back to article BOFH: Power corrupts, uninterrupted power corrupts absolutely

"THE POWER'S OUT!" the Boss shouts, blundering into Mission Control like a robotic vacuum in super-random turbo mode. "THE TRANSFORMER DOWN THE ROAD HAS EXPLO... hey, why are your lights still on?" "They're on the UPS. Aaaaaaaaaaaand... wait for it..." I say, after a slight flicker; "... on the generator, too." "Why is your …

Page:

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      That reminds me of a friend who used to work at a site that reconditioned and tested Nike missiles (Look it up on YouTube if you don't know what a Nike is.). One day, a missile showed up for testing. They dutifully hooked the cables up to the electronics, and started the test sequence. My friend noticed that the missile under test looked a bit different than the ones that they usually tested. So, he called the test engineer over, who promptly went totally berserk and started ripping multi-thousand dollar cables out, overturning test machines, and generally wreaking havoc in the test lab. It seems that the test was only a few moments away from having the electronics package do a launch sequence, and some intelligent fool had forgotten to remove the solid rocket engine from the missile under test!

      1. Munchausen's proxy
        Pint

        and some intelligent fool had forgotten to remove the solid rocket engine from the missile under test!

        Always mount a scratch missile.

      2. Allan George Dyer
        Joke

        "(Look it up on YouTube if you don't know what a Nike is.)"

        So that's why Justin Gatlin runs like a rocket...

  1. Positive ground
    Pint

    Honestly...

    '...if he could fabricate any better he'd be a 3D printer'

    I am still chortling as I shut down my computer and head off to the night office.

  2. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    All flowed along nicely

    and some positively sparkling bullshit, but I must admit I wasn't expecting the cable to the pub - nice one!

  3. Tom 7

    Electricity - Pah!

    Nothing nicer than sitting in a nice old pub lit by thermal incandescence and hand or gravity pumped beer.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Electricity - Pah!

      You need to try The White Horse (a.k.a. Dirty Nellies) in Beverley, Yorkshire.

      Traditional and real ales, flagstone floor and lit by candle / gas light, yes, that is correct, gas light.

      1. Sgt_Oddball

        Re: Electricity - Pah!

        Been far too long since my last trip to Beverley... I shall have to make the effort now. Though, it does sound somewhat like the Angel Inn in Leeds city center. They've still got a few gas lights around, wooden benches and stone floors. Upstairs though is like a true gentleman's club with fine leather sofas, open fires and fine paintings. Still best place to get 2 in with change from a fiver.

      2. Small Furry Animal
        Pint

        Re: Electricity - Pah!

        @AC, +1 for bringing back the memories.

        My friends and I frequently visited the place in the 70's. We once smuggled my sister in and she managed to buy a round .* It helped that she smoked cigars and was as tall as me.

        * Nellies was men-only, as was that place just off Silver Street in Hull. Can't remember the name atm. Must be old-age or the beer - take your pick

      3. Sarah Balfour

        Re: Electricity - Pah!

        The best selection of real ales, ciders, perries, and stouts I've ever come across is to be found at the Sheffield Tap, conveniently located opposite platform 1 at the station. It's reputed to have the largest selection of home-brewed real ales and ciders in the country.

        You've just got to remember not to get so obliterated that you miss your train… I quit drinking over 20 years ago, haven't touched a single drop since.

        1. Bill M

          Re: Electricity - Pah!

          How do remember when you are pissed ?

      4. pyroweasel
        Pint

        Re: Electricity - Pah!

        There's also the Bag of Nails in Bristol; compact, gas-lit, and well-stocked with the finest ales

  4. Julian I-Do-Stuff

    Of course we had it tough...

    Designing special purpose UPS to support nuclear reactor mainframe peripherals. Spec said "up to 5 minutes of power"... Hmmm, we thought, if all the power goes off in a nuclear power station - including the primary UPS & backup generators - the fan will be very brown very quickly so we gave them power for 3 hours to sort it out. Mind you, the mainframe was probably long dead by then, but it was unlikely to be *our* fault. Arses properly covered. PS The mainframe also had a battery... for starting.

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon
      Coat

      Re: Of course we had it tough...

      "PS The mainframe also had a battery... for starting."

      You had a mainframe that ran off an internal combustion engine? Wow.

      1. herman

        Re: Of course we had it tough...

        Oh yeah, mainframe made by Charles Babbage himself. Nothing is as radiation proof as stainless steel gears...

    2. Blane Bramble

      Re: Of course we had it tough...

      "Up to 5 minutes power"

      So 1 second would have done?

    3. TeeCee Gold badge
      Meh

      Re: Of course we had it tough...

      Surely, in the event of a total power loss in a nuclear power station, the mainframes are waaaaay down the list of things to worry about.

      Just imagine if they'd had a decent UPS at Fukushima:

      "Look on the bright side lads. Yes the backup gennies are stuffed, the cooling system's dead and the core's about to go critical, but the computers are still running!"

      <SLAP>

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        Facepalm

        Re: Of course we had it tough...

        Just imagine if they'd had a decent UPS at Fukushima

        Just imagine if they hadn't put the original two diesel generators and the newer switching stations in the basement at Fukushima: it would have been up and running again within a few weeks.

  5. Unicornpiss
    Meh

    @redundancy

    We used to have Cisco switchgear that had redundant power supplies... and the firmware was such that if the fan failed on one, the unit would fail to operate even with a perfectly good 2nd supply available.

    1. Unicornpiss
      Flame

      Re: @redundancy

      Really? Someone voted down my truthful comment about our poorly-designed switchgear? Geez, they must work for Cisco...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: @redundancy

        I think the more likely explanation is that you need to enter something like

        console cisco##> redundant-ps 2

        console cisco##> write mem

        Just a theory, too lazy to check it out on a Saturday morning.

        1. DMSlicer

          Re: @redundancy

          Switch# configure terminal

          Switch(config)# power redundancy-mode redundant

          Switch(config)# end

          In theory though switches should ship in redundancy-mode "redundant" by default (instead of "combined")...

  6. Dave 32
    Coat

    Amish Electrician

    Oh, well, they'll just have to call their Amish electrician to sort the electricity problems out. ;-)

    Dave

    P.S. I'll get my coat, it's the one with the key for the horse and buggy in the pocket.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And that's why I keep a stashed UPS that runs on car batteries...

    ...because I forget the lights on my own car running, and use those to jump-start it.

    ...And my desktop takes 20 solid minutes to cold reboot, and I hate that. 50Ah should keep that desktop happy for... 6 hours, even on old batteries.

    1. Irongut

      Re: And that's why I keep a stashed UPS that runs on car batteries...

      Have you considered that if your desktop takes 20m to reboot then there's something wrong with it? Or is that how long it takes you to fill the hopper with coal?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And that's why I keep a stashed UPS that runs on car batteries...

        Ten minutes here, generally. Does Windows have a methodology for properly handling software boot order? No. Services are allowed delays and dependencies, other software, fergit it.

  8. John 104

    Strangely Appropriate

    We had an unseasonably powerful storm here (Seattle) last week. Sure enough the power took a dip and our UPS took over. And immediately fell on its face due to 7 of the 40 batteries having high resistance. Into bypass mode it went and a call to the supplier to come out and re-wire the remaining units to get us back to filtered power.

    Of course, the drop wasn't enough to trip the ATS and fire the generator. Just a sensitive Eaton and a brace of the cheapest that could be found.

    Unfortunately for the on call engineer, there are no pubs within walking distance...

    1. Paul Crawford Silver badge

      Re: Strangely Appropriate

      You never know if a UPS/backup generator/etc system will work until the mains goes off. But no one will take the risk of pulling the big red leaver[1] at the master distribution panel just to find out...

      [1] We really did have one of those, with a telescoping handle for a 400A 3-phase switch for our lab. There were also a few big switches for long-gone stuff with simple but intriguing labels such as "magnet" that always made me want to power the circuit up just to see what would happen. Alas, common sense meant I resisted the temptation to "do an Igor".

  9. Frumious Bandersnatch

    I always thought that "optimising the idle loop" was a no-no

    I learned something useful from the BOFH today.

  10. tonybarry

    The device sounds like an isolator, not a breaker. It will break on full current, but not pleasantly. It prefers to be operated at no load, to isolate the downstream devices which are already turned off.

    Regards,

    TB

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UPS

    They're a bit like having a guard dog that is high-maintenance, sleeps through a fraction of the burglaries, makes a huge mess once a week, and every once in a long while eats one of the children.

    I've been evacuated from the workplace several times BECAUSE OF the smoldering UPS.

    Not to mention the other times they've malfunctioned, shutting down the server without notice.

    Supposed cure, which it often isn't, that is often much worse than the disease.

    I hate them.

  12. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    "The generator for this place is on the roof and it came with the building. About the only thing that could get that off the roof is an earthquake – and then it would only travel vertically."

    This is obviously untrue. It was sold for scrap months ago.

  13. LINCARD1000
    Flame

    Ah, the good ol' ET server...

    "We need an engineer!"

    Thassokay, Simon - I'll have my flamer and/or mobile-MG ready and waiting for you on Friday night :-)

    (flame icon for my favourite BOFH roasting weapon)

Page:

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like