Craziest fix that actually worked
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
A coworker had a SQL query in MS SQL Server that didn't run at all. All it did was process the query for a looooong time. My coworker entered a random line break somewhere and the query ran instantly. Weirdest performance fix I've ever seen... I've been searching for a problem in C#. I was using some library from a different solution which I had built myself. I encountered a bug, fixed the library and everything worked... For a few runs at least. Out of nowhere the bug came back. I spent the whole afternoon trying to fix it, but I got MessageBoxes that weren't there anymore, errors that could not be explained etc. Restarting VS2010 finally did the trick... Another great hack I've used: in a live production we print some files and save these files to disk and call them something like 'File+date+time+milliseconds'. Then our client got a new server and the files weren't saved to disk anymore because the filename was already used! Obviously the new server was so fast it could print and save two files in the same millisecond... A Thread.Sleep(500) fixed the problem! We've actually used that solution more than once... Although it's not something I'm particulary proud of, it does the job.
It's an OO world.
public class Naerling : Lazy<Person>{
public void DoWork(){ throw new NotImplementedException(); }
} -
In the before the before, I worked for a company that had a COM+ solution written in VB6. They sold the solution to a company that would not open their firewall for COM+ so I wrote a C++ server to map COM+ function calls over port 80 which they would allow. Crazy.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
I had to adapt a very, very legacy 6502 DA system intended for remote operation to local working. The system used a dialler to establish a phone connection and then tickled the modem to pick up the line (yes it was THAT old) and then squirted data to a remote Vax/VMS system in ASCII/Hex. Using just an 8086 PC and MSBasic I managed to emulate the dialler, the modem and the remote system - this worked perfectly for years.
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Many years ago we had a program that printed delivery notes on form feed dot matrix printers. One customer bought a slightly different printer that we hadn't used before, and we couldn't stop it spooling a blank note after each one it printed. I inserted control codes at the end of the print so that after each delivery note printed, a blank one would spool, then the printer wound it back in again.
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
I had that too
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Many years ago we had a program that printed delivery notes on form feed dot matrix printers. One customer bought a slightly different printer that we hadn't used before, and we couldn't stop it spooling a blank note after each one it printed. I inserted control codes at the end of the print so that after each delivery note printed, a blank one would spool, then the printer wound it back in again.
“I believe that there is an equality to all humanity. We all suck.” Bill Hicks
BTDTGTTS :-D
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
The most surreal aspects of what I could contribute are in the problems, not so much in the solutions. Rewriting something letter-by-letter worked several times with me, too. And there were no hidden letters or non-breaking spaces in the original. In a VB6 program, we got runtime errors when the program was run under Windows XP, but not when run under Windows 9x/ME/2000. Most annoying thing was, the error was reproducible only in the compiled program, but never in the development environment. Took us weeks to find out. Turned out it was using modal dialog windows (from the MsgBox function) in the GotFocus event handler. I don't remember the fix we used, though. In VB6, the SendKeys function ceased to work properly under Windows Vista. So I programmed a function that performed the needed keystroke actions one after the other. The weirdest issue we ever encountered is the following, I think: Some clients from Switzerland got a "path not found" error when running one of our programs, but it worked fine with most clients. During tests with several different Windows versions, no problems of this kind were ever encountered. Turned out it were only French-speaking clients that got that error. But setting the system language to French didn't reproduce it. Luckily, we had an MSDN abo that time, so we could legally download and test a French Windows version (I don't remember whether XP, Vista or 7; maybe all of them). Here, the error suddenly was present. A short investigation revealed that the API call for a path "plenked", i. e. it put superfluous spaces before punctuation marks - and the backslash was a punctuation mark too, seemingly. (Note: in French, spaces before punctuation marks except the full stop are required.) Solution was simple: Remove all spaces immediately before and after backslashes in a path.
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Our company has to reboot our Win2008R2 server every morning at 6am so it performs right during the day. I think it's mainly related to our ERP system (Epicor) but it seems to work. I've worked with VMS systems that under a HEAVY load have way over a year of uptime with no problems, we had to shut it down to replace a hardware component :(
Randy Riegel wrote:
Our company has to reboot our Win2008R2 server every morning at 6am so it performs right during the day
Blame that on shit programming. We have the same problem here, the reason? some bastard java programmer thought it would be fun to place a hibernate context (or whatever they're called) on the session on a web app, every single request. At every single action on the web app. Needless to say that even if we had the time to fix it, nobody understands what the hell is going on on that application. all we know is that perm gen blows up hourly. So now we have a job running on the server to run the GC every once in a while. Your case is probably easier, maybe it's just a config that is suboptimal, one of the server-restart-required apps here is a 1998 asp + vb6 app that got the threading model switched. In that case the app was recompiled, but maybe there's something you can do about the ERP that does not require a recompile...
I'm brazilian and english (well, human languages in general) aren't my best skill, so, sorry by my english. (if you want we can speak in C# or VB.Net =p) "Given the chance I'd rather work smart than work hard." - PHS241 "'Sophisticated platform' typically means 'I have no idea how it works.'"
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A batch program (DCL on VMS (5?) circa 1990) that I had to delete and type in again because the system refused to execute it. :sigh:
I've had to do that loads of times in various environments. Notepad for JavaScript code is notorious. I guess that it is somehow getting some control char that it does not bother to display. Yes, I know that I should be using something other than Notepad (and, yes, something other than JavaScript), but I'm in a locked-down environment where I am not allowed to load or run any unapproved software (which is unhelpful for a software developer).
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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Our company has to reboot our Win2008R2 server every morning at 6am so it performs right during the day. I think it's mainly related to our ERP system (Epicor) but it seems to work. I've worked with VMS systems that under a HEAVY load have way over a year of uptime with no problems, we had to shut it down to replace a hardware component :(
One company I worked for rebooted their Red Hat box every day at 4 in the morning, otherwise it would inexplicably freeze and drop messages (ie. money). It was not the OS's fault though, it was the crappy java/jboss app that did the messaging from the mainframe to swift and back. The log files it produced were over a gig each day and everyone spent some jail time sifting through them to try figure out what exactly caused the freeze. AFAIK they are still rebooting them every day.
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http://support.microsoft.com/kb/168702[^] - Method 2
-= Reelix =-
That is hilarious. I actually a lol moment when I read that. So all these years that I've made fun of people that continuously "exercised" their mouse while waiting for results (I've been guilty myself) and you're telling me that it's a legitimate solution? Too bad they don't give the explanation behind why the method works.
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
A person that used Scantron sheets for data entry upgraded their computer. After the upgrade, the computer could no longer communicate with the Scantron reader. It was a simple RS-232 interface. Reconnecting to the old computer, I noticed that the Scantron "ready" light would activate for about 30 seconds during which time the sheets would be successfully fed. With the new computer, the Scantron "ready" light would activate for about 0.2 seconds. Solution: toggle "Turbo" mode off for reading Scantrons. This gave them about a 5 second window to feed the sheet. Dang hard coded delay loops!
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
I once had network problems at 10:12 am every morning. It turns out that the static electricity produced by office staff walking on the carpet at the office was running up an unplugged cat5 cable short circuiting the cheap hub we had. Unplugged the cable from the hub completely and no more problems. craziest problem i have ever had to solve.
Eric
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Our company has to reboot our Win2008R2 server every morning at 6am so it performs right during the day. I think it's mainly related to our ERP system (Epicor) but it seems to work. I've worked with VMS systems that under a HEAVY load have way over a year of uptime with no problems, we had to shut it down to replace a hardware component :(
My very first paid job involved some Fortran development on an IBM360. I'd go home at 5pm each day, having logged out and powered down my terminal. (I don't recall what system we used, but this was 1977). Each morning I'd find the other staff scratching their heads about the mysterious crash of the '360 the evening before. This happened each day for a week until I overheard one of them saying "the only thing I can think causing it is someone's powering down their terminal". I left my terminal on after that and the daily crashing problem "went away". I never did own up.
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Ah, port 80 is really a bad idea. The default port of Skype is 80 and the XAMPP server's too. And i don't imagine working without skype and/or youtube
Microsoft ... the only place where VARIANT_TRUE != true
What a weird response, suggesting that somehow skype an use port 80 and not interfere with XAMPP but that somehow my code would have a problem. Normally, I would just say it is a little too late to go back to that decade and change code mandated by a very large client who would only open port 80 and just say, but only because I think honesty is the best policy, maybe you should go and learn how TCP/IP works.
Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost "All users always want Excel" --Ennis Lynch
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
There was a problem with earlier versions of MSOffice where it would not install or run properly unless you renamed a particular TrueType font file (Hattenschwiller) - See here:[^]
It's well known that if all the cat videos and porn disappeared from the internet there would be only one site left and it would be called whereareallthecatvideosandporn.com
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
It happens with hardware, too. Our satellite dish would simply not track the damn satellite. I fixed it by disconnecting a blue wire. No idea what that particular blue wire was connecting...there were hundreds of them in there and we didn't have detailed schematics available. And, yes, the report we sent in closing the ticket did say "disconnected a blue wire". :laugh:
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I'm just curious what the most surreal fix to a problem you've ever ran into has been? Trying to get some integration tests for an application that uses COM Interop to manipulate MS Excel on a new CI server a coworker and I ran into a problem where the tests would pass if ran manually; but when Cruise Control tried to run them we got an access denied type error when trying to write a file. The solution[^], courtesy of MSDN was to create a folder named
DesktopinC:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile. I don't even....Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
Removing the PC cover to give the program enough space to fit in... This was back in the DOS days. It kept our hardware service guy puzzled for a week: As long as the cover was off the PC, the application ran flawlessly. Once he put the cover back on, the application crashed. The reason was that the program was too big for the physical memory, with no check for this to give a reasonable error message. Some PCs in those days had covers that slid backwards: You simply had to unplug the power cord and everything else before getting access to the inner workings. This was a deliberate security measure. You had to plug in the cables again after removing the cover; presumably the service man knew to be careful. After sliding the cover back on, he plugged in everything, including the mouse. We were running Win 2.11 at the time, starting Windows only for those special applications needing it. So during the boot, the driver tries to make contact with the mouse, succeeds, and stays in RAM. This DOS application didn't use the mouse; it was a pure command line application. At the hardware service bench, it failed to find any mouse (because it wasn't plugged in), terminated, and a couple hundred bytes were freed. Enough to make the application run. Obviously, we didn't really need to remove the cover - unplugging the mouse and rebooting would do the trick. But for a week, until we saw the light, the only way we knew to avoid the crash was to remoe the cover.
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Taking a space character out of a modem name string on Windows. Yep, it fixed it. Piece of shit MSFT parsing code!
Erudite_Eric wrote:
Taking a space character out of a modem name string on Windows.
Yeah I had something like that, I had to take the space out of a window name. Only MSIE freaked when it had one.
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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A coworker had a SQL query in MS SQL Server that didn't run at all. All it did was process the query for a looooong time. My coworker entered a random line break somewhere and the query ran instantly. Weirdest performance fix I've ever seen... I've been searching for a problem in C#. I was using some library from a different solution which I had built myself. I encountered a bug, fixed the library and everything worked... For a few runs at least. Out of nowhere the bug came back. I spent the whole afternoon trying to fix it, but I got MessageBoxes that weren't there anymore, errors that could not be explained etc. Restarting VS2010 finally did the trick... Another great hack I've used: in a live production we print some files and save these files to disk and call them something like 'File+date+time+milliseconds'. Then our client got a new server and the files weren't saved to disk anymore because the filename was already used! Obviously the new server was so fast it could print and save two files in the same millisecond... A Thread.Sleep(500) fixed the problem! We've actually used that solution more than once... Although it's not something I'm particulary proud of, it does the job.
It's an OO world.
public class Naerling : Lazy<Person>{
public void DoWork(){ throw new NotImplementedException(); }
}Naerling wrote:
A Thread.Sleep(500) fixed the problem!
I've used a Sleep(50) between reads of a socket to ensure unique timestamps for each message. :rolleyes:
