Monday 9 June 2014

Holey Hardware

I really like this story, doubt it's true, but a little part of me wishes it was...
 
/ net.rumor / sdcrdcf!dem / Mar 21, 1986 / 

This was told to me by a fellow co-worker who worked for another large main frame manufacture previously. It seems they delivered a new machine to an overseas site and during installation every time they applied power to one of the memory bays they blew every circuit breaker in the computer room.

After resetting the circuits they again applied power to the memory bay with the same results. Since this was a new machine they crated it up and shipped it back and got a replacement.

When they got the damaged memory bay back the started to tear it down to find the cause of the short. Well what they found was a small hole about 3/8 in. in diameter going from top to bottom through some of the memory arrays, which cause a very effective short.

After a lot of research they found the cause. It seems that after the memory had passed test and evaluation and quality assurance the bay was crated and put in the warehouse to await delivery. At some time during its storage an electrician was hired to do some work and since it was a secure building the security guard had to go with him.

The electrician at one point said that he had to go back down to his truck to get a drill and the guard asked why and the electrician said he needed to drill a hole right here (pointing to a spot on the floor). The guard then responded by pulling out his sidearm and proceeded to blow a hole at the appropriate spot which happened to be right above where the memory bay was being stored.

The last he knew the guard had been reprimanded and re-assigned to another of the security agency's customers.

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