| I recently inherited a ThinkNIC - mainly because it had stopped working. Wouldn't boot: processor fan would spin up, power light would come one, CD light would come on - and there it would sit, going not a tad further toward normal operation (CD would NOT spin up). In short, FTNS - Frozen ThinkNIC Syndrome struck. Well, when I finally got it it had been sitting off in a closet for some time - probably not less than 3 months. I brought it home and hooked it all up an WALLA! (excuse my French) bootez accompli monsieur! (rough translation: it booted pretty normally). Began tinkering, booting with other bootable Linux CD's and all went well - for about an hour, that is. Then, as I sat there next to it the screen suddenly went dark. Hit a key on the keyboard and the screen came back. Short time later, screen went dark again. Hit a key - nothing. Then the thing spontaneously rebooted to: FTNS - the Frozen ThinkNIC Syndrome. Nothing I did would bring it back to life: it would power on, fan spinning up and lights lighting, but no CD spinning and no screen output. Well, I set it aside for a time (1 month, 2 months?). Then, just the other day I tried booting it again and WALLA! (there goes that French again) bootemois beaucoup. Just like normal. Well, this time it lasted for only about 10 minutes before spontaneous reboot to blank screen and, you guessed it, FTNS. So, there it sits now, waiting for sufficient passage of time before it boots again.
While it's waiting for it's proper moment, I'm left to wonder: what is the cause of this? I monitor the K12LTSP list (Linux Terminal Server Project) and I've heard talk there about people that are using them for thin clients and how some of them will just stop booting - sometimes for a time, and sometimes permanently. I've just looked through this forum and seen similar indications here. Something's wrong with these machines in a sort of general way - some manufacturing defect, hardware glitch or maybe software glitch (BIOS). Anyone have any idea what it could be? Could it be the BIOS? Seems like a likely candidate, since the machine can't really seem to complete it's BIOS routine, hanging before getting to the first boot device. Anyone think this could be what's wrong? Searching the 'net on some general information I got off my BIOS I found that the manufacturer has released BIOS flashes that fix a "PnP halt error." Could that be the nature of the problem my - and apparently others' - ThinkNIC is having? Could this be the explanation for the dreaded FTNS? And if it is, what can be done about it? Would a BIOS flash fix the problem? A new BIOS chip? It's kind of tough to flash a BIOS when the thing won't boot in any way shape or form. I guess I could just wait for the right moment when the thing will want to boot again and attempt the flash then. But, anyway: what are other peoples' thoughts/observations on this?
Thanks, James | |
