Friday, November 21, 2008

Windows - Delayed Write Failed when copying to USB disks

Trouble transfering large files to USB devices? I've had quite some problems with Delayed Write Failed even after caching disabled, increasing the system page size, etc. when transfering large files to Western Digital USB 2.0 500MB and 2TB MyBook Devices (though this looks like an issue with USB storage devices in general).

Messages like these turn up in Even Viewer:

{Delayed Write Failed} Windows was unable to save all the data for the file . The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.

or

Application popup: Windows - Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file. The data has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere. 

To fix this enabled SoftRetry for USB transfers:

Start - run - cmd. Type:

  • reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USB\EnSoftRetry /v Data /t REG_DWORD /d 1

Other hacks to get around this issue:

Look into HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management at LargeSystemCache and SystemPages.

Disable write caching on the disk (Right click the drive letter -  Properties - Hardware - Select the Disk - Properties - Policies - Optimize for quick removal).

Make sure you monitor errors under Start - Run - eventvwr.msc -> System.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

DHCP Server on AIX

# vi /etc/dhcpsd.cnf

leaseTimeDefault 30 minutes
leaseExpireInterval 3 minutes
supportBOOTP yes
supportUnlistedClients yes

network 192.168.0.1 255.255.255.0
{
 subnet 192.168.0.0 192.168.0.11-192.168.0.16
}


# startsrc -s dhcpsd
0513-059 The dhcpsd Subsystem has been started. Subsystem PID is 335890.

# lssrc -ls dhcpsd
Log file: /usr/tmp/dhcpsd.log
Log Level: 0x16
Client Expire Interval: 3600
Reserve Expire Interval: 900
Bad Addr Reclaim Interval: 4394967295
Database Save Interval: 3600

 
IP Address Status Duration Time Stamp Client ID
---------- ------ -------- ----- ------- ---------
192.168.0.11 Leased Infinite Nov 13 12:22 1-deadbeefcafe
192.168.0.12 Leased Infinite Nov 13 12:24 1-abadcafebabe
192.168.0.13 Free
192.168.0.14 Free
192.168.0.15 Free
192.168.0.16 Free

Friday, November 07, 2008

Bitlbee - Yahoo and IM console client on AIX

Bitlbee supports XMPP/Jabber (including Google Talk), MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AIM and ICQ and creates a localhost IRC server you can connect to with say EMACS ERC irc client. Great for the whole ssh -> screen -> EMACS -> ERC deal.

It's quite nice for consolidating all your communication inside of Emacs (IRC via ERC, mail and news via GNUS, IM via bitlbee), etc.

Luckily, Bitlbee compiles out of the box on AIX, and you don't even need root permissions to use it.

Simply download it and compile it with say gcc:

% gunzip -c bitlbee-1.2.3.tar.gz| tar xf -
% cd bitlbee-1.2.3
% ./configure --ssl=openssl
% gmake
% ./bitlbee -D -n -v -i 127.0.0.1 -p 12345 -c ./bitlbee.conf
Now connect your IRC client to localhost port 12345 and create your account.
register password
account add yahoo username password
account on