I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly failed
to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound couldn't resolve
the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf
told me it could only access local files because no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth attempt, after powering
down the computer and leaving it for a while but without changing
anything else, I was able to get it to start up correctly.

Is this something I should be worried about? Is there anything I can
do about it if so?

(The whole reason why I was rebooting in the first place was because
Messenger Pro crashed twice in a row when I was attempting to start a
reply to an e-mail I'd received a couple of days ago, so I thought some
other piece of software might have been overwriting the memory
somewhere - that shouldn't be persistent over a restart, though. And if
a file in !Boot had got corrupted, that wouldn't have fixed itself
without my intervention.)

--
Harriet Bazley == Loyaulte me lie ==

Positive: Mistaken at the top of one's voice.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In message <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly failed to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me
it could only access local files because no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth attempt, after powering down the computer and leaving it for a while but without changing anything else, I was able
to get it to start up correctly.

Is this something I should be worried about? Is there anything I can do about it if so?

If you're sure that the failure was to connect to the router, rather
than connect through the router to the Internet: computers do this occasionally. PCs do it too. I don't think anyone really knows why.

If it happens more frequently, the first thing to check is the power
supply: is it really giving 5 volts?

David

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>,
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly
failed to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound
couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me it could only access local files because
no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth
attempt, after powering down the computer and leaving it for a
while but without changing anything else, I was able to get it to
start up correctly.

[Snip]

Don't laugh, but have you checked your cmos battery?

Bob.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 7 Mar 2026 as I do recall,
David Higton wrote:

In message <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly failed to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me it could only access local files because no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth attempt, after powering down the computer and leaving it for a while but without changing anything else, I was able to get it to start up correctly.

Is this something I should be worried about? Is there anything I can do about it if so?

If you're sure that the failure was to connect to the router, rather
than connect through the router to the Internet: computers do this occasionally. PCs do it too. I don't think anyone really knows why.

It was definitely failure to connect *to* the router; other devices on
the same router were fine.


--
Harriet Bazley == Loyaulte me lie ==

Micro Credo: Never trust a computer bigger than you can lift.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 7 Mar 2026 as I do recall,
Bob Latham wrote:

In article <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>,
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly
failed to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound
couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me it could only access local files because
no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth
attempt, after powering down the computer and leaving it for a
while but without changing anything else, I was able to get it to
start up correctly.

[Snip]

Don't laugh, but have you checked your cmos battery?

Does an ARMX6 have a CMOS battery?

--
Harriet Bazley == Loyaulte me lie ==

Flying is the art of throwing yourself at the ground... and missing.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <02dc64b65c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>,
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

On 7 Mar 2026 as I do recall,
Bob Latham wrote:

In article <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>,
Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6 repeatedly
failed to connect to the router after rebooting - Newshound
couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me it could only access local files because
no domain server was available. Eventually on the third or fourth attempt, after powering down the computer and leaving it for a
while but without changing anything else, I was able to get it to
start up correctly.

[Snip]

Don't laugh, but have you checked your cmos battery?

Does an ARMX6 have a CMOS battery?

I would be surprised if it didn't. Every machine I've ever owned that
had a real time clock had a battery for the cmos and the clock.
Certainly my mini.m machines do and they have trouble with booting
and networking when the batteries fail.

Bob.


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <5cb66fb021bob@sick-of-spam.invalid>,
Bob Latham <bob@sick-of-spam.invalid> wrote:

Does an ARMX6 have a CMOS battery?

I would be surprised if it didn't. Every machine I've ever owned that
had a real time clock had a battery for the cmos and the clock.
Certainly my mini.m machines do and they have trouble with booting
and networking when the batteries fail.

I found this on my ARMX6

In article <59af64c5b6p.porcelyn@kpnmail.nl>,
Paul Porcelijn <p.porcelyn@kpnmail.nl> wrote:

No need to dissassemble anything for a quick battery check.
1. Go to Alarm -> Set clock -> Set manually -> Set
2. Switch off ARMX6 completely (removing all power).
3. Wait overnight or at least one hour
4. Now switch ARMX6 on and have a look at date/time. When odd it's
time to exchange (or at least remove) the CR1220 coincell.

I suggest there is a vital omission from that list...
3a. Unplug any Ethernet cable

Otherwise the NetTime module might re-set the clock as soon as it
starts and connects to the Ethernet!

On 23 Jan, Richard Darby <richard@rjdarby.co.uk> wrote:

This can cause unexpected problems, in my case Pluto deleted all
it's backups of mail and news downloads and expired a whole lot of
articles. So any Application which is date or time dependant can be
affected,

I agree with that totally. A wrong date/time can cause chaos which
can take some time and effort to resolve.

Note that if you have Organizer v2.23 or later, then when it starts
it validates the current clock time, and gives an error message if if
thinks the time is suspect.

--
Martin Avison using a TiMachine running RISC OS 5
and the Pluto mail and newsreader
---
To alter your preferences or leave the group,
visit http://www.freelists.org/list/armini-support
List-related queries to info@armini.co.uk


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <5cb67aa443ajg@argonet.co.uk>,

<snip>

I agree with that totally. A wrong date/time can cause chaos which
can take some time and effort to resolve.

Note that if you have Organizer v2.23 or later, then when it starts
it validates the current clock time, and gives an error message if if
thinks the time is suspect.

Yes it does.
At the moment, my FAST machine is a bit flaky about the date and time.
If I have Organiser set to run at startup and the time is wrong, it gives
an error message and IIRC 3 alternatives, one of which is something like
set Time & Date. selecting that opens the Date/Time option in configure.
If I correct that all is well. If not, all hell can break loose.

--
Chris Newman

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <02dc64b65c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>, Harriet Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

On 7 Mar 2026 as I do recall, Bob Latham wrote:

In article <9404efb55c.harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk>, Harriet
Bazley <harriet@bazleyfamily.co.uk> wrote:

I had a worrying episode this afternoon when my ARMX6
repeatedly failed to connect to the router after rebooting -
Newshound couldn't resolve the newsserver hostname, AntiSpam
timed out on its mailboxes, NetSurf told me it could only
access local files because no domain server was available.
Eventually on the third or fourth attempt, after powering down
the computer and leaving it for a while but without changing
anything else, I was able to get it to start up correctly.

[Snip]

Don't laugh, but have you checked your cmos battery?

Does an ARMX6 have a CMOS battery?

Yes as someone has already pointed out its a CR1220. I had to change
mine some while ago - I've forgotten the symtoms. I guess there is
always a possibility of leakage so would recommend a change. It's
located on the real-time-clock - a very tiny module attached to the motherboard. Battery is not easy to see and I vaguely remember it was
a little tricky to replace.

Richard


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)