Ron,

When you say that a) this is a read only problem that varies directly with
load, b) you have reproduced the problem on a separate HP3000, and c) the
problem shows up in different programs including "spaces return in the cond
word from Image" in COBOL programs.

I would conclude that a) it is not a hardware problem, b) it is not a
software problem associated with Supetool or your COBOL applications. My
first bet is that you may have a corrupted or mismatched version of TPI. My
second bet is that MPE has been corrupted in some fashion. This most
frequently occurs with partial or bad patches. Given that you have a test
system I would reinstall the TPI package if applicable and re-update MPE
using the tapes that came directly from HP. If the test system is not
available then I would re-update using the oldest SLT with a matching
configuration.

Note, in these types of situations you do not want to use your latest SLT as
it simply may be a copy of a corrupted system. This is why it is wise to
keep several SLTs back.

Mike Hornsby
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-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, February 08, 1999 6:27 AM
Subject: Data Corruption


>My production environment is a 997-300 with MPE 5.5. An irregular and
>infrequent problem started happening last September where suprtool extracts
>out of large image datasets would have corrupted records in it. Simply re
>running the extracts would solve the problem. The issue was raised with
>Robelle and we was we were assured it was not suprtool and so it was taken
up
>with HP.
>
>Since then, it has been happening with increasing frequency to the point
>where my support staff are up half the night every night supporting the
batch
>process. Suprtool is crashing, Sort is crashing, Cobol programs are
crashing
>with spaces return in the cond word from Image. It is happening to flat
files
>as well as various database. Extracts may contain more records than they
>should.
>
>The problem seems to occur when the machine is under a large load. Later in
>the night when the load is reduced the extracts rerun Okay. The problem is
>getting worse to the point where it is happening during the day as well. It
>appears confined to data extracting as no corruption of databases have been
>found other that those sourced from corrupted files.
>
>HP are having difficulty of identifying the problem. They have changed
various
>hardware/software components and had no success. They have built a machine
of
>similar specification, reproduced the problem but still cannot isolate the
>problem.
>
>Instability of this magnitude and duration is only adding to the pressure
to
>move away from MPE.
>
>
>
>Has anyone seen anything like this?
>
>
>Ron McFarlane
>Project Manager
>Mercantile Mutual
>
>
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