Prev: NHTSA cannot duplicate Sikes' Prius problem
Next: NHTSA Report from 2008 on Lexus ES350 UA
From: Chuck Olson on 15 Mar 2010 12:26
What's so mysterious about runaway or non-responsiveness to controls on the
Prius? Electronic engineers have long recognized that whatever can go wrong,
will go wrong. For instance, when I start my PC computer, if I move the
mouse during an early part of the boot-up sequence, it will mis-write the
program and produce a disk error that takes an hour to correct with my RAID
array. If there is any boot-up sequence in starting a Prius, it, too, might
mis-write a section of code and produce an exit at an inopportune moment,
like after you hit "Resume" to come back up to speed. This kind of thing is
almost impossible to reproduce, because an interference with the boot-up
sequence will introduce any number of possible outcomes. I once hurried
through the turn-on of my Prius and encountered a dead state and had to
start over - - one lucky outcome among many possibly unlucky ones. Of
course, I don't know if there is any real boot-up sequence involved with the
Prius. Certainly all control contacts are thoroughly debounced so that there
is no possible alternative action than the intended, but the code string
then has to be executed no matter its error content. Certainly this is not
an informed comment - - I'm totally ignorant of the actual techniques of
writing life-dependent code for a motor vehicle. But my point is Murphy is
always there to further our education.

From: Michael on 15 Mar 2010 16:09
On Mar 15, 9:26 am, "Chuck Olson" <chuckolso...(a)REMOVETHIScomcast.net>
wrote:
> What's so mysterious about runaway or non-responsiveness to controls on the
> Prius? Electronic engineers have long recognized that whatever can go wrong,
> will go wrong. For instance, when I start my PC computer, if I move the
> mouse during an early part of the boot-up sequence, it will mis-write the
> program and produce a disk error that takes an hour to correct with my RAID
> array. If there is any boot-up sequence in starting a Prius, it, too, might
> mis-write a section of code and produce an exit at an  inopportune moment,
> like after you hit "Resume" to come back up to speed. This kind of thing is
> almost impossible to reproduce, because an interference with the boot-up
> sequence will introduce any number of possible outcomes. I once hurried
> through the turn-on of my Prius and encountered a dead state and had to
> start over - - one lucky outcome among many possibly unlucky ones. Of
> course, I don't know if there is any real boot-up sequence involved with the
> Prius. Certainly all control contacts are thoroughly debounced so that there
> is no possible alternative action than the intended, but the code string
> then has to be executed no matter its error content. Certainly this is not
> an informed comment - - I'm totally ignorant of the actual techniques of
> writing life-dependent code for a motor vehicle. But my point is Murphy is
> always there to further our education.


What kind of mouse are you using? USB? Or PS/2 style?

Michael
From: Chuck Olson on 15 Mar 2010 18:37


> What kind of mouse are you using? USB? Or PS/2 style?
>
> Michael

Logitech USB wireless.
From: Daniel who wants to know on 15 Mar 2010 22:35
"Chuck Olson" <chuckolson01(a)REMOVETHIScomcast.net> wrote in message
news:hnln45$shq$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> What's so mysterious about runaway or non-responsiveness to controls on
> the Prius? Electronic engineers have long recognized that whatever can go
> wrong, will go wrong. For instance, when I start my PC computer,

The Prius isn't a "personal computer computer" as you put it, it is custom
hardware and firmware, that doesn't eliminate the possibility of errors but
it sure beats an OS running with thousands of possible different hardware
and software combinations.

> if I move the mouse during an early part of the boot-up sequence, it will
> mis-write the program and produce a disk error that takes an hour to
> correct with my RAID array.

I recall on one PC I had with Win 98 SE that on bootup if I didn't wait for
all of the tray apps and desktop icons to load and the hard drive to stop
thrashing before attempting to open a program such as the browser the
computer would simply freeze up solid.

> If there is any boot-up sequence in starting a Prius, it, too, might
> mis-write a section of code and produce an exit at an inopportune moment,
> like after you hit "Resume" to come back up to speed. This kind of thing
> is almost impossible to reproduce, because an interference with the
> boot-up sequence will introduce any number of possible outcomes. I once
> hurried through the turn-on of my Prius and encountered a dead state and
> had to start over

You likely were just in ACC or IG-ON mode instead of READY mode which is the
2 modes you get if you press the power button without pressing and holding
the brake pedal down first. IE first press w/o brake is ACC and second
press w/o brake is IG-ON. Third press w/o brake turns the car back off.

- - one lucky outcome among many possibly unlucky ones. Of
> course, I don't know if there is any real boot-up sequence involved with
> the Prius. Certainly all control contacts are thoroughly debounced so that
> there is no possible alternative action than the intended, but the code
> string then has to be executed no matter its error content. Certainly this
> is not an informed comment - - I'm totally ignorant of the actual
> techniques of writing life-dependent code for a motor vehicle. But my
> point is Murphy is always there to further our education.

Right, kind of like the time I didn't get a vacuum line routed correctly on
an '89 Plymouth Sundance and the throttle arm caught on it causing me to
experience SUA first hand.


From: Michael on 16 Mar 2010 12:46
On Mar 15, 3:37 pm, "Chuck Olson" <chuckolso...(a)REMOVETHIScomcast.net>
wrote:
> > What kind of mouse are you using?  USB?  Or PS/2 style?
>
> > Michael
>
> Logitech USB wireless.


Downloaded the latest drivers for the mouse and RAID controller?
 |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2
Prev: NHTSA cannot duplicate Sikes' Prius problem
Next: NHTSA Report from 2008 on Lexus ES350 UA