In case your shop has installed Powerpatch 5 (or plans to) you might
want to review this.

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Dear Valued HP3000 Customer,

Earlier this week, HP discovered a problem with the MPEKX79 patch. The
MPEKX79 patch was included in 5.5 Powerpatch 5. As a result, we placed
Powerpatch 5 on temporary production hold, and we have stopped
distributing the MPEKX79 patch.  In this memo, we have outlined the
following topics:
*       A description of this problem,
*       What the temporary production hold means to you,
*       What is our plans to lift the temporary production hold, and
*       What are our plans to communicate resolution information to
customers that may have either patch MPEKX79 or 5.5 Powerpatch 5.

        (NOTE:  The following patches superceded MPEKX79; if you have
any of these patches, you are exposed to the MPEKX79 problem:
                MPEKXE4, MPEKXE9, MPEKX94, and MPEKXG6.)

        A Problem Description:
        =====================
        MPEKX79 was a performance enhancement patch, intended to improve
the file system performance when a file "cuts back" its EOF (in other
words, returned unused file space).  This file system function is most
typically used by a DBUTIL ERASE command.
        Intermittently, following an ERASE command in DBUTIL, data is
not being completely erased from datasets.  This results, for details,
in image error -3, for example:
        TURBOIMAGE ERROR AT $00016710; RETURN STATUS = -3
        DBPUT, MODE 1, ON RESIDENTIAL OF realty
        MPE FILE ERROR 0 RETURNED BY FREADDIR ON ROOT FILE
        For master datasets, dbputs fail with DUPLICATE KEY VALUE IN
MASTER (error 43).
        Attempts to fix the databases with adager result in the data
which should have been erased being "added to" the data which was put
into the database follwing the erase.
        While the vast majority of the problem reports received stem
from DBUTIL ERASE, there are a few reports of other usages hitting the
same problem.

        What this production hold means to you
        =====================================
        If you have not yet installed patch MPEKX79 or 5.5 Powerpatch 5,
then please do not install it.  If you have installed Powerpatch 5 or
this patch, please do the following:
*       please make all efforts to avoid entering the DBUTIL ERASE
command.
*       please make immediate arrangements to obtain the fix (see
below).


What are our plans to lift this Production Hold
=============================================
We have created a new patch, MPEKXJ3, which essentially removes the
MPEKX79 functionality.  This patch is currently being tested, and we
expect to "generally release" (GR) this patch by early next week.  At
that time, it will be available for download from the Electronic Support
Center.  We are fortunate that this problem is easily reproduced-we
should be able to verify our MPEKXJ3 fix quickly.
We have incorporated MPEKXJ3 into a new Powerpatch, which will be called
5.5 Powerpatch 6.  Powerpatch 6 is currently under test, and if all goes
well, it will be available for customer shipments around October 15,
1998.  You will be able to obtain 5.5 Powerpatch 6 via the normal
channels.

What are our plans to communicate resolution information to customers
====================================================================
There are many ways for customers to obtain reactive patches and
Powerpatches from HP.  Fortunately, for the most part, we are able to
capture information about who has obtained these patches.  We are
drafting a letter that will be sent to those customers.  This letter
will contain the same information that is in this memo.  We expect that
letter to be mailed as soon as possible.

=============================================
Jon Cohen
Commercial Systems Division
mailto:[log in to unmask]


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