I've no idea if they did find it, I was just completely disgusted with them, so that was the extent of the conversation.
Posts by davef1010101010
11 publicly visible posts • joined 30 Nov 2020
Techie left 'For support, contact me' sign on a server. Twenty years later, someone did
Over 10 years after i installed an HP MSA1000 storage array as part of a Sharepoint/SQL installation for a major university I got a call asking what the password was for the MSA Admin interface.
I suggested that they read the documentation I'd left with the installation as I'd left precise detail in there
The password was still set as default with a big note in the docs saying "please change all default passwords to secure ones once the consultant has finished the project"
Basically in 10 years they'd not upgraded firmware, changed passwords as instructed etc.
Tax helpline callers left on hold for nearly eight centuries
Re: Not fit for purpose
The problem is that it's not an out of the ordinary issue, it's one faced by hundreds of thousand of individuals every year. It was a simple request for repayment of higher rate tax on pension contributions.
There's a convoluted way to tell them you want to reclaim online but there's no way to submit the documentary proof that they require other than by post with accompanying letter. Hence my title, not fit for purpose.
You've stolen the antiglare shield on that monitor you've fixed – they say the screen is completely unreadable now
Re: Overheated
I was called out to one where the fault was "it's printing backwards"
Factory made magnets and the entire pcb was covered in a layer of magnetic dust so thick that you could barely see the ICs. Went over to the compressor/airline in the corner, blew the dust off it and it worked perfectly.
Health and Safety, inhalation of dust etc, nobody gave a damn back then.
But yes they were bombproof. I saw some still going strong at manchester airport a couple of weeks ago
Overheated
Lots of stories of this type but the one that always springs to mind is the waste disposal company with OKI Microline 132 col dot matrix printers thundering away outputting the invoices inside huge cabinets/acoustic hoods. Same as the story above, you needed breathing aparatus to go into the portacabin and I hated going there because I always ended up with mud on my suit trousers wading across the site.
Called out one day, "not printing anything". Printer was too hot to touch inside its cabinet because the fans on both sides of the cabinet had gummed up with the tar completely suffocating the poor Oki.
Not my problem I said, we only cover the printer, not the acoustic cabinet. You'll have to run it with the lid up until you get a new one.
Story of the creds-leaking Exchange Autodiscover flaw – the one Microsoft wouldn't fix even after 5 years
Don't be a fool, cover your tool: How IBM's mighty XT keyboard was felled by toxic atmosphere of the '80s

Sticky fans
Used to service printers as well as part of my job. Regularly called to an industrial waste site's office/cabin where there was an OKI dot matrix 132 col inside a large printer hood. The fan built into the hood that was supposed to provide airflow across the printer would regularly sieze.
Why.... chain smokers in the office, the grunge/tar from the smoke would glue the fan.
I've got a million of these, how log have you got?
UK union pens letter to data watchdog on icky workplace monitoring systems like Microsoft's Productivity Score

Re: Doing a deal with the devil, or maybe Jesus?
This is the same Teams that marks you "away" after 5 mins whilst you have it in the background whilst you're replying to your 50th email that day and in your 7th Zoom meeting of the morning.
So it's accurarate then...
Paris...because she's always active in the backround.
And come on El Reg, isn't it about time we had someone more relevant like a Trump or a Kardashian icon?