[windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
- From: "Sullivan, Glenn" <GSullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 11:44:31 -0400
Not quite like this, but I have had the classic "bug" rear it's head...
An employee brought their computer in because it started to smell funny
and then shut down. Turns out that a pair of cockroaches (together, so
I wonder if they were in the throes of passion of something) had made
their way to the back side of the motherboard, and to the rear side of
the motherboard power connector.
The 12v DC available at that connector made a very effective bug zapper,
until the fuse in the power supply cut out.
Of course everyone knows that is where the term "a bug in the system"
came from, but I had never had a real example until then...
Glenn Sullivan, MCSE+I MCDBA
David Clark Company Inc.
________________________________
From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jennifer Hooper
Posted At: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 11:37 AM
Posted To: Windows 2000
Conversation: [windows2000] OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
Subject: [windows2000] OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
Has anyone had this kind of trouble in their data centers? Curiouser
and curiouser... I remember the early days of clean room data centers.
Boy howdee, did that go out the window quick. Maybe with the advent of
headless blade servers, a pure environment is something to consider
(never fly in a corporate forecast these days with the costs of
implementation and maintenance, though.)
Jen
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View this article
<http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E2245069,00.html>
View The Denver Post <http://www.denverpost.com>
Pesky "whiskers" zap PCs in secretary of state's office
<http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E2245069,00.html>
By asvaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:asvaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Aldo Svaldi
Denver Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 01, 2004 -
Small metallic fibers known as "zinc whiskers" are the likely culprit
behind crippling computer outages in the Colorado secretary of state's
office over the past three weeks.
The fibers "are blowing out the power supplies on the computers," said
Lisa Doran, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Metal on floor panels and even in computer cases can secrete zinc
crystals over time, said Rich Hill, president of Data Clean in Des
Plaines, Ill.
Zinc whiskers can appear as a light peach fuzz on a metal surface if
they grow long enough, but typically they are invisible.
Whiskers can get sucked inside computers and short out power supplies,
trip circuits and in extreme cases cause data errors, Hill said.
Aging computer rooms and more compact computer designs have increased
the problem, Hill said.
The outages in the secretary of state's office, which effectively halted
electronic filings of business and elections documents at
www.sos.state.co.us , highlight why the state's various websites should
be brought under one authority, said Leroy Williams, the state's
secretary of technology. Legislation this year enabled the creation of
such an authority, which was financed with $7.5 million at the direction
of Gov. Bill Owens.
The secretary of state's office has begun working on a remediation plan
to clean up the whiskers, Doran said.
<http://media.mnginteractive.com/media/paper36/whisker0701g.jpg>
Staff writer Aldo Svaldi can be reached at 303-820-1410 or
asvaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx .
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