• (disco)

    He sure made the magic smoke come out, and I guess they'll have fun cleaning the well-oiled machinery.

  • (disco)

    AFAICT WD-40 is not electrically conductive, so it's not clear to me why it would cause the servers to crash. It's certainly a terrible idea; it will make the dust stick in place and interfere with free flow of cooling air — eventually, but probably not immediately, unless you use a Belgium-ton of it. Definitely a WTF, but I suspect the immediate crash was an embellishment by the editor.

  • (disco)

    "Andrew couldn’t be trusted with much"

    ...so he was given physical-hands-on access to production servers. TITRWTF...

  • (disco) in reply to Julia
    Julia:
    ...so he was given physical-hands-on access to production servers

    as well as incomplete instructions

  • (disco) in reply to Vault_Dweller
    Vault_Dweller:
    as well as incomplete instructions

    From the article:

    and the label says ‘Electronics Duster’ in big letters. When you see dust, just point and shoot.

    Seems pretty clear to me.

  • (disco) in reply to Jerome_Viveiros

    Except for the part where he was supposed to shut down the servers first

  • (disco) in reply to Vault_Dweller

    Good point. I assumed that was the guy who gave the instructions just covering his own ass...

    Edit: Is "covering his own ass" a valid expression? For some reason I am thinking of donkeys now.

  • (disco) in reply to Jerome_Viveiros

    WTF40?

    No mention of shutting them down first, though, let alone the particular shutdown procedure to use? Even if they're all set to shut down cleanly when you hit the soft power button, or you just need to cycle through on the KVM clicking "shutdown", he should say so first not rely on a guess.

    Now, if the guy had used almost any actual cleaning spray rather than WD40, I'd expect the smoke, flames and general catastrophe to result, but as pointed out, WD40 is an insulator and safe to spray on electrical contacts - 5kV breakdown voltage, apparently.

  • (disco) in reply to HardwareGeek

    WD-40 may not be itself conductive, but it is a solvent (common misconception: WD-40 contains some lubricants, but is not, itself, meant as a lubricant). Sensitive electrical contacts and plastic would not be terribly happy about being doused in it.

  • (disco) in reply to Remy

    It would probably also have an “interesting” effect on any cooling, by forming a nice thermally-insulating layer over the heatsinks…

  • (disco) in reply to Remy

    I suspect it would also increase capacitance quite a bit on today's finely-lined circuit boards. That may be enough right there, when the square corners come off those square waves.

  • (disco) in reply to CoyneTheDup
    CoyneTheDup:
    when the square corners come off those square waves
    That tears it: who applied `border-radius` to the CPU clock‽
  • (disco) in reply to jas88
    jas88:
    5kV breakdown voltage, apparently

    Just what you want wicking in between your RAM cards and their socket pins!

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK
    RaceProUK:
    CoyneTheDup:
    when the square corners come off those square waves
    That tears it: who applied `border-radius` to the CPU clock‽

    Well, they used -moz-border-radius, so...

  • (disco) in reply to flabdablet

    The oil lubricates your electron flow and reduces RAM access times.

  • (disco) in reply to mott555

    Eliminates refresh squeak as well, or so I hear.

  • (disco) in reply to Jerome_Viveiros

    I'm pretty sure "covering ones neighbour's ass" is something someone has been found guilty of somewhere. Or was it "your neighbour's ass covering your ass"?... I'm fuzzy on the details.

  • (disco) in reply to jarfil
    jarfil:
    covering ones neighbour's ass
    I think someone's copy of the Bible has a misprint
  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    No, it's just a little smeared in the more juicy parts

  • (disco) in reply to jarfil
    jarfil:
    I'm pretty sure "covering ones neighbour's ass" is something someone has been found guilty of somewhere. Or was it "your neighbour's ass covering your ass"?

    Your neighbour's ass covering your ass is fine, though there might be some rules about who owns the resulting foal.

    But if it's you doing the covering rather than another ass, it doesn't really matter whether it's your ass or your neighbour's or a complete stranger's, that's just not ok. Except in Norway (or one of those countries. I can't google which at work).

  • (disco) in reply to Julia
    Julia:
    ...so he was given physical-hands-on access to production servers. TITRWTF...

    I agree. Dork is TRWTF.

  • (disco) in reply to Remy

    I guess I'm just slow, but I was going to mention the same thing about WD-40 not being a lubricant. Is that still considered Hanzo'd? After all, I did intend to post it...

  • (disco) in reply to flabdablet
    flabdablet:
    Eliminates refresh squeak as well, or so I hear.

    Does it reduce coil whine?

  • (disco) in reply to flabdablet
    flabdablet:
    Eliminates refresh squeak as well, or so I hear.

    No, you wouldn't hear, actually...

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK
    RaceProUK:
    I think someone's copy of the Bible has a misprint

    Maybe they are a seventh day advent hopist?

  • (disco)

    I can't imagine letting anyone who was a known screw-up anywhere near my production servers, no matter how simple I thought the assigned job was. That's why big companies put the servers in a room with a lock on the door and only authorized people have the key. And a verbal recitation of the name on the container?! Haven't we all had times when someone said "get the bottle labeled ..." and by the time we got to the cabinet we were wondering, "What did he say it was again?"

  • (disco) in reply to Remy
    Remy:
    WD-40 may not be itself conductive, but it is a solvent (common misconception: WD-40 contains some lubricants, but is not, itself, meant as a lubricant). Sensitive electrical contacts and plastic would not be terribly happy about being doused in it.
    The specification for WD-40 does include lubrication. The notion that this is a misconception is itself a misconception. [edit - its original function did not include lubrication but it was found to be an effective penetrating lubricant and as such was marketed for domestic use ] I'm interested in the validity of TFA. Voltages in servers are not enough to arc; I don't understand how you could start a fire. The ignition temperature of WD-40 is quite high. It is possible that the spray pressure could cause infiltration into a weak connection and an open circuit. It's possible it could get forced into the pressure equalizer of a hard disk. I would be surprised but interested if it dissolved plastics. WD-40 is often used to dry out damp automotive electricals. (I don't recommend it, though) Incidentally in the bad old days we used to clean circuit boards in soap and water, rinse in DI water, rinse in industrial alcohol or isopropanol, and final rinse in diethyl ether. But nowadays I just lock fan rotors and squirt with carbon dioxide. Quick and cheaper than dustbusters, using a modified Sodastream valve.
  • (disco) in reply to kupfernigk
    kupfernigk:
    Voltages in servers are not enough to arc; I don't understand how you could start a fire. The ignition temperature of WD-40 is quite high.

    WD-40 can't melt steel servers!

  • (disco) in reply to jas88

    Well, from

    It was Housekeeping Sunday in Dirk’s small IT shop, which usually meant taking their diminutive lot of servers down for routine maintenance.
    It's pretty clear that they have the shutdown instruction, plus the clean is meant to be done when the servers are taken down.

    Btw, I think it's a WTF that Andrew already know the servers are to be taken down, but still choose to open and "de-dust" the case while the power is "on". Someone should have told him that whenever you need to touch the internal of machinery and power down is permitted, he should have powered it down first.

  • (disco) in reply to cheong
    cheong:
    de-dust

    http://pcmedia.ign.com/pc/image/article/121/1217843/counter-strike-global-offensive-20120202043844968.jpg

  • (disco) in reply to ben_lubar

    Yay, time for a game of Guess the Ben Joke,

    I'm going to say this is a German (de) game called Dust

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa

    http://counterstrike.wikia.com/wiki/Dust

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    And is it well known enough that a generic brown screenshot with a gun in it is enough to distinguish it from any other generic brown screenshot with a gun from literally any other FPS released in the last 5 years?

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa

    It is Counterstrike's most well-known map :stuck_out_tongue:

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    My guess was COD, so that doesn't help much

  • (disco) in reply to Yamikuronue

    Good thing I haven't flagged then :smile:

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK
    RaceProUK:
    It is Counterstrike's most well-known map :stuck_out_tongue:

    I could probably run around most of it blind, and that's after not playing CS for... shit, might be a decade by this point. And I didn't play that much CS even then.

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa
    Jaloopa:
    last 15 years

    It has been there since the beginning of CS as a HL mod. Fact that it has a twin de_dust2 that has been around almost as long also helps for it to be recognizable.

  • (disco) in reply to Luhmann

    Yeah, well. FPS games are still boring, bland, brown bollocks

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa
  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa
    Jaloopa:
    bollocks

    Ooooh ... you deserve to be shot by AWP camper from across the map again and again

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa
    Jaloopa:
    Yeah, well. FPS games are still boring, bland, brown bollocks
    http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121211190636/farcry/images/0/06/MLAA_farcry3_2012-12-01_12-16-21-61.jpg Not played FarCry, but *dayum*, that view!
  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    Bad choice of screenshot. At that size it's fuzzier than Mario 64 played through RF on a TV that's not properly tuned in

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa

    Then click it to view it in its :crown: 1080p majesty :stuck_out_tongue:

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    more like 108p

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa
  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK

    After clicking on the image, this is what I see. Standard width command prompt for reference

    [image]

    I'm all for appreciating a vista but not usually through a peephole half a mile away

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK
    RaceProUK:
    Good thing I haven't flagged then

    This is the sort of joke I would be proud to miss.

  • (disco) in reply to Jaloopa

    :wtf::question: That's a 1920×1080 image!

    Also, who said you could steal my window chrome colours‽ :stuck_out_tongue:

  • (disco) in reply to RaceProUK
    RaceProUK:
    Not played FarCry, but dayum, that view!

    I agree. It's giving me a headache. :confounded:

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