[windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
- From: "Greg Reese" <GReese@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 09:44:21 -0400
what program do you use for maintenance? we've been looking for one.
-----Original Message-----
From: windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:windows2000-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Sullivan, Glenn
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 12:05 PM
To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
If you end up taking the cover off of the TV, find the air intakes, and place
Dryer Sheets (like Bounce, or something like that) near them.
Don't cover them, just put a few dryer sheets in there.
Almost all bugs, including no-see-ums, hate the smell, or something, because it
keeps them away... I learned this as an effective method when our motion
detector software that monitors the security cameras kept tripping off. Turned
out to be a spider inside of one weatherproof enclosure on one camera, and a
bunch of trapped no-see-ums in another weather proof enclosure. Adding dryer
sheets to the enclosures solved the problem, and neither have returned.
I got a great spider-web-construction video first though... constant motion all
night long. Actually, he took about thirty 30 second breaks... ;-)
Luckily, I have a building maintenance department, and they have a software
applications to track periodic maintenance (air line filter changes, etc...).
I added "Change dryer sheets in Camera Enclosures" as a monthly task... you
should have seen the looks on their faces when they came to ask WTF I was
talking about the first time it came up on the schedule... You will have to do
something similar, so it might even be worth making a trap door in the back of
the TV so that you don't have to remove the shell every time.
So give that a shot.
MAJOR DISCLAIMER: the inside of a TV can kill you... don't assume that you can
put your hands anywhere, even if the TV has been unplugged for quite some time.
I've gotten a noticeable shock from a TV that has been unplugged for 6 months.
Treat is as if it were plugged in... touch nothing that you don't have to.
HTH,
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 11:54 AM
Posted To: Windows 2000
Conversation: [windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
Subject: [windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
Heya Glenn -
That's *SO* not even funny (well, ok, it is... hysterical even), because we
live between 2 of the grodiest neighbors you can possibly imagine, and our
landlord won't do anything about the bug infestation from them, so we have to
bomb every 3 months or so to keep our place clear of the nasty things. So we
were watching TV the other day, and over the MSNBC icon, crawls a little tiny
baby roach! Inside the screen of my 'new' 52" RCA!!!! (the cable guys that
came out to fix my DVR said that bugs *LOVE* HDTVs) WOT!?!?! So we trotted
down to Walmart and got 4 tubes of caulk and spray foam and a whole new set of
foggers, and have to tackle it again. I'll check out my computer too. *yikes*
I just hope that the bombs don't mess with the electronics too much.
Jen
PS: If anyone has any good tips... email me off list! :D
_____
From: Sullivan, Glenn [mailto:GSullivan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 8:45 AM
To: windows2000@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [windows2000] Re: OT: Pesky whiskers zap PCs
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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Pesky <http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E2245069,00.html>
"whiskers" zap PCs in secretary of state's office
By <mailto:asvaldi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 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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