7 Apr
2004
7 Apr
'04
11:47 a.m.
On which planet have you been living for the last 20
years????
I've never met a field servoid who had any sort of clue
whatsoever about the operation and troubelshooting of
computers -- they just replace seemingly random parts
until the fault goes away.
The DEC FS people who used to service the VAX-11/750
(this is late 80s, early 90s) and the associated
RA60 were actually pretty good.
Certainly I've never
seen oue use a multimeter, let alone a 'scope...
Don't recall a scope (but then I don't recall a fault
that needed one) but when one of the regulators went
in the VAX-11/750 PSU, he did track it down using a
multimeter. OK, so he swapped an internal part in the
PSU block (he had one in the car) but at least he knew
what he was swapping and why.
And he said 'Look what I've found'
'Your ECOs are years behind'
'But I'll put it all to rights'
Then he shorted out the power supply
and out went all the lights
Well not all the lights ... We'd ordered
a DPV11 in error when what we should have ordered
was a DSV11 (or vice-versa, I forget). The
FS turned up with the right board and a
trainee in tow. I assume he was a trainee as
the first thing he did was pull the old board
out, the second thing he did was keep his mouth
shut while the older guy, realising that strictly
speaking he shouldn't have assumed the trainee
would have the nouse to turn off the power first,
casually said, "Your PSU seems to have gone, luckily
I have a spare in the car".
I had to go away and have a little laugh.
I suppose it's a phase we all go through.
It was on a Thursday morning
The HDA came along
with a blocklist and a cable
and a list of what goes wrong
Without exception all (err, both) the disk
FSEs I've had occasion to meet were pretty
darn good. This is back in the days when
DEC rated its FSEs by expecting them to be
formally grilled by more senior engineers
to gain a particular level of knowledge.
Antonio
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Antonio Carlini arcarlini(a)iee.org