Mice and Computers

by Manu (modified: 2007 Mar 16)

Yesterday one of our very old server died due to a power supply failure. Nothing unusual for an old computer (Celeron 300MHz with 128MB of RAM from 1998), so when we wanted to replace the power supply, we were surprised to see this:

Nice Mouse Nest
Apparently a mouse had settled in our server for some time. We quickly wondered how it had entered in the computer's case and we saw that one of the ISA slots hadn't been covered. Mystery solved.

After the fact, we wonder if there was some relation between the power supply failure and the mouse, and where the mouse is.

By the way, who said that programmers are chasing bugs? Maybe we should say that they are chasing mice.

Comments
  • Colin Adams (17 years ago 17/3/2007)

    Solution

    Use a keyboard instead. Unlike mice, they cant nibble cables.

  • Peter Gummer (17 years ago 17/3/2007)

    Mice and DbC

    Could Design by Contract have caught this mouse earlier? Were preconditions disabled when this computer was switched on back in 1998? This looks like a Y2K mouse to me: why didn't it fail on January 1, 2000?

    And, most importantly, do mice inhabit the Eiffel Tower? DbC had not been invented in 1887, so we may never know until it is too late!