Actually, if just a burning smell, might be a lot of dust inside the computer.
On Fri, Feb 3, 2023 at 7:15 PM Bob Bridges <[email protected]> wrote: > > LOL! I had a customer whom I repeatedly nagged about error messages. One > day he called and said my program "didn't work". What did it do?, I asked. > No, don't tell me "nothing"; there must have been an error message; what did > it say? > > "Oh, it said some damn thing", he grumbled. I'm pretty sure he was laughing > at himself as he said it, because this was an old quarrel between us. > > Here's one I archived back in 1998: > > Technician: Hello. How can I help you today? > > Customer: There's smoke coming from the power supply on my computer. > > Technician: Looks like you need a new power supply. > > Customer: No, I don't! I just need to change the startup files. > > Technician: Sir, what you described is a faulty power supply. You need to > replace it. > > Customer: No way! Someone told me that I just had to change the system > startup files to fix the problem! All I need is for you to tell me the right > command. > > For the next ten minutes, in spite of the technician's efforts to explain the > problem and its solution, the customer adamantly insisted that he was right. > So, in frustration, the technician responded: > > Technician: I'm sorry. We don't normally tell our customers this, but > there's an undocumented DOS command that will fix the problem. > > Customer: I knew it! > > Technician: Just add the line "LOAD NOSMOKE.COM" at the end of the > CONFIG.SYS file and everything should work fine. Let me know how it goes. > > About ten minutes later, the technician received a call back from the > customer: > > Customer: It didn't work. The power supply is still smoking. > > Technician: Well, what version of DOS are you using? > > Customer: MS-DOS 6.22... > > Technician: Well, that's your problem. That version of DOS doesn't include > NOSMOKE. You'll need to contact Microsoft and ask them for a patch. Let me > know how it all works out. > > When nearly an hour had passed, the phone rang again: > > Customer: I need a new power supply. > > Technician: How did you come to that conclusion? > > Customer: Well, I called Microsoft and told the technician what you said, > and he started asking me questions about the make of the power supply. > > Technician: What did he tell you? > > Customer: He said my power supply isn't compatible with NOSMOKE. > > --- > Bob Bridges, [email protected], cell 336 382-7313 > > /* In America, anyone can be President. That's one of the risks you take. */ > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of > Charles Mills > Sent: Friday, February 3, 2023 17:18 > > How about this one? > > Customer on phone: Your product blew up. > Me: Oh, very sorry, what was the error message? > Customer: I don't know. We already deleted the SYSOUT. Something about an > error occurred. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
