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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mmm!mrgofor
From: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR)
Newsgroups: net.rumor
Subject: Re: Horror stories
Message-ID: <638@mmm.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Mar-86 12:51:36 EST
Article-I.D.: mmm.638
Posted: Wed Mar 19 12:51:36 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Mar-86 06:39:21 EST
References: <1060@loral.UUCP> <3344@sun.uucp> <500@utastro.UUCP>
Reply-To: mrgofor@mmm.UUCP (MKR)
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Lines: 28


	This story did not happen to me, and I disremember where I heard it,
so it may not be true, but it's interesting nonetheless, so...

	There was a computer system that was experiencing intermittent power
failures that were proving impossible to track down. Every means of recording
device and electrical filter was used, but to no avail. The power failures
always seemed to happen soon after lunch time, but for no apparent reason.
After months of agonizing work, the technician finally figured it out:

	The room on the other side of the wall from the computer room was
the men's bathroom. The grounding for the computer room circuits went to
the water pipes that serviced one of the toilets. The building was rather
old, and the toilets were in some need of repair. It seems that when one
sat on the toilet seat, the weight of the sittee would cause the whole
construction to lean forward a bit - not much, but enough to cause the 
marginally attached grounding wires to separate from the water pipes as
the pipes bent along with the toilet - voila - the computer re-boots.

	I bet that was a hard one to track down!


-- 
					--MKR

"The majority of the stupid is invincible and guaranteed for all time. The 
 terror of their tyranny, however, is alleviated by their lack of consistency."
						- Albert Einstein