'Let's just shove a bigger fan in there and see what happens'

Keeping old hardware running

Robert said his company monitored articles for keywords requested by customers, then cut out relevant stories and sent them on. Business was weak, and the company was almost bankrupt by the time he left.

With money tight, the company was keen to keep its older equipment in service. That included a server whose cooling fans began to fail.

Fans added one by one

After the fan serving a component stopped working, staff removed the server’s lid and placed a larger fan on top to supply airflow, Robert said. The machine continued operating.

When another internal fan failed, they fitted an additional fan, which Robert described as poorly installed. The server kept running despite that change as well.

A replacement finally arrives

A third internal fan eventually failed. Management then decided to purchase a new server, ending the effort to keep the aging machine running.