How a software error bricked 600 PCs and caused a $1M CD-ROM write-off
A costly release failure
After the software went out, customers told support that other programs stopped working once they installed the package. The company responded by offering affected customers a new PC and agreeing to pay for it.
Finding a machine to inspect
Oriel and fellow developers were asked to resolve the fault, but they could not reproduce it or identify what had gone wrong. Support agents then looked for a customer willing to hand over an affected computer.
A customer several hours away by road agreed. An engineer collected the faulty PC on the holiday morning, delivered a replacement and set it up to the customer's specifications.
The fix arrives
The following day, Oriel and his colleagues examined the machine and found a fix. They produced a version of the accounting application that would no longer cause the problem.
The headline puts the incident's scale at 600 PCs and a $1 million CD-ROM write-off. The account itself does not explain how those figures were calculated.
Key points
- The accounting software disrupted other programs on some Windows 95 and Windows ME PCs.
- The company offered replacement computers and agreed to cover their cost.
- Engineers struggled to reproduce the problem until they obtained an affected customer's PC.
- The team found a fix the day after retrieving the machine.