The 7-Year Bug That Took 3 Minutes to Fix
4 days ago
- #engineering
- #persistence
- #debugging
- A 7-year bug in railway AC generator inverter safety mechanism was finally fixed in 3 minutes.
- The bug involved the safety mechanism triggering incorrectly due to noise from long cables.
- A bored lab technician reproduced the bug by using a 400-meter cable spool, revealing the issue.
- The fix was adding a larger capacitor to filter noise, solving the problem instantly.
- Key lessons: real-world conditions differ from lab tests, persistence is crucial, and breakthroughs can come from unexpected actions.
- Complex problems often require long-term thinking beyond the typical 5-minute attention span.