mason@tmsoft.uucp (Dave Mason) (03/16/89)
In article <1989Mar15.173203.23116@utzoo.uucp> ian@utzoo.uucp (Ian F. Darwin) writes: >SQ (aka sq.com) lost its power supply yesterday morning; the replacement >was DOA; the second replacement works but now the disk system is >acting up. When it rains, it pours! Watch this space for future >developments in the area of hardware bashing and delayed mail/news. I think Toronto Hydro was putting out some nasty power over the weekend. There was a 15 minute power failure in the southeast of the city on, I think, Saturday. Fortunately tmsoft is on a UPS. 2 computers at Ryerson (these don't have a UPS (although the mainframe does)), where there WASN'T a power failure as far as I know, went catatonic (at about the same time as the power failure). Both rebooted OK, but one seems to have had some disk controller logic lightly toasted...it works fine except when it freezes up which it's done twice this week. I think that other parts of the power grid may have had spikes and other uglies while they scrambled to get power back to the southeast. Are the people who know what they're doing still on strike? The supervisory people may make messier power when they're bringing stuff back online. Any opinions? ../Dave
harrison@utfyzx.uucp (David Harrison) (03/16/89)
In article <1989Mar16.024344.17471@tmsoft.uucp> mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes: >I think Toronto Hydro was putting out some nasty power over the >weekend. There was a 15 minute power failure in the southeast of the >city on, I think, Saturday. Apparently the sunspot cycle is heading for a 200 year high, and power glitches are likely to be common for the next few months. At about 3AM Sat morning we logged a disc error (very rare on our bullet-proof Hewlett-Packard hardware) which may be related. Incidentally, we tap into UTCS' insulated/isolated power. If you don't have a UPS, it might be a great time to get one. -- David Harrison | "Where it is a duty to worship Dept. of Physics, Univ of Toronto | the sun it is pretty sure to UUCP: uunet!attcan!utgpu!utfyzx!harrison | be a crime to examine the laws BITNET: HARRISON@UTORPHYS | of heat." --- John Morley
andytoy@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Andy Toy, Applications Support Group) (03/16/89)
In article <1989Mar16.024344.17471@tmsoft.uucp> mason@tmsoft.UUCP (Dave Mason) writes: >I think Toronto Hydro was putting out some nasty power over the >weekend. There was a 15 minute power failure in the southeast of the ... >I think that other parts of the power grid may have had spikes and >other uglies while they scrambled to get power back to the southeast. >Are the people who know what they're doing still on strike? The >supervisory people may make messier power when they're bringing stuff >back online. Any opinions? Must be the solar flare activity messing up the power grid. -- Andy Toy, Department of Computing Services, | andytoy@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca University of Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA | andytoy@watdcsu.waterloo.edu andytoy@watdcsu.NetNorth | ...uunet!watmath!watdcsu!andytoy | [129.97.128.5]
mike@ists.ists.ca (Mike Clarkson) (03/17/89)
In article <1989Mar16.024344.17471@tmsoft.uucp>, mason@tmsoft.uucp (Dave Mason) writes: > In article <1989Mar15.173203.23116@utzoo.uucp > ian@utzoo.uucp (Ian F. Darwin) writes: > >SQ (aka sq.com) lost its power supply yesterday morning; the replacement > >was DOA; the second replacement works but now the disk system is > >acting up. When it rains, it pours! Watch this space for future > >developments in the area of hardware bashing and delayed mail/news. > > I think Toronto Hydro was putting out some nasty power over the > weekend. There was a 15 minute power failure in the southeast of the > city on, I think, Saturday. Fortunately tmsoft is on a UPS. > > 2 computers at Ryerson (these don't have a UPS (although the mainframe > does)), where there WASN'T a power failure as far as I know, went > catatonic (at about the same time as the power failure). Both > rebooted OK, but one seems to have had some disk controller logic > lightly toasted...it works fine except when it freezes up which it's > done twice this week. > > I think that other parts of the power grid may have had spikes and > other uglies while they scrambled to get power back to the southeast. > Are the people who know what they're doing still on strike? The > supervisory people may make messier power when they're bringing stuff > back online. Any opinions? > ../Dave I have seen more power failures in the last 3 weeks that I would normally see in 2-3 years. Tuesday night we got hit with 10-20 dumps/glitches and outages in a 3 hour period. Last night we got hit in North York. Hydro Quebec first attributed their massive outage last week to sun-spots. At first I said "poppy-cock", but there may be something to it. We are at a sun-spot peak, and are seeing the highest levels in something like fourty years (4 cycles). Other possibilities include phase of moon, and the odd coincidence that we are in the middle of a Hydro strike. Whatever's going on, I'm spending a large amount of next week looking at UPS's. Does anyone have some good or bad experience on where to shop and what to buy? I'm looking at covering diskless Suns (300W), Suns with shoeboxes (600W), and Sun racks with 1-2 disks (2000W). Has anyone found UPS's that do a graceful shutdown, or CPS's (Continuous Power Supplies - they plug right into the DC side of the power supply)? Many thanks in advance, Mike. Mike Clarkson mike@ists.UUCP Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science mike@ists.ists.ca York University, North York, Ontario, uunet!mnetor!yunexus!ists!mike CANADA M3J 1P3 +1 (416) 736-5611
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (03/18/89)
In article <367@ists.ists.ca> mike@ists.ists.ca (Mike Clarkson) writes: >Hydro Quebec first attributed their massive outage last week to sun-spots. >At first I said "poppy-cock", but there may be something to it. We are at >a sun-spot peak, and are seeing the highest levels in something like fourty >years (4 cycles). Definitely not poppy-cock. People have forgotten what really heavy solar activity can do, since it hasn't happened in several decades. The Earth's magnetosphere can really get tied in knots when the Sun starts acting up, and magnetic-field fluctuations can induce quite substantial voltages in long power lines. >Other possibilities ... the odd coincidence that >we are in the middle of a Hydro strike. Undoubtedly that is not helping. -- Welcome to Mars! Your | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology passport and visa, comrade? | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu