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Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

devblogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#21

Post by Mindwipe »

ninalanyon wrote: post #6

> certain models Why the weasel words? Does Raymond Chen not know which models? Or is it actually apocryphal.

He genuinely might not know. I worked on a similar incident when our video encoder caused about 30% of a pretty mainstream mobile handset to hard lock when recieving a stream, requiring the battery to be removed to reboot the device.

Neither us nor the OEM ever figured out why. They suspected that it was a weird combination of different bin combinations from different parts, but ultimately we had to change the method of delivering video to stop it happening.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#22

Post by trehalose »

k3vinw wrote: post #16
GaryBluto wrote: post #8

Why didn't they mute the volume to see if it was the video or audio stream causing problems?

Not an expert here, so I’m genuinely curious how could a video stream (edit: with muted audio stream) possibly cause another laptop in close proximity to crash?

I doubt it could, but when you run into a problem that defies your understanding of reality, you might try out responses that also defy your understanding of reality, in the hopes you might gain the missing insight somewhere along the way, yeah?

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#23

Post by raisedbyninjas »

k3vinw wrote: post #16
GaryBluto wrote: post #8

Why didn't they mute the volume to see if it was the video or audio stream causing problems?

Not an expert here, so I’m genuinely curious how could a video stream (edit: with muted audio stream) possibly cause another laptop in close proximity to crash?

Also not an expert, it would have to be EMI or maybe the bright light was causing LEDs on the nearby laptop to generate voltage. LEDs can poorly work in reverse.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#24

Post by mc32 »

onraglanroad wrote: post #15
mc32 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Platters are not made of iron (or even steel) and neither is the surface, so I’m not sure why rust comes into the picture.

The platters used to be coated with iron oxide as the magnetic coating. Modern ones use more exotic materials.

Yes but that was like 40 years ago. I think by now the phraseology should reflect reality after about forty years.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#25

Post by daymanstep »

vee-kay wrote: post #12
nntwozz wrote: post #3

Another reason to step away from spinning rust. Thank dog for SSDs

Technically, that magnetic spinning HDD can work even after decades if maintained safely (no dust, no extreme heat) and without stress, even if it is not switched on for years. In fact, if a magnetic HDD crashes, you may still recover some or all of the data by doing something hardcore, such as letting it sit for some hours in the freezer of your refrigerator, or immersing it in a bowl of rice overnight. However, SSD…

HDDs also lose magnetic charge over time, about 1% per year. So you need to periodically spin up and rewrite the data every few years.

CD drives however, can store data indefinitely without needing refreshing.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#26

Post by geor9e »

k3vinw wrote: post #16
GaryBluto wrote: post #8

Why didn't they mute the volume to see if it was the video or audio stream causing problems?

Not an expert here, so I’m genuinely curious how could a video stream (edit: with muted audio stream) possibly cause another laptop in close proximity to crash?

If this is just a fiction novel world‑building question: The video pixels create a bitstream to bitbang the gpu bus into emitting a 2.4‑gigahertz EMF signal to exploit a flaw in the Wi‑Fi driver.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#27

Post by aidenn0 »

daymanstep wrote: post #25
vee-kay wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, that magnetic spinning HDD can work even after decades if maintained safely (no dust, no extreme heat) and without stress, even if it is not switched on for years. In fact, if a magnetic HDD crashes, you may still recover some or all of the data by doing something hardcore, such as letting it sit for some hours in the freezer of your refrigerator, or immersing it in a bowl of rice overnight. However, SSD…

HDDs also lose magnetic charge over time, about 1% per year. So you need to periodically spin up and rewrite the data every few years. CD drives however, can store data indefinitely without needing refreshing.

CD-R media is of limited shelf life as well though

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#28

Post by binarymax »

daymanstep wrote: post #25
vee-kay wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically, that magnetic spinning HDD can work even after decades if maintained safely (no dust, no extreme heat) and without stress, even if it is not switched on for years. In fact, if a magnetic HDD crashes, you may still recover some or all of the data by doing something hardcore, such as letting it sit for some hours in the freezer of your refrigerator, or immersing it in a bowl of rice overnight. However, SSD…

HDDs also lose magnetic charge over time, about 1% per year. So you need to periodically spin up and rewrite the data every few years. CD drives however, can store data indefinitely without needing refreshing.

But the materials on the CD eventually break down, sometimes as soon as within 5 years. So you can look into MDisc, which purports 100 years…but only in theory since the tests are just approximations of what would actually happen.

Re: Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers (2022)

#29

Post by teiferer »

I'd love to know whether that story is actually true.

Some dude hears somebody tell a story about sth 20 years ago, puts it in a blog, and here we are on HN, nobody questioning whether it's actually accurate. Of course Raymond Chen isn't just any random person, but the more important it would be to actually check? I mean, who hasn't heard people tell stories from decades ago, including colleagues reminiscing about the good old times "before y'all were born" only to realize later that it was vastly exaggerated or even outright made up.

Anybody around here with some actual first-hand info or at least another source besides this blog entry? I'd love to hear!

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