Very Computer

>Could someone please help with this frustrating problem?
>I am probably just missing something simple.
>Symptom----------------------------------------------------------------
>- All tasks in root's crontab (except 1) are ignored by crond.  
>- Every minute, cron picks up /var/spool/cron/crontab/root
>  and runs only one job (atrun), but no others.
>- crond has acted this way since installation, 1 month ago.
>Background-------------------------------------------------------------
>cat /var/spool/cron/crontab/root
> * * * * *   /bin/ls
> * * * * *   touch /tmp/.crond_running
> * * * * *   /usr/lib/atrun
> 0 0 * * 4   /usr/local/bin/newsyslog
>(Note: /bin/ls should mail root, but doesn't. mail works elsewhere)
>crontab -e; ls -lg /var/spool/cron/crontab
>drwxr-x---   2 root     wheel        1024 Mar 12 18:40 ./
>drwxr-x---   3 root     wheel        1024 Jan 31 08:58 ../
>-rw-------   1 root     root         1488 Mar 12 17:09 root
>-rw-r-----   1 root     root            5 Mar 12 17:09 cron.update
>cron -V
>dcron V2.2
>Things I've already tried----------------------------------------------
>grep cron /etc/rc.d/rc.M
>    Shows correct call to crond upon bootup.
>ps -aux | grep cron
>    Shows /usr/sbin/crond running and logging to /var/adm/cron
>grep -v atrun /var/adm/cron
>    12-Mar-96 12:56  /usr/sbin/crond V2.2 dillon, started
>    12-Mar-96 14:45  /usr/sbin/crond V2.2 dillon, started
>    (Only has entries for crond's initialization)
>ls -la /tmp/.crond_running
>    Not found (it _should_ exist if 'touch' were run by crond).
>Rearranging cron jobs in root's crontab.
>    No effect
>man crond, man crontab
>    Of limited and incomplete help.
>Yes, crond is using /var/spool/cron/crontab upon starting.
>Yes, mail to root works fine elsewhere.
>My setup: -------------------------------------------------------------
>  RAM:   16Mb RAM EDO; 150Mb swap on 2 devices
>  Kern:  1.3.68-ELF; built up from Slackware 3.0 with reasonable settings.
>  gcc:   2.7.0
>  Me:    SunOS: 6 yrs, Solaris: 3 yrs, Linux:  4 months. :-D
>Summary----------------------------------------------------------------
>Any help out there?
>I've spent my entire afternoon on this and, if I can't get this fixed,
>I will begin blowing up some buildings in frustration!!  :-)
>Thanks, in advance, for email, follow-up posts.
>--


>If I were a planet, I'd be a gaseous giant! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  > ~ <