pottle@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Chris Pottle) (03/03/90)
I remember reading something about the following problem some time ago, but never in such detail. This comes from one of our SysAdmins: Owners of Kinetics FastPath 4 gateways should know that there is a serious internal connector problem with many gateways shipped roughly a year ago ... I just got off the phone with Novelle (the manufacturer, and they informed me that they are currently replacing all FastPath 4's at no cost even if they are out of warranty (the warranty period is nominally one year). They recommended that all owners of FastPath 4's contact them and consider replacing the gateway even if no problems are being experienced (Novelle can supposedly tell if your gateway is afflicted by checking the serial number and part number). The bad news is that turn-around time for replacement is ten working days (Novelle admits that they are falling behind because so many gateways are being returned), plus the time to ship the gateway out to San Jose and back, so you need to be prepared to part with your gateway for up to a month. Our gateway was behaving so badly (babbling on the AppleTalk side) that we really had no choice, but owners of heavily used gateways may want to weigh the costs/benefits of replacement. On the other hand, Novelle was unwilling to tell me how long they will continue to offer free replacement (and they certainly don't seem to be publicizing the offer - I hadn't heard about it until I called them about our hardware problems). If you are interested in obtaining more information, contact Novelle at 800-433-4608. Note that you need to obtain a return authorization number if you decide to exchange your FastPath.
ekrell@ulysses.att.com (Eduardo Krell) (03/04/90)
What are the *exact* symptoms of this hardware problem?
Right now, I'm having a problem with our FastPath 4 where "atlook"
from a Unix host would just list the FastPath gateway but not
all the printers on the Appletalk network. The CAP spooler just
hangs because it can't connect to the printers. I can fix this
by printing anything from a Macintosh connected to that same
Appletalk network. As soon as I print something from the Mac,
"atlook" displays all the printers and the CAP spooler resumes
working. This happens anywhere from once to 5 times a day.
Has anyone seen this behavior before?
Eduardo Krell AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
UUCP: {att,decvax,ucbvax}!ulysses!ekrell Internet: ekrell@ulysses.att.com