My Hardest Bug Ever (2013)

a month ago

The programmer shares a story about debugging a memory card issue in Crash Bandicoot 1.
The bug caused random timeouts during memory card writes/reads, sometimes corrupting the card.
After six weeks of debugging, the issue was narrowed down to the programmable timer setting.
Setting the timer to 1kHz interfered with the memory card's baud rate, causing data corruption.
The issue was exacerbated when the PS1 controller was used simultaneously.
A Sony hardware engineer confirmed it was a hardware problem after initial skepticism.
The bug was caused by crosstalk on the motherboard due to high timer clock rates.
This was the only time the programmer encountered a bug related to quantum mechanics.

Hasty Briefsbeta