2nd October, 2009  

Brownout

A brownout is when the mains electrical power voltage drops below normal; similar to a blackout, but instead of the lights going out, they go dim.

When it comes to computers and the effects of a brownout, all bets are off. Depending on the severity and duration of the brownout, and the quality of the computer’s power supply, it may be fine. It may spontaneously reboot itself. It may do anything in between, including memory corruption, application crashes, displaying a BSOD, or causing the printer to start printing MELON MELON MELON *** OUT OF CHEESE *** over and over.

About The Angry Technician

The Angry Technician is an experienced IT professional in the UK education sector. Normally found in various states of annoyance on his blog. All views are those of his imaginary pet dog, Howard.

2 responses to “Brownout”

  1. tmcd35 says :

    Class, a Pratchett reference.

  2. bofhuk says :

    Gotta love Hex’s error messages. Now we know which academic institution AT works at… the Unseen University.