write protection question

[Tim2112]

We use a couple different methods to access our PC-Doc software; one way is over a network and another is to run it on a machine locally from a USB drive.   We just got a new build (PC-Doc DOS Factory build 3.0.1766) last week; and I successfully implemented it into our automated production scripts that run over the network.   However, today I took one of our diagnostic USB keys (which we use to run PC-Doc on prototypes and design type systems); replaced only the PC-Doc files with the updated ones from the new build.   Everything works fine excpet for that when PC-Doc tries to access the local folder on the USB key we use to store the test log, it says that location is write protected.   We never ran into this problem with the last build, and the only thing that has changed on the USB keys is the actual PC-Doctor files themselves.   Is there something in the new build that could possibly causing problems accessing/writing locations on the USB key?   I tested the key on a "known-good" system type we test all the time and it had the same issue.  Any ideas as to what may have changed?

[fwilson]

Tim2112,

I just looked up your build and the release notes state:
Use same code delivered in 4752 (1641) and extend date lock to 3/18/2010
So nothing should have changed. 

Is it possible that the USB Key could be out of space?  The other thing that comes to mind is that there is a boot image, probably 2.88 floppy, on the USB key.  This is what the key boots to and is usually assigned drive A:, you would not be able to write to this.

Run PCDR and look at the logical drive map, you can then exit to DOS and try some simple "copy con test.txt" commands to make sure you can write to the drive you wish to log to.

-Fred

[Tim2112]

Thanks Fred,

Glad you mentioned checking the logical drive map; as I did this I noticed PC Doctor was detecting 7 physical hard drives, each over 700 GB, inside the laptop which only has a single HDD.   It appears as though PC-Doc isn't getting along well with the Dell E6400; when I retested on our "known-good" system everything was working as expected.  (I must have used the wrong key yesteday when testing...)

The Dell laptop has it's own diagnostic partion setup with onboard diags; which when run indicate everything is ok with the laptop.   The odd service/diag partitions on the laptop HDD may be throwing PC-Doc for a loop...

Either way, I edited our test scripts to write the diagnostic log to a USB floppy drive and re-ran PC-Doctor.   When the log was written to the USB floppy disc (as opposed to a location on the USB key) everything worked as expected.  PC-Doctor detected, tested, and passed 4 HDD's on the laptop.  Odd that when running the detect physical drive option in PC-Doc it found 7 drives; but when running the tests it only tested 4.  I'm not sure why it would see the single hard drive in the laptop as 4; but I guess it could have to do with the sevice/diagnostic partitions that come on the drive from the Dell factory...

[fwilson]

Tim2112,

This may be card reader issue.  We have found that some systems containing card readers (CF / SD), report these as drives to through the BIOS.  The reported "size" of these phantom drives varies.  On systems that we have run through the QA lab we can make these go away programmatically but, we have to know what to look for.

In a factory environment set the system up to test only real drives via PDO or command line switches and you will be in good shape.

Thank you for being a customer.

-Fred
 

[Tim2112]

Ah yes that would make perfect sense.   Thanks for your help once again!  =)

I'm curious if using the suggested command line switch would also allow the test file to be written to the USB key without the odd write protection error messages...

[fwilson]

Tim2112,

Yes you can point the file to any logical drive and name it whatever you want. This would have no affect on the write protect issue.  The USB key should be able to be written to as long as there is space.

Assuming you boot off of the USB Key, the data portion of the USB key would be A:  If you PXE boot from the network, it would be something else as the A: drive would be the ramdisk created by the PXE boot process. What the something else is depends on the system, how many drives, card reader etc.  You may be trying to save the log file to a phantom drive that looks like the USB Key.

The only way to be sure is to exit to dos from the environment (PXE or USB boot) and see if you can create a file on the drive.  If you can that is the proper logical drive.

-Fred

[fwilson]

Tim2112,

The product is being actively developed on a daily basis and the current code has many new features.  As a factory customer you are certainly entitled to the newest code if you desire.

The factory product is used and integrated in many complex manufacturing environments.  We do not just change the code for factory customers unless we are asked.  This can have unintended and disastrous effects on their processes.

From reading the build request, a license extension was all that was requested and it was marked as urgent so there would be no break in production. 

Now that the licensing has been extended on the codebase you have been running for the last year, let’s move forward.  Please contact your CRM, Lynne Savinski and request a code update.  One will be provided to you and you can test and integrate it in your production environment without worrying about licenses expiring.

-Fred

[Tim2112]

Thanks so much Fred, I contacted Lynne and look forward to getting the updated code base; I imagine it will eleviate some of these occasional issues we see from the various platforms that come through our lab.  As always thanks for your help....

[fwilson]

Tim,

You are most welcome and thank you for being a customer.

-Fred