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From: dee@cca.UUCP (Donald Eastlake)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: apocryphal story about ESS crashes - can someone confirm it?
Message-ID: <2112@cca.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Apr-85 22:26:52 EST
Article-I.D.: cca.2112
Posted: Mon Apr  1 22:26:52 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Apr-85 01:05:16 EST
References: <3957@Shasta.ARPA> <63@decvax.UUCP> <5363@utzoo.UUCP>
Reply-To: dee@cca-unix.UUCP (Donald Eastlake)
Organization: Computer Corp. of America, Cambridge
Lines: 19


The ESS story I heard had to do with a high level panic error caused by
the ESS thinking it had no where to write billing information.  This
was because of a photographer's strobe setting off end of tape indications
simultaneously on its pair of mag tape drives.

A non-apocryphal story I observed was the case of the PDP-6 at the MIT
AI Lab which, for some time, seemed to have about a 1 in 4 or 5 chance
of crashing in the morning.  There were various jokes about morning
sickness.  None of the usual PM stuff, including running voltage margins,
etc., found anything wrong.  Then it was noticed that the exact times
of the crashes seemed to consistently drift a few minutes each day.
It turns outs that there were a bunch of windows behind the machine
(which was on the 9th floor) and sometimes the thermal transient inside
the machine caused by the sun rising and sunlight striking the back of
the machine caused it to crash.
-- 
	+1 617-492-8860		Donald E. Eastlake, III
	ARPA:  dee@CCA-UNIX	usenet:	{decvax,linus}!cca!dee