Not mains but wiring just the same
I remember when I w**ked for the NHS visiting one orifice to install and set up some remote access software.
While there I was grabbed by a manager and asked to (take another) look at an issue they'd been having with a PC that had been moved. After it was moved from one orifice to another plugging it in caused the entire site network to crash. One of our people had been out a couple of times, and our third party support company had also been out a couple of times, but both had been unable to rectify the issue. All of this was explained while walking to the orifice in question.
Knowing that the site was using a single segment of token ring, and knowing an easy way to produce those symptoms on token ring I had a sneaking suspicion of what the issue might be. And a quick look from the door of the orifice at the PC and its network point confirmed my guess. I confidently walked over to the PC, plugged the token ring cable into the network wall socket ….. upside down ….. and then turned on the perfectly functioning PC!
I suppose I can forgive the wiring contractor for getting a single socket the wrong way up, but what I found harder to forgive was the half a dozen support visits that failed to spot a relatively simple token ring issue.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
