It's a new miracle!

[altivo]

Going on 48 hours without any rain. Woohoo! I can't believe it. None predicted for tonight or tomorrow, either.

Swapped network server UPSes today, putting my now good (new batteries) APC Smart 1500 in place of the failed TrippLite Smart Net 2200. The APC had been working, needed only the new batteries. The TrippLite has not been working for at least a couple of months. Although it reports that the batteries are good and the load within limits, it just clicks off and stays that way at the slightest power glitch. A little rough on servers, especially file servers with disk arrays.

Pulling the TrippLite out of the cupboard in which it was installed revealed a pile of cat hair and dried hair balls. Cleaned it out, put the APC in place, fired stuff up and it worked. Well, mostly. The server that had been on the "basic" status line shut back down after two minutes because it "couldn't contact the UPS." Took me a while and a couple of reboots to figure out why that was happening and fix it. The APC has only one status cable and can't be connected to two machines at once. The TrippLite could handle up to three.

Closer examination in the good light makes me suspect that the controller circuits on the TrippLite failed due to... (get ready for it)... cat barf. Yes, right through the vent holes in the top, with soot and the smell of burned ICs emanating from the spot. Oddly, the unit doesn't appear to be designed to permit user replacement of the batteries. It weighs about 70 pounds though, which is hardly practical for returning it to the manufacturer for battery service. Lugged it to the car and brought it home. I'll see if I can repair it.

Comments

[moonhare]

Going on 48 hours without any rain.

Ah, we finally got some rain, but not enough. Fast moving thundershower came through and dropped the temp almost 20 degrees.

[hrrunka]

...and we've had our first rain in ten days. The garden may look better for it, if there's enough of it to start soaking in a bit. Folks at Wimbledon may not like it, though...

[hrrunka]

Guess the top of the UPS was a nice warm spot for a kitty to curl up?

[altivo]

Yes, it was a known cat nap location for Miss Emma, the library cat who has departed the premises along with our retiring director. Occasional monitors and keyboards were also subject to this abuse but this is the first instance of equipment that was permanently damaged. It was also a fairly expensive item at $700 but in a commercial environment would have been due for replacement anyway (6 years of service.)

She used to prefer the tops of the CRT monitors, but lost that option as we replaced more and more of those with LCD flat panels.

[schnee]

...cats.

[altivo]

Not all cats are equal. This one was definitely a "mixed blessing."

[schnee]

Sounds like a euphemism if I've ever heard one. :)

But yeah, not all cats are equal; some are even worse than others. ;)