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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-crg!lll-lcc!qantel!ihnp4!houxm!mtuxo!mtune!bakerst!kathy
From: kathy@bakerst.UUCP (Kathy Vincent)
Newsgroups: net.micro,net.micro.att
Subject: Re: flow control?
Message-ID: <256@bakerst.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 25-Sep-86 12:35:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: bakerst.256
Posted: Thu Sep 25 12:35:43 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Sep-86 18:48:15 EDT
References: <252@bakerst.UUCP>
Organization: bakerst, Winston-Salem, NC
Lines: 104
Keywords: UNIX PC, keyboard, CRT, missed characters
Summary: more details
Xref: mnetor net.micro:6130 net.micro.att:1506


In response to this posting of mine, [continued below recap]

     In article <252@bakerst.UUCP>, kathy@bakerst.UUCP (Kathy Vincent) writes:
     > 
     > Question.  I've been noticing some messages 
     > lately on net.micro and net.micro.att that remind
     > me of a problem I've been experiencing all too
     > regularly on my UNIX PC (3B1), and I'm curious to know whether
     > anyone else has been having the same problem.
     > 
     > I'll be typing along when I realize that some of the
     > characters I'm typing aren't showing up on the screen.
     > Experimentation has shown that sometimes the characters
     > are being received by the system, sometimes they aren't.
     > In other words, I'll type in a command and only part of
     > it will show up on the screen, but when I <CR>, most of
     > the time, the command is executed. 
     > 
     > It happened the first time about three months ago -
     > right when my machine was in transition betwixt
     > warranty coverage and maintenance contract coverage ...
     > Happened again a bit later.  Then happened, like, once
     > a day for a week about two weeks ago.  (I don't know about
     > more recent history - I've been out of town for a while.)
     > 
     > The first few times, I noted that there had been heavy
     > electrical activity in the area - thunderstorms - immediately
     > prior to the occurrence of the problem.  Can't say that's true
     > for all of the later occurrences.
     > 
     > If I remember correctly, the similar sort of problems are
     > happening on 3B2s, and someone suggested a kernel flow control
     > problem???
     > 
     > Comments?


I received the following reply in mail, requesting more information,
which I happily supply: 


> Please post more, including:
> 
>    -	Type of system (I guess it's some variety of UN*X, but what system
> 	on what box with how many users).

As posted, I have a UNIX PC Model 3B1.  I'm running UNIX System 5 -
which I understand is a variant of 5.0 - release 3 for the UNIX PC.
My machine has 2 MB of RAM on the motherboard and a 67 MB integral
harddisk.  No cards (i.e., no combo card or anything).
One of those times, I might have had a 6300 attached to the
RS-232 port, but that would have been one of the first two times -
and I know that I didn't experience the same problems with the 6300
if it was attached (which I doubt, but couldn't swear by).
Each time the problem occurred, I was the only person online,
working at the console - on the machine itself.

>    -	Type of terminal; if a PC of some sort, what sort with what
> 	communications program.  (It's even possible you're the sole user
> 	logged onto a PC running UNIX; I couldn't even tell that from
> 	the original posting.)

Although I often have someone else working on my UNIX PC at
the same time, calling in via the built-in internal modem, 
I was the only one working each time the problem occurred - at
least as far as I know.   Sole user.  Sitting at my own
desk in front of my own machine.

>    -	Line speed and connection type (long distance? PBX? LAN?)

Line speed - the console works at 9600 baud.


Additional information:

I called the Hotline the other day to ask about the problem.
No clues.  They were as puzzled as I am.  I ran the memory and
parity, processor, monitor, and keyboard diagnostics - no errors.

Just for the heck of it, I installed the 3.04.30L kernel 
yesterday.  My understanding is that's a fix for the combo board,
which I don't have, but I figured, what the heck - couldn't hurt,
might help.  And besides, I needed a little excitement.




Kathy Vincent
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