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Date:      Mon, 19 Nov 2001 03:07:07 +0100
From:      "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com>
To:        "Andrew C. Hornback" <achornback@worldnet.att.net>, "Greg Lehey" <grog@FreeBSD.ORG>, "FreeBSD Questions" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Mysterious boot during the night
Message-ID:  <003a01c1709e$e8318e30$0a00000a@atkielski.com>
References:  <005201c1706f$572afb80$6600000a@ach.domain>

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Andrew writes:

> It's not logical to create a baseline of your
> system by testing it's components?

It's not logical to test components that are extremely unlikely to be
malfunctioning.  At one time, when PCs were a laboratory curiosity and only
worked correctly on occasion, testing the hardware might have made more sense
(although, overall, PC hardware has always been remarkably reliable).  Today,
however, there is no reason at all to test hardware unless clear evidence of
hardware failure becomes apparent.

Software, on the other hand, has never been reliable, and has not become any
more reliable over time.  It therefore makes sense to be extremely wary of
software, and to test software configurations frequently.

> Hmm... guess I've not been following "logical"
> practices for years now, and don't think I'm going
> to stop.

It's up to you, but time spent running lots of hardware tests could probably be
better spent in other ways these days.

> You don't need to update the entire operating
> system if you can procure and install the patch.

Good.  So how do I know that this patch is related to the mysterious boot I
observed?

> You may have to ask... but, from what Greg has
> said, the patch was written specifically to make
> your chipset compatable with FreeBSD.

Fine, but how do I know that a chipset incompatibility had anything to do with
my problem?


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