FOG Client log reporting old RC and odd behavior

[Tom Elliott]

@Wayne-Workman My description of elements searches was even further limited that how much is searched. If the string r01300 shows up in any of the inventory and what not. It’s difficult to express what and/or where, but I can try a session tonight with you if you’re up to it to see if we can figure out exactly where this is all occurring.

[Wayne Workman]

Just wanted to post an update here, Joe has been helping me with figuring out what the problem is, he built a special copy of the fog client for me to use, and I’ve been using this along with some other scripting techniques to try to “cause” the issue to happen, and when it does this special fog client has mechanisms in it to immediately gather data that we need to figure out what’s happening.

So… it’s just a waiting game right now.

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman I have the utmost confidence in the team. I patiently await the results.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p We need to compare windows updates with each other.
Control Panel -> Small Icons -> Programs and Features -> View Installed Updates

Here’s mine, post yours too please from a system that was affected.

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman there are quite a few more updates on my side. I exported a nice html list of them but am unable to upload anything besides a picture to the forums. The list is too long for a screenshot. I have a csv of them also. Let me know how to proceed.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p Can you look at my list and see if you have any of those installed?

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman

I have none of the KB Windows updates, no flash player update, and my acrobat reader DC update version is 15.020.20039.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p Is your environment all Windows 7 pro? My environment is Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB x64.

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman Windows 7 Pro x64

[fry_p]

@Joe-Schmitt said in FOG Client stops reporting & working:

@michael_f @Wayne-Workman @Hanz a patch has been developed and verified for this issue. It will be released with 0.11.6 (along with a few other new features) once release candidate testing finishes for the client.

If that’s the case, this can be marked as solved. Thank you everyone! It appears that most of the random shutdowns in my district were caused by some sort of dirty power situation. We’ve discovered Daisy-Chained powerstrips on problem PC’s (GRRRRR) and in one case we think the actual wiring in the room (the building and wiring is really old) may be causing random shutdowns. We are installing a mini UPS there tomorrow. Just out of curiosity does anyone else have random shutdowns on Dell Optiplex 5040’s? It may be that they are very sensitive to dirty power, or maybe a design flaw… We pulled our hair out over this for weeks on this.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p said in FOG Client log reporting old RC and odd behavior:

We’ve discovered Daisy-Chained powerstrips on problem PC’s

Personally I doubt this is the issue. At my next-last job and last job, we daisy-chained surge protectors together in order to power computer labs that simply didn’t have enough outlets. It was always fine. And my next-last and last job had no shortage of labs like this. I believe it to be quite a common setup. Even here at home, I have surge protectors daisy chained because the area I’ve setup for my home lab environment has only 2 outlets and it’s just not enough for 10 computers + networking gear. I’ve never had such an issue with random shutdowns.

Something else is causing your issue. It could be that you have “Smart” surge protectors that have a “Master” outlet, and if the master outlet is drawing power then all the other outlets are turned on, and if the master outlet is not drawing power the other outlets get turned off. At my last job, we got a large order of these and all they do is cause confusion because nobody but the technicians understand how they work. It could be windows updates causing a restart, could be scheduled shutdowns in FOG are jacked up because of timezones not being set right in the server and on hosts. Could be something as simple as power management settings turning off computers after a few minutes activity. I really couldn’t tell you what is causing your issue without troubleshooting it myself.

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman
I will check if there is anything weird, but I don’t use any scheduled shutdowns or power management settings. We have exhausted all other factors through weeks of troubleshooting. The only affected models are Optiplex 5040’s. Older PC’s and other equipment run great on the same strips and outlets. The strips used are cheap and old. No surge protection on most of them. We’ve also replaced the PC in the same room twice to no avail. That is the only room we are currently still having issues. We’ve tried BIOS updates, latest drivers, different video adapters, re-building the image from scratch, etc. It keeps me up at night worrying about the stability of the new most common model of PCs in our district.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p You should begin using this model at your desk that way you’re present and knowing of what was happening if it happens.

[fry_p]

@Wayne-Workman
We had one sitting on the desk putting it through any stress test we could think of for days at a time. To date we are unable to replicate the random shutdowns.

[Wayne Workman]

@fry_p It could be a monitor, keyboard, mouse, patch cable, video cable, or power cable causing the issue too.

We had a computer “Spot” once that was just voodoo’d. It blue screen’d, I said OK. Image it. Fixed. A few weeks later, blue screen. I said, OK it’s a hardware issue. PC Replaced, boom fixed. A few weeks later, another blue screen. I said, OK, this is highly unusual, but I’ll image it. Fixed. And again, another blue screen.

After that last one, I went in with a replacement monitor, replacement VGA cables, replacement power cables for everything, replacement keyboard, mouse, surge protector, and replacement patch cable. The whole 9-yards. Everything but the physical desk and chair was replaced. And that fixed it. All the old crap I pulled from there was marked “bad” and surplussed, I didn’t even bother testing those items as they were old and low-cost.