17 Apr
2002
17 Apr
'02
1:30 p.m.
From: Christopher Smith <csmith(a)amdocs.com>
To: "Classiccmp (E-mail)" <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Subject: Explain the NeXTStation "dim monitor" problem, etc...
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 10:59:52 -0500
Sender: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Reply-To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Ok, I've got my NeXTStation working, but I'm in need of some
advice.
First off -- can somebody explain the common problem with the
monitors going dim? Can I fix it? (How?) Is there an internal
"intensity" pot that I can adjust to get more life out of the
monitor? It is just bright enough not to strain your eyes at
the highest brightness setting right now... (It's B&W)
NeXT bought the monitors from Sony. Sony bought CRTs that had
a limited cathode life. The cathodes have mostly expired by now.
Next, can anyone tell me why, after booting into
single user mode,
and changing the root password with 'nu -m' I might still be
refused a login next time I boot?
I was able to get in once yesterday, after which I tried this morning
and was refused. I booted to single user mode again -- looked at the
current password hash, changed the password again (the hash turned out
different, but I'm not sure that means much really, and could just be
different "salt"), booted again normally, and still couldn't get in.
The password file "/etc/passwd" is not used any time that NetInfo is
running, which is nearly all the time. A few minutes ago I posted a
method to modify the NetInfo view of the root password, using
nidump and niload.
A) It's getting another password from somewhere and overwriting the
one I put in? (I hope not.. :)
Yes. The password file that is actually used is stored inside
the NetInfo database.
B) Something's not starting right during boot right now, and it needs
this to log people into the system? (More likely, I think...)
It does still want to connect to the network, and complains about not
being able to talk to several machines when it boots. I'm not sure
whether this would make a difference, or how I would convince it not to
do this. :) Any suggestions?
More NetInfo stuff. You need to reset the database so that the computer
does not know about its previous life.
Look on the net for the NeXT FAQ. It will help a lot.
First place I found using a Google search is
< http://www.non.com/news.answers/NeXT-FAQ.html >
carl
--
carl lowenstein marine physical lab u.c. san diego
clowenstein(a)ucsd.edu