Xref: utzoo rec.humor:18649 rec.humor.d:1580 comp.misc:4987 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith From: msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith) Newsgroups: rec.humor,rec.humor.d,comp.misc Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore Message-ID: Date: 9 Feb 89 03:02:46 GMT References: <744@utkcs2.cs.utk.edu> Organization: M. R. Smith Consulting, New Brunswick, NJ Lines: 25 Yet another true IBM story: My girlfriend's father is a service tech for IBM. He had one computer that would periodically lock up for no apparent reason. He tried replacing all sorts of boards, drives, and other hardware to no avail. Finally, he called in the specialists. The specialists arrived with many special tools, and in one case a very special tool. In an old style case, in a custom-molded velour covered interior, sat the Vibra-matic - a rubber mallet. They had brought this as a joke, but.... It turned out that the power supply wasn't completely welded to the ground, and the vibration of the machine caused intermittent power failures of extremely short duration. This was fixed, and tested with the specialists banging on the chassis with the Vibra-matic while my girlfriend's father stuck his head inside to look for vibration. Luckily the owners of the machine never saw them. Mark -- Mark Smith (alias Smitty) "Be careful when looking into the distance, RPO 1604; P.O. Box 5063 that you do not miss what is right under your nose." New Brunswick, NJ 08903-5063 {backbone}!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!msmith msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu R.I.P. Individual Freedoms - 11/8/88