back to article What's that lurking behind the borked face of finance? Windows, of course

ATMs are like sausages. Everyone likes them, but nobody wants to know what lurks inside. Come take a peek with another edition of The Register's look at computers behaving badly. Today's culprit was spotted at a branch of Tesco in the Isle of Man capital, Douglas. Register reader Peter Jackson was on the scene to record the …

  1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    Come take a peak

    That would be Snaefell.

  2. Daniel von Asmuth
    Windows

    Which Windows?

    That looks like a typical Windows 2000 or XP blue screen.

    Does anybody know the innards of the new Dutch Geldmaat ATMs?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Which Windows?

      AFAIK the Geldmaat systems run Windows 10 as a virtualized guest, on top of a Wind River embedded Linux host.

      1. Blackjack Silver badge

        Re: Which Windows?

        Can't be Windows 10, that one has a different Blue Screen of Death, Windows 7 at most.

      2. Adrian 4

        Re: Which Windows?

        Why do they do that ? Is there some component that's only available as a Windows binary .. bank comms, perhaps ?

        1. Vometia Munro

          Re: Which Windows?

          Dunno. I just remember way back when (around the mid '90s) there was a really strong push to move to Windows for everything amongst ATM development teams. I never did figure out the rationale, though I do remember one of their managers asking me with genuine confusion why I wouldn't replace a router with a Windows PC with two network cards.

        2. Happy Ranter

          Re: Which Windows?

          I believe they have to be certified for a certain OS on specific hardware, any major changes mean they have to go through the certification (very expensive) process again.

          Another reason is that they have nailed the windows XP dumb terminal edition so well that (almost) no un-needed code is installed on them, Something which is near impossible to do on any version of Win 10

      3. gfgkemp1

        Re: Which Windows?

        Why?

  3. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    At speeds approaching 100 miles per hour...

    Never remotely close to achieving 100 miles per hour of course...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RAM error most likely

    those black vertical lines on the bottom part of the screen usually mean there are stuck bits in memory and since these things don't have a dedicated graphics card it means we're talking about the main system memory here, not graphics card memory.

    This means they either have to replace the memory or the entire thing if they don't have such vintage spare parts on hand.

  5. TonyB

    They should have stuck with OS/2

    1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge

      OS/2

      Available and supported on modern hardware...

      https://www.arcanoae.com/arcaos/

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        Re: OS/2

        I followed the link and read that it supports 32-bit and 16-bit applications.

        No 64-bit applications.

        So it runs on modern hardware like a toddler on a tricycle. You have to push it.

  6. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. MrBanana Silver badge

    If it is a hardware issue

    BigClive lives just round the corner, get him to do an autopsy.

  8. Version 1.0 Silver badge

    See cure itty bitty

    This is no surprise, maybe it was hack or someone just tried to hack it to send spam junk mail? An ATM would be far more secure if they ran a custom operating system designed to simply do the job and be completely secure. Windows is irrelevant in that environment - the only Windows that can't be hacked still have problems when a stone hits them..

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The PC came pre-installed with winwoes and they shoved it into a ATM housing and then called the marketing team to come up with a snappy name, something that’ll sell like hotcakes

    MoneyMatic 5000, or something

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

    Does that mean that IRQL is GREATER? And, is that Bad?

    If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer.

    Translation: Meh, shit happens, just reboot. *Shrug*.

    On a different train of thought: I looked at the photo gallery for the Island of Man and it looks indeed like a super-pretty place to visit. Wrote it down on my travel plans list.

    1. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

      Re: If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer.

      On a collaborative software project I worked on many years' ago, my boss would always insist, post-crash, to simply restart the system and see if a repeat occurred. My protestations about "castles on sand" were sternly rebuked with the "B" word (budget). So long as managerial "musical chairs" meant that when the music stopped they were elsewhere in the organisational structure, it was of little consequence to their empire-building aspirations.

      I suspect you will see the above message more frequently on systems built using the "castles on sand" methodology than those that don't.

      ---

      "Wrote it down on my travel plans list."

      Tip: Be careful what mode of transport you propose to get there with:-

      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-55428761

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer.

        >Tip: Be careful what mode of transport you propose to get there with:

        I'm waiting for my turn to get vaccinated (COVID). Until then, I'm stuck in-place just like everyone else. Travel by plane seems nuts at this point.

        The other week someone died of COVID on an United Airlines flight, here in the US. Of course he had declared he's had no symptoms, no fever, and to his best knowledge, he was not infected with COVID, prior to boarding the flight.

        How many fellow travelers did he infect on that flight, considering the recycled A/C and everything?

  11. Lord Flippynips

    It's a windows XP BSOD I think; lots of XP embedded still in action in ATMs

    As far as I know, Galdmaat is just the branding for the network that's linking the ATMs together (like LINK in the UK) so that they play nicely across the banks and don't charge you extra for an out of bank transaction. The ATMs themselves will be updates of whatever the particular bank has in place, just a backend software/card switch update, unless the Bank decides to replace the machine in a particular location as part of the switch

  12. silks

    XP Embedded

    XP Embedded was used in a range of ATMs, probably quite a lot still out there.

    Also seen at my local train station was BSOD on the massive / fancy graphics passenger information board! That's despite the old small "legacy" board hidden away in the corner with LED matrix and a 9600 baud serial connection working just fine.

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