danek@gdc.portal.com (06/28/91)
In article <1991Jun26.061359.28370@marlin.jcu.edu.au>, zlraa@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Ross Alford) writes: > > I have a ST225, bought in September 1986. In about March 1989 I opened > up the computer for some reason and discovered that, and I am not joking > here, some small ants had eaten through the filter on the top of the > case and were wandering in and out. I immediately secured a new layer > of filter paper over the top of the little thingy that has the filter in > it. The drive is still working. I don't know where the ants were going > after they disappeared into the casing, but I assume they were at least > slightly violating the "clean-room" integrity of the drive. Perhaps > they always got flung off the platters before the heads extended at > startup? Just goes to show that you can *sometimes* get lucky. > Posing a software-hardware engineer for about 8 years has given me the chance to create some very interesting problems in micro systems but I have only heard second hand of this very rare phenomenon which you describe...it seems that as the fine line dividing software and hardware becomes blurred as in the area around the head-to-surface interface on your hard drive, it is possible for, what are normally ordinary hardware bugs, to be magically transformed into obscure software bugs for no reasons known to modern day engineering. That is probably what has happened in your case. Hopefully the bugs have not infested any of your important programs.:) Bob