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Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 18:17:12 -0500
From: Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com>
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Subject: Re: [OT] Spirit - Software failure
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Date: 2004-01-26T18:17:12-05:00
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Preben Randhol wrote:
> Last I read it had something to do with the filemanagement in the flash
> memory, but this is what it says in the nasa press release. What the real
> bug is due to I don't know ...

There's this now: <http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040126_1641.html>

	Spirit began acting up last week, when it stopped sending
	data and began rebooting its computer, eventually resetting
	it roughly 130 times. At one point, the rover thought it was
	the year 2053, Trosper said.

	To tame Spirit's computer, engineers temporarily disabled its
	flash memory.

	Engineers believe they gave Spirit too little random-access memory,
	or RAM, to adequately manage its file-packed flash memory, which is
	similar to the memory used by digital cameras to store photographs.

	Cutting off the flash memory eased the burden on Spirit's RAM and
	ended the rebooting loop that had plagued the spacecraft, Trosper said.

	Engineers planned to do a health check on Spirit's flash memory on
	Tuesday, and then begin deleting hundreds of unneeded files to make
	the memory more manageable for the rover's RAM, Trosper said.

"Too little RAM"? Sure sounds like a buffer overrun.