Deanne Charlton wrote:

> In a message dated 97-05-17 09:24:57 EDT, you Charley Meyer wrote:
>
> << Yesterday, my 4 yr old Gateway 486 after 4 years of near flawless
> service
> passed
>  from this world into the great beyond of cyberspace.  >>
>
> For those who want a goofy (sworn to be true) story of the demise of
> a
> computer, read on:
>
> The PowerBook That Leaked - (a true story)
>
> In 1993, sometime in December, a customer walks in with a dead
> PowerBook
> 165. Fault description: hangs on startup. An additional symptom
> provided
> was: whilst being carried from the customer's site to our service
> center, a
> 'sloshing' noise was heard within the machine.
>
> "Has anything been split on this computer?" I inquired, but no,
> nothing of
> the sort had happened, protested the client vehemently.  Taking this
> with a
> grain of salt (no-one's going to admit doing something that totally
> invalidates their warranty and effectively wrecks their computer) I
> went
> about filling in the repair order.
>
> Back on the bench, I started the PowerBook up. Sure enough, an
> address
> error on startup, just after 'Welcome to Macintosh'. I lowered my
> ear to
> the keyboard, at which point I heard a crackling noise (couldn't
> hear any
> sloshing noise though) and became aware of a rather 'sharp' odor
> which
> seemed to emanate from the inside of the machine.  Flicking the
> computer
> off and unplugging the adapter, I removed the battery from it's
> compartment, only to observe that the entire battery casing was
> soaked in a
> fluid which appear to have a rainbow-like sheen (kind of like what a
> puddle
> of soapy water would look like - oily and colorful). I also noticed
> that
> the same fluid was leaking out of the battery compartment onto the
> static
> mat, but appeared clear rather than multi-colored.
>
> My first thoughts were that the battery had somehow leaked acid out
> into
> the guts of the PowerBook, which would account for the sharp smell
> (which
> reminded me of ammonia), yet the battery terminals were about the
> one part
> of the battery that was dry. No, upon closer examination, I ruled
> the acid
> theory out. The battery was wet, but not leaking.
>
> Tipping the machine on it's side, I watched more fluid run out and
> coagulate on the bench in a puddle about the size of a compact
> disc.  It
> was definitely clear, and I observed that the 'rainbow' effect had
> been
> caused by the reaction of the plastic battery casing to this
> 'mystery
> liquid'. I then unscrewed the computer and separated the two parts
> of the
> PowerBook.
>
> The smell suddenly became a LOT stronger. The hard disk looked like
> a solid
> lump of rust, and the daughterboard appeared to have about three
> barbecued
> chips. Although I was quickly forming my own opinions on what had
> happened,
> I invited several of my workmates in to take a sniff and offer an
> opinion. We were unanimous in our decision.  I rang the customer,
> who
> seemed surprised when I asked the question: "Do you have a cat?"
>
> As it turned out, he didn't have a cat, but he *did* have a lovely
> fluffy
> bunny rabbit who was seen in the vicinity of the PowerBook only the
> day
> before. Yes, there was no doubt about it, little fluffy had hopped
> up onto
> the keyboard and downloaded some incompatible data. I checked the
> warranty
> form, but there was no provision for failure due to rabbit urine
> anywhere. I advised the customer to get in touch with his insurance
> company.
>
> In the end, the PowerBook was biffed and the customer upgraded to a
> 180c. I
> cleaned up the static mat and sprayed the service department with a
> healthy
> dosage of "Fresh Field of Flowers". I checked in with the customer
> about a
> week later, asked how was he enjoying the 180c, asked if he'd
> managed to
> restore his data, and, of course, asked how was his rabbit?
>
> "Delicious." he said.
>
> Hope this wasn't too long or violated any list rules or commonly
> accepted
> list mores.
>
> Deanne Charlton
> [log in to unmask]

 Deanne,
I think on this response, I'll start at the bottom.
That was a very entertaining story, Sherlock couldn't have done it
better. But I think your customer was a little harsh in his judgement of
the Bunny. There have been many times I have wanted to do the same thing
the bunny did, he probably just couln't make that damn thing work
either.

Bob Chapman  64/1.5