Bruce F. Webster

Since last November, I have bought three new, out-of-the-box systems preinstalled with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit  (and upgraded to Windows 7 Professional 64-bit at the end of May):

• an HP Pavilion e9237c desktop (quad-core 64-bit  processor, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive) [purchased early November 2009]
• an HP Pavilion dv7 laptop (dual-core 64-bit processor, 6 GB RAM, 600 GB hard drive) [purchased early March 2010]
• a Gateway SX2802 desktop (quad-core 64-bit processor, 4 GB RAM, 750 GB hard drive) [purchased mid-April 2010]

As I’ve written previously here, I’ve had on-going problems with ‘blue screes of death’ (BSODs) with the HP desktop system, which may or may not be tied to the graphics system. The c:\windows\minidump folder only keeps the last 50 BSOD dumps; a quick review shows that I’ve had 50 BSODs since January 20th of this year. However, given the fact that I was on the road for most of the period from late March through early July, and so not using my desktop very much, that number may be artificially low. For example, I have been home continuously since July 6th; in that time, I have had eleven (11) BSODs.

What I haven’t written about here are the extreme BSOD problems I’ve been having with the HP laptop since buying it earlier this year (early March). I have had literally hundreds of BSODs in that time and would have had more if I had not discovered at least one major factor: a wireless connection. If I have the wireless adapter enabled, not only do I get frequent BSODs while trying to work, I will get BSODs when the computer simply has the login screen up.

Case in point: ten days ago, on July 11th, I had my laptop powered up and the wireless adapter enabled.  My laptop then experienced twenty-seven (27) BSODs from 8:27 am to 2:54 pm, almost all of which happened without me being at the computer or even being logged in (from the windows\minidump directory):

[date]               [time]         [file size]  [file name]

07/11/2010 08:27 AM 296,376 071110-20638-01.dmp

07/11/2010 08:33 AM 296,376 071110-18408-01.dmp

07/11/2010 08:54 AM 296,376 071110-17877-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:00 AM 296,376 071110-17908-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:09 AM 296,376 071110-17737-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:19 AM 296,376 071110-16832-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:21 AM 296,376 071110-17066-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:42 AM 296,376 071110-18501-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:51 AM 296,376 071110-16317-01.dmp

07/11/2010 09:54 AM 296,376 071110-16208-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:09 AM 296,376 071110-16848-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:12 AM 296,376 071110-16489-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:21 AM 296,376 071110-16333-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:24 AM 296,376 071110-17144-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:30 AM 296,376 071110-16692-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:36 AM 296,376 071110-17019-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:45 AM 296,376 071110-16551-01.dmp

07/11/2010 10:54 AM 296,376 071110-16442-01.dmp

07/11/2010 11:00 AM 296,376 071110-16863-02.dmp

07/11/2010 11:24 AM 296,376 071110-17035-02.dmp

07/11/2010 12:42 PM 296,376 071110-17004-01.dmp

07/11/2010 12:45 PM 296,376 071110-18408-02.dmp

07/11/2010 12:58 PM 296,376 071110-17565-01.dmp

07/11/2010 01:00 PM 296,376 071110-17877-02.dmp

07/11/2010 01:09 PM 296,376 071110-17596-01.dmp

07/11/2010 02:48 PM 296,376 071110-18002-01.dmp

07/11/2010 02:54 PM 296,376 071110-16957-01.dmp

[UPDATE] I ran the WhoCrashed app on the latest 50 crashes on my laptop; it reported that it could only analyze 40 out of the 50. But those forty were, as far as I could tell, identical except for the ‘Bugcheck Code’ line; for example:

On Sun 7/11/2010 3:21:44 PM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0x7F (0×8, 0×80050033, 0x6F8, 0xFFFFF80003299E58)
Error: UNEXPECTED_KERNEL_MODE_TRAP
Dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump71110-17066-01.dmp
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.

[END UPDATE]

I do experience occasional BSODs on the laptop when I have the wireless adapter turned off and the laptop hooked up via an ethernet cable to a network, but they are much less frequent. But here’s the really interesting part. Because of my heavy travels, I bought a Sprint ‘net dongle (model U301) and the accompanying Sprint data service plan. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve had a single BSOD when connected to the Sprint network via the Sprint dongle.

In all this, my presumption has been that the problem has been with Microsoft, and it may still be. But back in mid-April, while home for a few days, I bought the Gateway desktop system because I needed a separate system that I could pull off the network to do some significant hard disk decryption and encryption (typically running 5-6 days straight each time). So the system has been powered up and running since mid-April, and has had during that time two 6-day periods of round-the-clock CPU- and I/O-intensive processing. (It is, in fact, the system I am using to write this post.)

Total number of BSODs on the Gateway system since I bought it three months ago: zero (0). Nada. None whatsoever. The c:\windows\minidump folder is empty.

The Gateway system has at least two key differences from the HP systems. First, it has no wireless adapter; the HP desktop has an Atheros 802.11 a/b/g/n Dualband wireless module, while the HP laptop has an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 AGN. Second, the Gateway uses an Intel G45/G43 integrated graphics chipset, while the HP desktop uses an ATI Radeon HD 4650 and the HP laptop uses an NVIDIA GeForce G105M.

The HP desktop is stable “enough” that I have no plans of replacing or returning it at the moment. As for the HP laptop, I am considering doing a clean factory restore  (and, if that fails to work, taking it back in; it’s under extended warranty), but it’s going to be a pain, particularly given all the software (including the Win7Pro upgrade) that I have installed on it.

Note, by the way, that I’ve seen no difference in the BSOD rate on either HP system since upgrading each to Windows 7 Professional at the end of May. Note also that ‘Automatically download and install Windows updates’ is enabled for all three systems, so they are all in sync with the latest Windows upgrades and with each other.

Anyone else had similar problems with newer HP systems running Windows 7?  ..bruce..

The KIN debacle (product canceled after five weeks; reports of actual phones sold range from 8,000 all the way down to 500), followed by Microsoft’s announcement of layoffs, has triggered on-line discussion among Microsoft employees, past and present. Even recognizing the self-selecting and inevitably self-serving nature of those comments, they still reflect serious, serious problems with Microsoft. Most telling is this comment from an ex-Microsoft employee now working at Google:

I’ve joined Google fairly recently after spending nearly a decade at MSFT, and I’m having to unlearn a ton of things I’ve learned at MSFT.

First, I had to unlearn that my opinion doesn’t mean shit. Engineers do, in fact, run Google, and I’m an engineer. A LOT depends on engineers here. Barely anything depends on the management or PMs. The comfortable, asphyxating bureaucracy of Microsoft simply does not exist. It is up to you to define the direction, and execute on it. If you’re good, you will also get other people to execute on it, by means of which you will establish yourself as a leader.

Second, I had to unlearn that my teammates are plotting something behind my back. As far as I can tell a few months in, they aren’t. Or they’re so skilled at it that I don’t see the plot (which after 10 years at MSFT is unlikely). They’re just building a product.

Third, there’s no “jihad” against anyone. Not even Microsoft. People are discouraged from thinking in those terms. No one is trying to “kill the fucking Microsoft”. No one is throwing chairs or calling Ballmer a pussy. People just build their products and services the best they can.

Fourth, there are very few people who can say “no” without motivating their answer with data. The first answer you will hear from anyone (including Legal!) is “yes”. It’s not blind acceptance or anarchy either, it is expected that you will motivate your changes, with data, if necessary. Want to change the way Google runs ads? If your change makes sense and you can demonstrate it, it will be accepted. Search? The same. This one is particularly hard to unlearn – after burying so many great (or at least I thought they were great) ideas because they weren’t _politically_ feasible, sometimes within the same extended team.

And so on and so forth. I wasn’t a bad performer at MS by any means (left the company 5 levels up from where I joined), and as a matter of fact I admire bits and pieces of Microsoft to this day, but Google made me realize just how miserable I was there. I don’t yet feel Google is the ideal place for me either, but one thing is clear – it’s much easier to breathe here, if you know what I mean.

When I wrote The Art of ‘Ware back in 1994, I came away from it with a greater appreciation of why Microsoft had achieved the success that it had. It appears that Microsoft has lost its way. ..bruce..

My dad, John Webster, got involved in electronics nearly 70 years ago. He enlisted in the Navy in 1941 and after surviving both Pearl Harbor and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, he was sent stateside, where he received initial training in radio communications. During his 29 years in the Navy, he worked largely in electronics, finishing up as chief electronics officer aboard the USS Providence (CLG-6) during its last tour in Vietnam, where it was flagship for the US Navy Seventh Fleet, and for a short time after it transferred back to San Diego (Dad retired in 1970).

Most of the electronics that Dad dealt with were old-school: vacuum tubes, custom circuit boards, large and discrete components, and so on. He said that whenever a piece of electronic equipment started acting up, his first course of action — if a quick inspection didn’t reveal a core problem — was to sharply hit the equipment on the top or side. As he explained it, heat and motion tended to loosen connections; a sharp rap would often re-seat those components.

I thought of that tonight when I got a text message from my wife that our dual-band 802.11n router suddenly stopped recognizing her laptop. When I called her, she said that one band wouldn’t accept the household password while the other band (on entering the password) would hang and eventually time out. After talking with her for a minute (we’re about 1,000 miles apart right now), I told her to go power down the router, wait about 30 seconds, power it back up, wait a minute, and then try again.

It worked.

I find it interesting that even as the physical hardware has become smaller, cheaper, more integrated and more reliable, it is our software — the virtual and digital connections — that tend to “come loose” over time. When a piece of digital equipment starts acting funny, how often is our first act — if a first inspection doesn’t reveal a core problem — simply to reboot or power-cycle the equipment? And how often does that, indeed, end up fixing the problem? And it’s not just with home equipment and home systems; I’ve seen the same approach applied to mis-functioning “high-availability” systems in large corporate environments.

This says something, I think, about the fundamental complexity (usually high) and quality (often lower than it should be) of the software, systems, and protocols on which we depend, both personally and professionally. We adapt as individuals and organizations to these systems, rather than having the systems adapt to us. And we all poke along together.  ..bruce..

When the iPad was announced, a major aspect of that announcement was the $30/month unlimited data plan from AT&T for the iPad.

Now, only two months after the iPad actually started shipping, AT&T is ending that plan as of June 7th, and I find it very hard to believe that Apple didn’t know this would happen, possibly before the iPad started shipping.

I ordered an iPad from the Apple Store back on May 22nd; it still has not shipped, which means that I am unlikely to get it before June 7th, and therefore will not even be able to ‘grandfather’ in under the $30/unlimited plan. There must be at least a few hundred thousand (if not more) people in the same position, all of whom ordered (and paid money) with the expectation of the availability of the $30/month unlimited data plan, but who will find that this data plan is no longer available when their iPads finally arrive. I do consider this classic bait-and-switch (and I’m not the only one);  I would not be surprised to see a ‘race to the courthouse’ from numerous law firms in an effort to establish class action lawsuits against Apple and AT&T.

I think that Apple is underestimating the anger, bad will and litigation that this move is likely to generate; I know I’m pretty appalled.  ..bruce..

Sorry for the hiatus. Since the end of March, I have been tied up with multiple engagements, one of which is more or less full time, while the others fill up most of the time leftover from the first one. It’s great to be this busy, and I’m learning lots of new and interesting things, as usual. But I’ve lacked the time and energy to keep up here. I will do better. Promise.  ..bruce..