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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Hello!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Problem
Description: a previously stable installation of RedHat 7.2 on an ES40
AlphaServer supporting the application Mathematica 5.0 (which runs under
Linux). This computer has been in routine weekly use by me for the
purpose of solving various math problems of interest to me as a hobby and also
sometimes to support consulting work performed by me (business has been poor of
late). This system has been operating successfully for at least three
years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>About
6 weeks ago I attempted the generation of some fancy graphics displays to the
screen, something I had not attempted previously. Strange things, with
minor impact seemed to happen after that, slower booting is one symptom and
some commands that worked before did not seem to work as they had in the past,
but nothing of a work stopping nature.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Then,
one day the system simply would not boot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>As
a starting point I removed all the disks; installed spare disks and reinstalled
RedHat 7.2. The system runs well with the reinstalled operating system.
By “runs well” I mean that you can play games on it with flawless
and quick performance. I have not attempted to reinstall the Mathematica
application yet. Clearly not a hardware problem. Somehow, I have
damaged the software while attempting the fancy plotting (color plots, lots of
curves, etc.) or at least so it appears.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>The
problem: reinstalling Mathematica requires a payment to Wolfram Research
(not excessive, but I would just as soon avoid it if possible) and I will lose
electronic copies of the Notebooks developed on this system. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>There
are paper copies of the work performed to date, however, it would be nice to
skip retyping those .nb files if possible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>The
question is how to troubleshoot the damaged installation? Philosophical guidance
at this point, please. Please keep in mind that while I had sufficient competence
to follow directions and successfully install RedHat 7.2 on the ES40; that is
not particularly a strong point with my computer expertise.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Any
and all suggestion gratefully accepted!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial Black","sans-serif"'>Bill<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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