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From: trough@ihuxi.UUCP (Chris Scussel)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Strobe lights -> crashes
Message-ID: <1185@ihuxi.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Mar-85 13:10:20 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxi.1185
Posted: Thu Mar 28 13:10:20 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Mar-85 01:04:06 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 16

I have a repeatable example of photographic strobes causing a computer
to crash. I have a microprocessor "training" board which I used for
several years at our annual christmas "toy and doll night". Every time
the photographer took a picture nearby, the micro would go belly-up,
and have to be reset. The closest thing it had to an optical sensor
was its EPROMS, and these were not erased by the flash. The best
guess I had was the EMP from the discharge of the flash unit's
capacitor. I'm not sure, but I think that I tried flashing a strobe
near the micro while I had my hand over flashtube. It still crashed,
which supports the EMP theory.

	Of course, none of this has any bearing on the original
ESS story.

				Chris Scussel
				AT&T Bell Labs