Re[2]: [Xitami] Yet another crash...this time an error message

[Paul Reid]

>  so maybe its an amd thing ...anyone out there seeing this on
> non-AMD machines ?

Yes, at about the same rate: once or twice a year.

My current main server is AMD K6/2 350 and runs very solid in 256M
of RAM. My previous box was Intel P-133 and 32Meg and also ran
solid. I have run Xitami on a 386SX-16 with 4Megs... Win3.11's TCP
stack sucked but Xitami never gave any trouble even on a machine too
lame to surf its own pages.

Don't use any Win9x unless you really know Win9x well. Use one of
the NTs (or of course OS/2 or Unix if you wish).

On NT, NTFS is marginally more stable than FAT.

I agree about not running user-programs on a webserver. Often this
works fine, but sometimes not.

Do not expect the tray-icon version of Xitami to stay up. It does
for some people, but many folks report that it crashes/locks for
them. USE THE NT SERVICE version for any long-running server. I do
use the tray-icon jobbie for quick-checking stuff on my home
machine, but not for any server I am going to walk away from.

> Can you switch to the service without screwing anything up

I have no idea; never did that. I believe all the CFG files are
identical so it "should" work. But copy your CFG files to a safe
place first. The Service Installer does not always work; drop to a
command line and run the exe manually to see how to Install directly.

> I recently purchased a "blower" ... supposed to move about 12 cfm
> of air.

If the machine is truly over-heating, 12CFM is like being in the
desert and fanning yourself with a matchbook. Anything less than
45-60CFM in a case is wishful thinking.

First find out if the machine IS hot. Set it up exactly as it
normally runs (covers on(*), jammed in a corner, cat laying against the
case vents, whatever) and let it run all morning. Shut-down, rip the
cover off. Keep one hand on the metal case and use the other to
carefully feel around. For a long-running server, I like everything
so un-hot that I could keep my hand on it forever without pain. Once
you know what's hot, you can then begin to think about a fix.

However if Windows is staying up while Xitami locks, it is unlikely
to be CPU overheating (hot RAM is possible).

(*) Some machines run cooler covers-on, some run cooler with
covers-off. No easy way to guess. I have some PPro-200s in service
that are rock-solid covers-on, but cover-off will get flaky in 3 or
4 hours. So test it the way it normally lives.

 -PRR