Blogger Beta Blues, Part III

Here’s the really crazy part of the whole sordid mess: At the same instant that I discovered that the importation process into WordPress was not going to work, and I began to curse Google/Blogger for raining on my parade; I smelled smoke.

Acrid, burning plastic-type smoke. As I sniffed the air, searching for the source, I saw smoke wafting out of the top of my file server, which promptly shut down. Pulling the cover off and peering inside, I wasn’t immediately able to find the source of the smoke, but there were traces of the thread-like soot that is characteristic of burning plastic scattered here and there inside the case. I disconnected the power, grabbed a flashlight, and searched for the culprit. Several minutes later, I found it. At the edge of the motherboard, hidden from view between a PCI card the edge of the case, two plastic jumpers had melted down and, evidently, caught fire.

Here’s the really, really crazy part: After I pulled the charred remnants of the jumpers off, I warily powered the computer back up… and it booted right up and ran (and continues to run) as though nothing had happened! Crazy! (And not exactly confidence-inspiring.)

Naturally, even though there’s absolutely no evidence of any involvement, I blame Blogger/Google.

Bastards!