Thursday, February 4, 2021

IT Guy Learns Machine Is Stuck On In "Explode" Setting


It's not crazy to wonder, maybe there's a way to avoid having a piece of equipment risk explosion if one computer monitor fails. Not trying to be pushy here, but it's a thought. Tech support sees its own share of nightmares, and we should thank them every day for solving the problems everyone else seems so inept at dealing with. For another fun tech support story, here's the tale of Miss Jones.

1.

Font - Posted by u/Rusty99Arabian 1 day ago 2 34 The Explosive Gas story Short Or, the one time I had a Priority 1 (multiple lives threatened) support ticket. I worked in IT at a number of universities, where pay is bad and clients have unusually weird problems. One day a ticket came in at 4 PM on a Friday, stating that the user's monitor wasn't working. It was from our furthest building, which due to bus route inefficiencies, would be a 3 mile round trip walk. And, our boss had just come in and

2.

Font - But since I was a go-getter who hated to have one last task looming on the list over the weekend, I decided to take one for the team and do it. When I made the long walk over and up to the third floor science wing, I found the scientists in more of a state than usual. There was yelling, common because everyone's least favorite professor worked over there, but also running, which was much more unusual. (We in IT tried to avoid this area as much as possible, because of the professor but als

3.

Font - This isn't involve that computer, luckily. Instead, the faulty monitor in question was attached to a computer hooked up to a newer science machine. The machine spun gasses in a centrifuge, and could only be turned on and off via software on the nearby computer. Great design. They had just started the test when the monitor went out, which meant they could not stop the test--and as they explained, if these gasses spun for over 6 hours, they would explode. Amazingly, the problem didn't invol

4.

Font - CyberKnight1 1 day ago But since I was a go-getter who hated to have one last task looming on the list over the weekend, I decided to take one for the team and do it. Lucky. Imagine if the only one to see that ticket just thought, "Eh, it could wait until Monday." Could they not just unplug the machine?

5.

Font - Rusty99Arabian 21 hours ago I know!! Our IT staff at the time had gotten down to 4 people (for 1000+ faculty and staff) after a really bad boss blew through, and we didn't have an after hours call line set up yet. If I hadn't gone, their only hope would have been finding a passing student sufficiently tech-savvy to swap monitors.

6.

Font - rekabis Older than the Internet 23 hours ago I found the scientists in more of a state than usual. There was yelling, common because everyone's least favorite professor worked over there, but also running, which was much more unusual. Ah, the "we've tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas" technique.

7.

Font - Rusty99Arabian 2 21 hours ago You bet. The faculty in that building in particular tended to be baffled by the most basic tech problems. Another time (I should write up this professor too now that I think about it) I got called to a computer lab that had lost power. I assured the professor it was almost certainly not an IT fix but I could check it out. I get there and tell them yep, given that the lights are also out, definitely seems to be an electric issue. She asked if I though it had a

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