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The Daily Grind: Here comes your nineteenth system meltdown
We play enough games on the computer to know better than your average user. We're fully aware that the machine doesn't hate us, for one thing. But we sometimes turn it on, and suddenly find that our graphics card has decided to turn into a miniature sun within the plastic case, melting all of our valuable components into a reasonably-sized dinner plate at a time when we can't really drop the thousand-odd dollars on a new machine. Thus begins the process of pulling things out, confirming that they're dead, calling tech support and being told that you should buy a new computer, and you wondering where your pleasant evening has gone. Perhaps you didn't find your computer going nova. Maybe it decided to just fail to boot for no reason, necessitating a hard drive replacement. Or perhaps it was your connection erupting in a shower of failure followed by a string of support techs claiming to dispatch new people and lying. Whatever the case, in a hobby that seems to be constantly subject to a particularly draconic form of Murphy's Law, we ask you: what's the worst meltdown you've had? Was it the most costly to fix, the most inopportune time, or just frustrating and stressful for some other reason?
Network card crash leaves 17,000 stranded at LAX
According to reports, a single computer crash on Saturday in the Customs office of LAX caused hours of delays for more than 17,000 airline passengers. US Customs officials say that a malfunctioning network card on a single desktop created a "domino" effect with its other computers, leading to a total system failure that caused massive wait times. According to a Customs spokesman, "We lost access to our national systems, as well as our local area network." He went on the claim that it took over ten hours to diagnose the problem, halting screening operations and leaving passengers stranded on planes or in the airport -- unable to enter or leave the US. From the sounds of it, Customs need to hire a handful of Engadget readers, who we're pretty sure could have located the source of the problem in considerably less time.[Thanks, Darleene]
