[aklug] Re: Home server static issues

Come on :) - My box wasn't smoked. It was just building up a static
charge and freezing up.

I have seen a similar situation to what you are describing though. 60 mA
current loop with a floating ground situation.

Current loop is a serial communication system that predates RS232. It
was mostly used with teletype, but was also common on computers into the
early 80s. This network was from one building to another.

One building was an older one with the 2 prong electrical outlets. They
used a 3 prong to 2 prong adapter. Those ones with the little pigtail
you're supposed to attach to the cover plate screw to give you a ground,
assuming of course someone had bothered to properly ground the
electrical box the outlet was in.

In this case, the box was properly grounded, but someone couldn't be
bothered with the pigtail. They just cut it off.

I don't know what the electrical difference was between the 2 systems
was at the time of the problem, but that 20 ga wire did not like playing
ground for everything in the one building. Luckily it was properly
opto-isolated, through no fault of the installer, so all that was lost
was the wire, current loop power supply, and end connectors.

On Thu, 2009-08-13 at 15:01 -0800, Marc Grober wrote:
> Lol, ever seen what a serial network looks like when 110 volts decides
> to co-opt rs-232?
>
>
>
> On Aug 13, 2009, at 2:52 PM, barsalou <barjunk@attglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > Quoting Jim Gribbin <jimgribbin@gmail.com>:
> >
> >> I had been working an setting up a server at home. From Amahi.org.
> >>
> >> It's a Linux based competitor for the Windows home server. Kind of
> >> slick, you should check it out. It is only set up to serve what's
> >> behind
> >> the gateway and not intended to face the Internet, although there are
> >> VPN tunneling provisions.
> >>
> >> I set it up on an older Dell Dimension 4100. P3 933 (I think) w/
> >> 512 MB.
> >> I've had it running a few weeks, but hadn't really done anything
> >> with it
> >> at yet as I seemed to be having some stability issues with my
> >> setup. The
> >> box would freeze randomly and I hadn't been able to keep it up more
> >> than
> >> about 48 consecutive hours.
> >>
> >> I was about to write off the box as having a hardware issue, probably
> >> due to it's age. Maybe a bad mobo or some such. Decided to Google the
> >> box and see if anyone else had had similar issues with that model.
> >>
> >> I seems these boxes have a susceptibility to static. Leave them
> >> sitting
> >> on a good quality carpet with a high wool content in it coupled
> >> with a
> >> low humidity climate like we have here and it can get enough static
> >> build-up just from people walking across the carpet, that it builds
> >> up a
> >> charge and just freezes.
> >>
> >> I put it up on about 2 inch blocks to get it off the carpet and it
> >> seems
> >> like it may be cured. It has been up about 5 days running now.
> >>
> >> Check you outlet as well and make certain it is properly wired and
> >> grounded. Mine was, but I have seen them where they weren't.
> >>
> >> Jim G
> >
> >
> > This is a great story. I'm sure others have similar ones.
> >
> > Mike B.
> >
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Received on Thu Aug 13 17:47:06 2009