5 ms·

Windows 98 had a similar bug where the system would hang after 49.7 days: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/216641 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2

Windows 98 had a similar bug where the system would hang after 49.7 days: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/216641 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/216641 Although IIRC, the impact was limited, because it was quite a feat for a Windows 98 system to stay up for 49 days :)

alfiedotwtf 11y ago
I found 98 respectible. It was 95 that didn't last a whole week!
- Rexxar 11y ago
  "Windows Millennium Edition" was the worst.
  - windsurfer 11y ago
    "Malfunction Edition" as it was sometimes known
- digi_owl 11y ago
  Win2k was golden.
  - wglb 11y ago
    My last surviving win2k machine finally died. Power supply would not fire up after a power cycle. I could repair it, but maybe it is just time to leave it be.
    - digi_owl 11y ago
      I had to abandon 2k after i tried swapping the motherboard on it, and ended up with the blue screen of "don't have driver X for critical hardware Y".
      - wglb 11y ago
        Yes, I had tried that earlier. Also tried upgrading to a later version, but not enough bios. And it is running 32 bit windows on a 64 bit board.
agwa 11y ago
Since we're talking about aviation, that same overflow bug caused a meltdown of Southern California air traffic control in 2010 after someone forgot to preemptively reboot their Windows servers every 30 days: http://www.techworld.com/news/operating-systems/microsoft-server-crash-nearly-causes-800-plane-pile-up-3577711/ http://www.techworld.com/news/operating-systems/microsoft-se...
- bliti 11y ago
  Stupid question to those who work in the aviation industry: This seems like a candidate for an automated script that reboots the server every n days or hours. Would such script be considered a potential risk? If so, why?
  - reitanqild 11y ago
    All of a sudden you have an emergency going on and a plane coming in in the middle of the night even though the airport is usually only open until 2100. And there goes the servers because of a stupid script. :-] Of course they went down anyway and by the far more likely cause of forgetting to reboot.
    - jkot 11y ago
      Today it is even better. 2GB of updates will get applied after rebooting, before system starts.
      - digi_owl 11y ago
        And that is why WSUS exists...
      - thirdsun 11y ago
        There was a story recently about a german 2nd division basketball team that ran their scoreboard on Windows and applied updates about an hour before the game - scoreboard wasn't back up in time, team lost since the match couldn't start within the allowed timeframe and of course this match was important, kind of an endgame and the loss led to the relegation of the team.
VonGuard 11y ago
Yeah, and as I recall, it took something like 5 years to find this bug because no one had kept a machine up that long.

alfiedotwtf 11y ago

I found 98 respectible. It was 95 that didn't last a whole week!

Rexxar 11y ago
"Windows Millennium Edition" was the worst.
- windsurfer 11y ago
  "Malfunction Edition" as it was sometimes known
digi_owl 11y ago
Win2k was golden.
- wglb 11y ago
  My last surviving win2k machine finally died. Power supply would not fire up after a power cycle. I could repair it, but maybe it is just time to leave it be.
  - digi_owl 11y ago
    I had to abandon 2k after i tried swapping the motherboard on it, and ended up with the blue screen of "don't have driver X for critical hardware Y".
    - wglb 11y ago
      Yes, I had tried that earlier. Also tried upgrading to a later version, but not enough bios. And it is running 32 bit windows on a 64 bit board.

agwa 11y ago

Since we're talking about aviation, that same overflow bug caused a meltdown of Southern California air traffic control in 2010 after someone forgot to preemptively reboot their Windows servers every 30 days: http://www.techworld.com/news/operating-systems/microsoft-server-crash-nearly-causes-800-plane-pile-up-3577711/ http://www.techworld.com/news/operating-systems/microsoft-se...

bliti 11y ago
Stupid question to those who work in the aviation industry: This seems like a candidate for an automated script that reboots the server every n days or hours. Would such script be considered a potential risk? If so, why?
- reitanqild 11y ago
  All of a sudden you have an emergency going on and a plane coming in in the middle of the night even though the airport is usually only open until 2100. And there goes the servers because of a stupid script. :-] Of course they went down anyway and by the far more likely cause of forgetting to reboot.
  - jkot 11y ago
    Today it is even better. 2GB of updates will get applied after rebooting, before system starts.
    - digi_owl 11y ago
      And that is why WSUS exists...
    - thirdsun 11y ago
      There was a story recently about a german 2nd division basketball team that ran their scoreboard on Windows and applied updates about an hour before the game - scoreboard wasn't back up in time, team lost since the match couldn't start within the allowed timeframe and of course this match was important, kind of an endgame and the loss led to the relegation of the team.

VonGuard 11y ago

Yeah, and as I recall, it took something like 5 years to find this bug because no one had kept a machine up that long.