Archive for the ‘Troubleshoot’ Tag

Linux top command errors with Segmentation Fault

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

A user reported he could not execute the top command.

I accessed his system and found top worked. However, if I used to the su command to become the user, top would fail with a segmentation fault. To add to the oddness was a strange message: Cannot get binary type. Odd messages such as this can fill a person with dread as it could mean somebody messed up their profile.  A debugging task that is rarely fun or rewarding.

I checked the PATH and found it was in order.

For fun; I reloaded procps.

I even checked security settings.

Still the segmentation faults continued.

At this point; I asked a few people and checked the Net and didn’t get any obvious answers.

I tried another system with the users account and though it pulled an error at login, it did run top.

What could be wrong?  Do I need to reload the system?

I checked the users profile and didn’t see anything obvious.  I happened to run ls -la and one thing did catch my attention. There was a file called .toprc. I renamed it and top worked!

It turns out you can have an RC file for top.  I didn’t know that as my need for top is usually the load on the system…..

 

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c:\hpssbem.exe is not a valid win32 application

Sunday, October 20th, 2013

Today was a new message.  I was supposed to convert two Linux servers to Windows 2008 Server.  The two servers are HP DL360 G5s.  Old but still usable as they were going to be workgroup servers.

The install procedure was to use the HP Smartstart CD.

One server converted without issue but the other after going through these two steps:

X:\windows\system32 > wpeinit
X:\windows\system32\ C:\hpssbem.exe

Gave the interesting error message of:

C:\hpssbem.exe
C:\hpssbem.exe is not a valid Win32 Application

Wait?……..This is a 64bit install?…….Why would it want a Win32 application?……..

I tried a restart.  I tried to rerun the install and even formatted the disks but the same error occurred.

Finally, after clicking OK and using the console window; I had a look at the hpssbem.exe and found it’s size was “0.”   Rather odd as why would there be a copy problem if it worked on the previous server?

I inserted the Smartstart CD again an located the application at:

<cdrom>:\compaq\install\w2k8x64

I copied hpssbem.exe to C:\ and re-ran wpeinit which started the installation of the OS.

Posted in 2008 | Tagged , | 2 Comments

The account used is a computer account. Use your global….

Thursday, July 25th, 2013

While scripting a report; I noticed a bogus error about a file version being wrong.

I examined the server in question and found the server service was not running.

I tried to start it but it stopped right away with the following message in the system event log.

The Server service terminated with the following error:
The account used is a computer account. Use your global user account or local user account to access this server.

Another server with the same problem would give this message:

Windows could not start the Server service on Local Computer Error: 1808: The account used is a computer account. Use your Global user account or local user account to access this server.

The service was configured correctly.

An odd problem and it’s cause was the fact a couple users placed URLs in the system Path variable (ie \\server\mount\dir).

Removing the entries and a reboot of the server corrected the issue.

Posted in 2008, PowerShell | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

You must be an administrator running a console session…..

Tuesday, July 9th, 2013

I was trying to debug a problem on a remote server through remote desktop.

I wanted to run a Windows File Protection scan (sfc) but was rewarded with:

You must be an administrator running a console session in order to use the sfc utility.

I looked at Microsoft and found this technote.

The resolution was was to run it locally as this was by design!!!!

I thought “Come on! I have to drive over to the machine!”

Then, I noticed “Applied To” and saw only Server 2000 listed.

Hmmm?  Administrator?…..

What would happen if I started a command window as a local administrator (right click the menu option and select run as administrator)?

Success!

Lesson of the Day:  Read the whole technote!

Posted in 2008, Remote Desktop | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Could not start PsExec service on host

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

I have a script which uses psexec to check a few things on new servers. I ran the script and received the following message.

Couldn’t access *hosta*:
The handle is invalid.
Could not start PsExec service on *hosta*:
Access is denied.
Starting PsExec service on *hosta*…

Rather an odd message because another server with the same configuration didn’t have a problem. I checked a few things but did not find anything obvious. Server pings, remote desktop works, etc., etc…..

From the other box I tried to see if I could remote access the C drive via \\hosta\C$ and received this error:

\\hosta\C$

Logon Failure: The target account name is incorrect

The AD account looked ok but when I checked the host; I found a typo.  Instead of *hosta* there was *hosa* (obviously not the real name but you get the idea).

I deleted the domain account and simply renamed the server.  The domain prompted for an admin level account to do this and rebooted.

Don’t forget to move the host to the proper AD group if you use them.

Moral of the story: DNS/AD is both a friend and enemy. DNS pointed to the correct server but simple things would not work while other things like remote desktop did.  Well? Only because a previous problem prompted for a change in the negotiation level of RD.

It’s funny but I look back to my first AD design course and I remember the teacher repeating most AD problems are DNS related.

Posted in 2008, PowerShell, Windows | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

This could be caused by an outdated entry in the DNS cache.

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

I was setting up a new server and when it came time to test a few things; I received this nice message when I tried Remote Desktop:

The connection cannot be completed because the remote computer 
that was reached is not the one you specified. This could be caused
by an outdated entry in the DNS cache. Try using the IP address of 
the computer instead of the name.

I checked the cache and DNS and found it was in order. Remote desktop would work with the IP address.

This was one of two machines with the same setup and the configuration matched the other machine. I checked the Microsoft site and found this.

All you need to do is:

  1. Start > Administrative Tools > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.
  2. Look under Connections and Right-click the RDP listener (Connection name is RDP-Tcp) and select properties.
  3. Look in the security box where you should see the security layer is set to negotiate.
  4. Change it to RDP Security Layer via the drop down button.
  5. Click OK and close the Remote Desktop Session Host Configuration.

After that; Remote Desktop by hostname works.

I can’t explain why this happened on one of two identically configured systems. I could go back and hunt for a reason if I had time which I never do of course….

*update*

Well now. While working on another issue; I found the problem. The hostname was misspelled on the host. DNS and AD managed to give functionality but other things like simply mounting the C drive \\host\C$ failed giving the error “The target account name is incorrect” A quick delete of the domain record, a reboot and the problem is solved.

Posted in 2008, Remote Desktop, Terminal Server, Windows | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

LSF will not re-install

Saturday, March 17th, 2012

There was a case were an LSF installation had to be reinstalled on a Windows 7 machine. We ran the uninstall and deleted the LSF folder from the C drive. However, when attempting the re-installation; we received a message about the LIM service already running for the cluster.

Checking the services; I found Platform LIM still listed. Normally you would also see Platform RES and Platform SBD.

The suggested solution was to re-install the system. This was not attractive as the build process takes time to configure and verify for production.

My first thought was the service was keeping the installation process from running. The question was how to remove it?

After a little search I found the sc command which allows you to use the command line to interact with the Service Control Manager and Services.

The command needed:  sc delete [service name]

Now what would be the service name? If you return back to the services interface and double-click Platform LIM, you will see the service name which is : LIM.

You can also use the sc command by entering: sc query | more

This will list all services. Look for Platform LIM and above it will be the service name.

After I found the service name; I entered:

sc delete LIM

The service went away and the LSF installation was successful.

Technet Documentation for sc delete.

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