Zinc Whiskers Cripple Colorado's Computers

Posted by simoniker on Friday July 2, 2004 @02:36PM from the all-of-them dept.

Mr. Christmas Lights writes "While zinc whiskers, small metallic fibers which grow on surfaces that have been electroplated with zinc, aren't a problem for Christmas lights, they can cause serious problems for computers. The Denver Post reports how they caused computer outages for the last three weeks in the Colorado secretary of state's office. This basically halted business and elections document filings. Zinc whiskers are becoming more of a problem as computers electronics get smaller. NASA has a good reference site which includes a interesting PDF summary paper complete with pictures. /.'ers with computer rooms might want to check this out."

4 of 276 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

any one hear of dusting? by Serff · 2004-07-02 14:48 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Maybe they should invest in some cleaners...
Re:WOW! by Nermal6693 · 2004-07-02 15:01 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Several years ago, I was reading a review of "new" ADSL technology. The article said that you'd see much faster browsing and downloads, but some servers were so slow that having broadband didn't matter. "Take a bow, NASA".

Fortunately, they've improved since then!
Re:More work to do... by SEWilco · 2004-07-02 15:12 · Score: 0, Offtopic

You didn't put "NO CATS ALLOWED" signs on your server room as soon as you saw the headline?
Re:Absolutely no way by crisco · 2004-07-02 18:40 · Score: 0, Offtopic

I agree, there's no way anyone running IIS knows what they're talking about.

--
Bleh!