Your Contacts database should now be active as an e-mail address book.

Install Netgear WG111v2 USB device on Ubuntu 6.10

Install Netgear WG111v2 USB device on Ubuntu 6.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic

Get a printable version by clicking here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd7ng25p_19fq5cw4

Notes: (last updated February 12, 2007)

• This setup will work with WEP secure networks but will not work with WPA secure networks. It might work, but I haven't gotten that far with all this yet.

• The package 'wpasupplicant' and/or 'linuxant' and/or 'driverloader' goes beyond the scope of this example.

• This same procedure can be used with the Linksys WPC54g card, but so far I haven't been able to get mine to work. The hardware seems to be there but I can't get it to connect.

Sources: These are some links to pages that I found a lot of this help on. This page was written in a way that makes the most sense to me. Try these links if you get stuck.

Link #1:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-netgear-wg111v2-wireless-dongle-card-on-ubuntu-edgy.html

Link #2:
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=212365

Link #3:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=51993

After installing, customizing Ubuntu,.. do this

1. Enable logging in as root

• Login with your user account

• Go to System>Administration>Users and Groups

• Select 'root' and click on 'properties'

• Change root password and click Ok and then close the following window.

• Go to System>Administration>Login Window (enter your user account password)

• Click on the 'Security' tab and put a check by the 'Allow local system administrator login' and then click the close button.

2. Install ndiswrapper

• Go to System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager

• Select the 'All' section and then scroll down to find 2 packages:

  • ndiswrapper-common

  • ndiswrapper-utils-1.8

• Click on each one to 'mark' then for installation. Make sure it's only those two that end up being checked then click on the 'Apply' button on top. Let these packages install and when it's finished, close the window.
  

3. Check to make sure ndiswrapper is installed

If any of these seem to work, then you'll know ndiswrapper is installed.

If errors come up, then too bad. Try again.

shows help for this command
# ndiswrapper -?

shows a listing of Windows drivers that are installed

# ndiswrapper -l

4. Install Network Manager

• Go to Applications>Add/Remove...>Internet. Put a check next to 'Network Manager' then click the 'Apply' button. When this is done, close the window and reboot.

• Once the system comes back up and you login again, take a look in the upper tray (where the clock is). You should see an icon that looks like two small computer screens. If it's there, then you are good, move forward. If not, then too bad. Try again.

5. Now for the fun part. Let's get some drivers installed and configured. Follow this sequence precisely and you should be golden.

• First, download, unzip and put the correct windows driver in a folder in your home directory. You can get it from here: http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_notes/D102843.asp

• Here is an example of where my driver ended up: /home/myhomedirectory/MyWifi/NetGearWG111v2/WIN98

• Once you have the driver set like my example above, proceed (my example below assumes there are no errors as you move through this):

• launch a terminal window

# su root (login as root. it should prompt you for your root passwd.)

# cd /home/myhomedirectory/MyWifi/NetGearWG111v2/WIN98

# ndiswrapper -i net111v2.inf

# depmod –a

# modprobe ndiswrapper

# ndiswrapper –m

# gedit /etc/modules (add the word 'ndiswrapper' to the botton of the page. save it.)

• reboot

• Once the machine is booted back up, login again.

• Launch your terminal window again.

• Plugin your Netgear device

• Then type the following:

# ndiswrapper -l

you should see something like the following

Installed drivers:

lsbcmnds driver installed

net111v2 driver installed

# iwconfig

you should see a 'wlan0' section. If it's there, then the device is installed properly. if not, then something went wrong.

# iwlist wlan0 scan

this will display a listing of wifi networks in the area

# dhclient wlan0

this will obtain an ip address

• At this point you can left-click on the Network Manager and you should see a list of wireless networks in your area. Choose one and try to connect to it.

This post will be continued...

Speed Test

http://www.speedtest.net

And my highest speed yet...

Power your home with a grape?

Here's an article from an old science book. I thought it was interesting so I scanned it and posted it here.