nuxx.net
Making, baking, and (un-)breaking things in Southeast Michigan.

qmail-pop3d Problems

January 26, 2006

Note to self:

My mom’s computer was unable to check her email with Mail.app. IMAP worked fine. When logging in by telnetting to port 110, the following error about being unable to read the home directory was received, yet the proper permissions was there:

-ERR this user has no $HOME/Maildir

My mom also reported that occasionally she was able to check her email just fine.

The problem ended up being that Mail.app was set to leave all mail on the server. By the time there were around 1400 messages in her inbox (stacked up over the past eight months or so) it seems that these messages were simply too much for qmail-pop3d to parse upon login, and the error was received.

It should be noted that the log for qmail-pop3d showed a successful login with an unsuccessful one immediately following.

The solution was to ensure that she had all her mail, then clear out the POP3 server. Now everything works fine.

computersmoved from livejournal

PICkit 2

January 26, 2006

Well, I just ordered a PICkit 2 Starter Kit. Hopefully using this I’ll be able to learn more about programming PICs, hopefully resulting in re-programming the PIC16F876A in the Honda Music Link Interface Box. With any luck, I’ll be able to build a proper interface between an iPod and the CD changer port on Honda head units and offer the firmware up for download for others to use. Maybe I could also charge $20 or $30 or so to re-flash other people’s Honda Music Link Interface Boxes as well, making the device work differently and better. That’s a goal, at least. :)

Oh, this morning there were also some especially nice things to look at on the way to work… As I left before sunrise, there was a wonderful sliver of brightly lit moon visible, with a whole bunch of earthshine on the dark part. Plenty of planets hanging out in the sky, as well, happily reflecting sunlight and looking pretty to everyone on Earth.

Also, as the sun started coming up, I was actually able to see a golden glow on the Chrysler building in Auburn Hills, visible from five or eight miles away. Quite impressive.

One other thing… The new iPod is so thin that with my headphones plugged in, it doesn’t set flat on my desk. I don’t know if this is good or not. :\ It’s also so thin that it’s a bit difficult to plug in the dock connector in the car. Maybe I just need to get used to it.

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iPod Install

January 25, 2006


Finalized iPod Installation
(Click for more…)

Okay, I just wanted to share this picture to show that my iPod installation all finished, with the new iPod in place. I have to say, I think it looks quite nice. This view here is pretty much what I see while driving…

So, yeah. It’s all set. I’m happy. Now I just need to clean up my work area in the basement. I was going to do that today, but I ran over at Waveform, and then I spent other bits of time straightening up my office and getting a few random things done.

Now it’s time to relax.

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rez.nuxx.net

January 25, 2006


rez.nuxx.net (on the right) in the colo facility.

Just FYI, rez.nuxx.net is back up. Everything was done as of just before noon…

I just had the problem which normally happens when I visit the Waveform offices. That is, I get to talking with Bill there, and next thing I know a few hours have passed.

Well, I’m back home, the server is back up, and everything seems good.

computersmoved from livejournal

rez.nuxx.net Outage

January 24, 2006

rez.nuxx.net Outage

To everyone who I host things for on my server, rez.nuxx.net. It seems that /dev/ad10 (one of the 120GB disks in the RAID 0+1 array which holds all the web and email data, databases, logs, aggregated backups, etc) actually has gone south. It’s still spinning and all, but when I tried to run a SMART extended offline test, there was a read error:

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       20%      5330         208317256

So, I’m looking at replacing the drive sometime around 11am tomorrow, which means that the server and such will be unavailable. It’ll be back up ASAP, hopefully by noon.

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More lightbulb stuff…

January 24, 2006

Hrm, more thinking about bulbs is leading me to believe that the GE Photofloods which I purchased earlier today just aren’t right for the job. I came across these Sunwave full spectrum compact fluroescent bulbs, which look like they may be just about right. 150W equivilent, CF, 5500K, and a CRI of 93, which should be plenty good for my needs. The bulbs will run about $60-something for four, but the lifetime on them should be great. I’m now thinking this may be the way to go…

At least I can return these bulbs, having not even used them. < shrug >

Additionally, instead of replacing the disk tomorrow I just rebuild the array, including the failing disk. It appears to complete offline SMART tests properly, so it looks like it’s just beginning to have issues. I’ll replace it when I have more time… It seems to be working for the time being, though.

UPDATE: I just got off of the phone with Cindy from Cloud Dome during which time I ordered four of the aforementioned CF bulbs. I’m going to return the three GE BCA lamps to Camera Mart on Thursday, return the non-daylight ‘Daylight Plus’ lamp to Lowes, return the crappy CFs to Home Depot tomorrow, and pick up one more clip-on work light. This should work out well.

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Lighting Continues…

January 24, 2006


GE BCA, 115V, 250W, 4800K

Well, as was suggested to me, I ended up going to Camera Mart at lunch and buying three of the 250W daylight GE Photofloods, product BCA. My only concern is that they are only listed as having a 3-hour life, but I’m hoping that means 3 hours at the particular temperature. As long as they drift uniformly, that should be fine with me. Price was US$3.99 each, so I figure it’s worth a try. May as well use the proper item.

UPDATE: It seems that one can also get compact fluorescent bulbs with a CRI of 93, and a temp of 5500K. They are probably going to be around US$15/each, so maybe I’ll order some of these for working with in a few weeks. For now I’ll play with these photofloods and hope I don’t burn any out. :)

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Good Morning…

January 23, 2006

Well, this is just what I wanted to see when I read my webserver’s log files this morning.

rez.nuxx.net kernel log messages:
> ad10: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (2 retries left) LBA=208317255
> ad10: TIMEOUT - READ_DMA retrying (1 retry left) LBA=208317255
> ad10: FAILURE - READ_DMA timed out
> GEOM_MIRROR: Request failed (error=5). stripe/stripe1[READ(offset=213316869632,length=4096)]
> GEOM_MIRROR: Device mirror1: provider stripe/stripe1 disconnected.

And the output from a script I wrote to check the RAID status daily:

GEOM mirror status:
Name Status Components
mirror/mirror0 COMPLETE ad0
ad2
mirror/mirror1 DEGRADED stripe/stripe0

GEOM stripe status:
Name Status Components
stripe/stripe0 UP ad4
ad6
stripe/stripe1 UP ad8
ad10

< sigh > At least I’ve got some spare disks… And I just happened to run a backup last night.

(Just FYI, there’s no data loss. One of the stripes which makes up half of the 0+1 array I use for data has gone offline due to a disk faililng.)

computersmoved from livejournal