From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Apr 26 17:24:17 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from bamboo.verinet.com (bamboo.verinet.com [204.144.246.5]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 43A8315648 for ; Mon, 26 Apr 1999 17:24:08 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from allenc@verinet.com) Received: from const. (allenc.verinet.com [199.45.180.181]) by bamboo.verinet.com (8.8.8/8.7.1) with ESMTP id SAA06764; Mon, 26 Apr 1999 18:24:06 -0600 Received: (from allenc@localhost) by const. (8.9.2/8.9.2) id AAA32799; Tue, 27 Apr 1999 00:24:20 GMT (envelope-from allenc) Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 00:24:20 +0000 From: Allen Campbell To: mike grommet Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: USR Modem heat and silo overflows? Message-ID: <19990426154942.A15036@const.> References: <4092EFCAF9AAD211A60800609767926115B2D1@ISIMAIL> <4092EFCAF9AAD211A608006097679261014114@ISIMAIL> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.95.4i In-Reply-To: <4092EFCAF9AAD211A608006097679261014114@ISIMAIL>; from mike grommet on Mon, Apr 26, 1999 at 08:21:24AM -0500 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Mon, Apr 26, 1999 at 08:21:24AM -0500, mike grommet wrote: > How strange. > > No suggestions, but for what its worth, I've got several USR modems in > freebsd servers and I've never had an overheating problem... or > ANY problem for that matter. > > Very odd. Have you had this happen before? (as your message would > indicate) > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG]On Behalf Of Allen Campbell > Sent: Sunday, April 25, 1999 11:31 PM > To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: USR Modem heat and silo overflows? > > > Relevant specs: > FreeBSD 3.1-STABLE > US Robotics Sportster 56K external > 486/133 > sio0 port speed: 115200 > > After about a week of continuous online operation with user mode ppp, > FreeBSD began reporting silo overflow messages. I had been downloading > significant amounts of data prior to these messages with no problem. No > changes have occurred to this machine since early March. > > After several boots and reconnects, the silo overflow messages > persisted and got worse. I shut the modem off and left it alone for a > bit. When I returned about an hour later, the messages stopped. > Several hours later they began appearing again. > > Due to prior experiences with USR modems I suspected a heat problem with > the modem. I shut it off, pointed a small desk fan at the device and > waited a bit. About 10 minutes later, the modem functioned with no silo > overflows. > > My question is; could a heat problem with an external modem manifest > itself as an silo overflow? I know diagnosing heat related problems is > not an exact science, but the cause/effect/workaround of this case > _seems_ pretty clear. My anecdotal experience with USR and heat > problems tends to reinforce my guess. > > I'm more concerned with avoiding these sort of problems than saving > money; what brands/models of external asynchronous modems would you > recommend for FreeBSD? > > -- > Allen Campbell | Lurking at the bottom of the > allenc@verinet.com | gravity well, getting old. I previously owned a US Robotics Sportster 33.6 which began disconnecting after 30 to 120 minutes. This took some time to diagnose. I cooled this modem using the same fan I've employed for the 56k modem and the disconnects stopped. After replacing this modem, I have experienced only very infrequent disconnects, which could probably be attributed to various non-problems with the ISP or the phone company. At work, our IT department has had to replace several USR 28.8s in one of our modem pools due to overheating. My understanding from searching Usenet is that the USR Sportster 28.8s are particularly susceptible to heat problems. I don't claim that any of this speculation about USR Sportsters is more than anecdotal. The question I posed is whether an overheated modem might lead to silo overflows. -- Allen Campbell | Lurking at the bottom of the allenc@verinet.com | gravity well, getting old. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message