Because computer science conceals from time to time secrets that are as surprising as they can be amusing.
For once, we won't mention a news item today in the strict sense of the word. Let's rather say that it is an anecdote, but it should make more than one Windows user, and Windows XP in particular, smile, or even bring back memories. The thing is revealed by Raymond Chen on the official Microsoft blog and relayed by our colleagues from Neowin. So what do a laptop, Janet Jackson and Windows XP have in common?
Here's our first video from our new series with Raymond Chen, @ChenCravat
We asked him to tell us about the mystery wherein some music would crash a laptop!!? pic.twitter.com/BRgfsWEaaC
- Windows Dev Docs (@WindowsDocs) August 12, 2022
According to Raymond Chen, the common point between these three elements is the possibility of a pure and simple crash of the computer with, in the worst case, a failure of the machine. A crash linked to the listening of a song of the American artist, but not just any song. It was Rhythm Nation from the album Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). It seems that the song contains one of the natural resonance frequencies for certain models of hard disks, the 5,400 rpm models very common on laptops in the time of Windows XP.
Microsoft did not specify which exact frequency caused the problem, and since 5,400 rpm hard drives can generate sounds between 0 and 5,000 Hz, it is not easy to find the "right" one: hypotheses put forward several "suspects" at 12.5, 87.5, 1,100, 1,450, 1,700 or 1,850 Hz. At that time, the song could therefore make the hard disk of the laptop concerned vibrate in a risky way, but even more strongly, also those of neighboring computers: the crash could simply require a reboot of the machine, but in some cases, the hard disk was rendered unusable.
Of course, there was no question of banning the broadcasting of Rhythm Nation, and a trick was discovered by some manufacturers and then widely used: a filter integrated into the audio pipeline of the machines that detects and removes the offending frequency before it has its dramatic effect. Of course, this is no longer a problem, even if you haven't yet switched over to SSDs. The anecdote is one of those funny microcomputer stories.
