Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!tellab5!wheaton!stefan
From: stefan@wheaton.UUCP (Stefan Brandle )
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: How to replace a partition table
Summary: Lies, diagnostics, and diagnostics' lies
Message-ID: <1916@wheaton.UUCP>
Date: 6 Mar 90 20:47:13 GMT
References: <1990Mar1.180652.13910@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <9947@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Reply-To: stefan@wheaton.UUCP (Stefan Brandle )
Organization: Wheaton College, IL
Lines: 24

In article <9947@cbmvax.commodore.com> grr@cbmvax (George Robbins) writes:
>I wouldn't be too surprised though if it turns out there is actually some
>kind of controller or drive related problem - wrong switch settings or wrong
>geometry.  Diagnostics aren't to be trusted...

Closely related, I was reading recently in a book on ethernet implementation by
Bill [Something] that according to Bill's law:

	Diagnostic programs lie.

with the corellary (SP?--ran this through `spell' in 4 variants: all rejected)

	Different diagnostic programs lie differently.

My addition is that "The manual is also known to lie."  I once went bananas
trying to get something working on an RQDX2 only to have somebody point out
that the binary jumper settings from the manual were all off by 3 positions.

-stefan
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Stefan Brandle                  UUCP: ...!{obdient,uunet!tellab5}!wheaton!stefan
Wheaton College			or	stefan@wheaton.UUCP
Wheaton, IL 60187 		"But I never claimed to be sane!"