The black screen of BIOS borkage haunts Space Shuttle Discovery's new home
- Reference: 1625652127
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/07/bork/
- Source link:
Today's display of unhelpfulness was captured by Register reader Will at the otherwise excellent Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia, part of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Sadly, however, all is not well with one of the computers lurking behind the scenes.
[1]
The Optiplex 755 was one of Dell's Mini Tower computers (now out of favour since punters prefer portables) and featured drive bays aplenty – a pair of 5.25-inch slots, as well as one size for 3.5-inch drives, were accessible on the case.
[2]
[3]
The case is nowhere to be seen here, unless it is out of shot in a bulky stand. There is every chance that its guts might have been liberated for interactive signage purposes. Either way, the Dell is not happy.
We'd hazard a guess the battery responsible for holding the hardware configuration is on the way out, and the requirement for date and time entry indicates a certain level of forgetfulness. On the other hand, the "system management hardware needs a reset" message sounds a bit alarming.
[4]
Click to enlarge
Still, it's likely an elderly thing in computing terms. The Dell Optiplex 755 dates from around 2007, a good four years before the star exhibit at Udvar-Hazy, Space Shuttle Discovery, took its final flight to space.
The Shuttle is now preserved at the Smithsonian. The Dell... somewhat less so.
[5]
While one might be the most advanced flying machine ever made and the other is, well, a Dell, both do have one thing in common: neither are likely to be candidates for Windows 11 any time soon.
[6]Black screens in Windows 11? Bork has seen it all before
[7]We hope this hotel has a nice spa because Windows sure looks like it needs some R&R
[8]London Greenwich station: A reminder of former glories. Like Windows XP
[9]Emergency mode? Bah! It takes a Microsoft product to really break a digital sign
Interested parties pondering a visit to the museum will be relieved to learn that this bit of borkage is very much the exception to the rule. Our reader noted the institution was festooned with screens and webcams, permitting chats with experts.
"Overall," he said, "it felt more dynamic than the pre-COVID days where a tour guide gets in your face and demands your attention."
"It's an excellent museum," he continued, "with a one-of-a-kind collection and I would highly recommend a sojourn to anyone visiting the Washington DC area or laying over for an extended time at the nearby Dulles International Airport!"
We'd have to agree. Once we're allowed to travel again. ®
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Second time?
Either the battery lasted 14 years (impressive but possible) or it failed years ago and has been replaced once before already. The hard disk is doing well too.
Re: Second time?
Not necessarily. It may be that this is the first time that the machine has been rebooted since the battery died 8 years ago. Perhaps it rebooted in order to install the print spooler patch.
Re: Second time?
Could also be that there used to be a keyboard attached and the IT guy knew to go around after a power outage and hit F1 so the thing would boot, while muttering "I gotta remember to get a 2032 the next time I'm at Walmart. Or is it a 2025? I gotta remember to open the case and look after the next power outage..." and around and around it goes...
Re: Second time?
Likewise, the floppy failure is quite possibly because the system default assumes a floppy drive is present whereas for an info display unit it was thought wise to remove the floppy and configure the BIOS setup to suit. One of my older boxes is set up that way too.
I've been there three times, and could happily visit more often. I was a bit annoyed once when I asked a tour guide if there was anything about Sir George Cayley there and he said he didn't know who that was (there is a small bit about him on the smaller version on the Mall, FWIW)
There is an observation tower that you can visit that gives great views of planes landing and taking off from Dulles as well.
Don't worry
Often in signage with those older displays we simply put the computer in a rack somewhere , use a vga to cat5 --> cat5 vga pair of extenders.
Can be anywhere within 100m .. Same applies to HDMI , for simple signage though the units are small enough so they're at the back of the tv mounted somewhere handy.
No need to tear apart a computer .. extenders are probably what went on here.
I took the same picture on Monday but never got around to sending it in - nicely done! For what it's worth the computer is in the pedestal below the screen, there's a mesh through which it is partly visible in one of my photos. Observation tower is closed for the moment, but it was great to see the Apollo 11 control module outside the restoration bay!
Maybe they should use their Cray as a temp fix here?
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/computer-super-cray-1-cpu/nasm_A19880565000
My Dell 755 is running Win10 21H1 quite fine thank you
although boosted to a max capacity of 8GB RAM from original 2GB albeit on equally-old spinning rust and the stock Core 2 Duo @ 2.66 GHz CPU. Sadly, looks like no Win11 in its future.
I visited there shortly after it opened, and guided myself. At the time, the tour guides were...questionably informed. I did overhear errors. If I could get one request filled, I'd ask for fake exhaust nozzles and intakes to be added to the jets on display - they all have the engines out, of course - many of them are displayed separately (and for the suspended aircraft, the weight savings is significant) but the illusion of these being airplanes and not just props is broken since they are obviously incomplete.
The Discovery display was a work very much barely started when I was there, unfortunately. I'll make it back one of these days.
Nice to see the Langley Aerodrome back on display - minus the false claims. Its a nice-looking craft, even if it never did fly.
The last time I went they had moved the barriers much nearer to the shuttle, so you could walk under the wings, made it much better.
Old Aircraft, are not the only historic relics on display at this Museum.
Nice puzzle picture too
I found myself mostly distracted at all the aerodynamic goodness going on in the background.
I can make out:
B-29 (obvs)
Grob G102 (also obvious)
TG-1 (airforce training glider, blue with yellow wing, hanging center pic)
Hawker Hurricane (below the tail of the B-29)
Sopwith Camel (just aft behind the tail of the B-29)
Westland Lysander (hanging, below the G102)
Northrop flying wing (Yellow, left of the console)
Cessna 172? (center left, red tail, white Cessna text on the tail)
The rest eludes me.
Strike the F1
If they keep striking things, no wonder they break.