Someone Looking for Help

Is this iron old enough that someone here could help Vicki? To: silent-tristero(a)world.std.com From: Vicki Rosenzweig <vr(a)zebra.acm.org> Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1998 17:01:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: help--trailing edge equipment Sender: silent-tristero-approval(a)world.std.com Precedence: list Reply-To: Vicki Rosenzweig <vr(a)zebra.acm.org> Status: U I'm not sure this is relevant to tristero, but I can't think of who else to ask. I have a network of three Sun Sparc IPXs, plus an Annex II terminal server and a bunch of dumb terminals hanging off the Annex. Xylogics, the company that made the Annex, is no longer supporting that model, at all--the last time I tried calling them about something, the only suggestion they were willing to make was "we could sell you something more modern." It may come to that, but I hope not. Here's the situation: for Reasons Too Complicated To Explain (in other words, I'd start frothing at the mouth), the cables that connect the Annex to its dumb terminals and to the Ethernet are in the open, under a desk. Thus, they get kicked semi-regularly. Someone kicked the cable connecting the Annex to the Ethernet transceiver loose this afternoon. The first I knew of it was when someone came to find me, and asked why all the terminals were dead. When I tried to plug it back in, I found I couldn't--a couple of the pins on the transceiver had been bent out of shape. I replaced the transceiver (with one of a different model, but which I know is good--it worked elsewhere in this network). Nothing. I rebooted the Annex: it gets as far as a set of lights that translate to "trying to reach the Ethernet to download software." I got desperate, pulled the only other cable of the same kind off the network (which involved undoing about eight NFS cross-mounts), and plugged it in instead. Nothing. So, basically: I tried replacing the transceiver, I tried replacing the cable, and the Annex box insists that it's fine, it just needs to download software. Does anyone have any idea of what might be going on here, or of how I can fix it? (I do know where to buy a live chicken, but I suspect management would look askance if I brought it into the office.) Signed, Desperate in New York Vicki Rosenzweig vr(a)cr.acm.org | vr(a)interport.net http://www.users.interport.net/~vr/ -- Warbaby The WebSite. The Domain. The Empire. http://www.warbaby.com The MonkeyPool WebSite Content Development http://www.monkeypool.com Dreadlocks on white boys give me the willies.