On 2012-06-05, Dan B. <danb@kempt.net> wrote: >> >> What the heck did hwinfo do to my machine? > > Thanks to some suggestions that somehow caused me to check basic floppy > access, I discovered that the problem was ... (get ready for a big > letdown) ... a loose floppy cable. So you're saying when you typed "hwinfo" into an xterm, it shook the cable loose?