Apr 03 2005 - ntpdate problem with socket
Symptom: ntpdate fails with "the NTP socket is in use, exiting" message.
Debug: The machine wasn't running ntpd, which would collide by usurping
the UDP port 123. strace shown that there is an attempt to bind an unix socket
/tmp/ntp that fails with an "Address already in use" error code (EADDRINUSE).
Solution: Erase the /tmp/ntp socket.
Comment: On the affected machine, the ntpdate process is persistently leaving the /tmp/ntp
socket in place.
Another solution: Use a script that deletes the socket when needed;
it will fail anyway if ntpd is running, though:
#!/bin/bash if [ -S /tmp/ntp ]; then rm /tmp/ntp echo "Stale socket removed" fi ntpdate "$@"
Mar 26 2005 - MPlayer problem with QuickTime under grsecurity kernels
Symptom: After loading the QuickTime.qts library, it claims "Unsupported QuickTime version (0x????????)",
where the reported number is different every time. (This variability was a dead giveaway.)
Solution: The machine that shown this problem ran a kernel with grsecurity patch, with
mprotect() restriction and mmap_base() randomization. This had to be allowed in order
to allow realtime patching of the QuickTime.qts file, using the command
chpax -mr mplayer
Comment: According to the source, these libraries could be affected by this problem as well:
wmvadvd.dll, vp31vfw.dll, vp5vfw.dll, vp6vfw.dll.
Comment: Some sources also suggest chpax -spm mplayer
Jul 6 2005 - Odd problem with network connectivity
Symptom: No communication between a network interface and a DSL modem.
Ping has 100% packet loss, however tcpdump shows the icmp echo reply packets.
It does not work for static IP, but works when the IP is set by "pump" by DHCP.
Cause: Changed network card. The MAC address was different, the modem insisted
on its own MAC for the given IP from its ARP cache, refused to update it.
As a result, the replies and all the packets were sent to a wrong MAC address,
only to be ignored by the Linux kernel as not belonging to the given network
card.
Solution: Power-cycle the modem.
Comment: Bloody insidious bug.
Windows printer problem
Symptom: Only two tabs in the printer properties.Test page print fails with
"Windows was unable to print the test page. Would you like to begin troubleshooting now?"
Attempt to use a different printer driver restored the tabs, though the printer was behaving
incorrectly due to the wrong driver. (This is Windows 98.)
Solution: Uninstall the printer, delete its files. Reinstall it from scratch.
Comment: Kill Bill.
Apr 07 2006 - Linux server running samba, periodically coughing out a weird error
Doing a node status request to the domain master browser at IP 192.168.1.128 failed.
The machine did not have the IP address specified. Except for a short time in a distant past.
Which caused samba to remember it, and then continued asking for that network over and over.
Solution: Erase these files:
/usr/samba/var/locks/gencache.tdb
/usr/samba/var/locks/wins.dat
(Your exact location of the files may vary, according to where you have samba installed.)
Comment: Annoying but mostly harmless.