/prog/ - Can code damage hardware?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:41

Can random code damage your hardware when run in Real Mode? If yes, give some examples how. What happens when the ACPI tables are overwritten? Is it possible to disable the CPU fan through code, and have the CPU overheat and break, or does the BIOS have moron-proof failsafes incase someone would do that?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:43

Some time ago it was possible to burn CRT display.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:55

look at nVidia's display driver version 196.75 (very old/outdated by now)

it accidentally turned off the fan of many graphics cards, leading them to overheat and get damaged

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:01

What is the point of damaging hardware? Are you competitor, who wants to damage reputation of nvidia?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:17

>>4
it was accidental, the driver wasn't supposed to turn off the fan

and it was an official driver from nVidia, not a competitor

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:20

>>5
If it wasnt supposed, why did it had access?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:26

>>1
Even better question: can random code damage your wetware by drawing specially designed images on the screen?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:40

>>7

Bitch, it does everyday...

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:52

>>7
Back to sneakernet, please!

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 13:04

>>7
Anime has already done this to me.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:21



int main()

{

  free(0x00000001); 

  return 126;

}

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:32

There was talk, back in the day, about a virus that could damage your monitor. A lot of monitors didn't have any hardware protection against setting a refresh rate higher than they could handle. So if you circumvented Windows (probably Windows 3.1 at the time) and just slammed the VGA register directly, you could run a 60Hz monitor at 120Hz, for example, which could potentially damage the CRT. Yeah, the old "tube" monitors which none of you script kiddies have probably ever seen.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:42

>>12

'

>that feel when i had to replace my oldest CRT last year since the color was so off

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:44

>>1
Real Mode
Why are you still using an obsolete, Jewish CPU architecture? Don't you know that every time you buy from Intel, a Palestinian child dies?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:52

>>14
Who cares about sandniggers?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:55

>>12
Did you have to use those old "tube" monitors uphill in a snowstorm?

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 15:16

>>14
best intel slogan since intel inside

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 17:02

>>13
U MENA ``color was so 0xFF''

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 17:58

>>14
It works.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 18:05

>>16
Yeah, pretty much... There were no video drivers so you just wrote bytes right into the framebuffer. And you had to do things like poll a VGA register to know when the "gun" was in vertical retrace (not drawing anything) and do your screen-flip then to avoid tearing.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 19:48

>>20
AVOID TEARING MY ANUS

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 0:17

>>1
Furmark® turns my radeon 5970 into an awesome frying pan!

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 0:53

You can turn HP printers into flame bombs apparently.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 3:23

>>23
Why does HP Lovecrafting printers that break down after a year of moderate usage?

Name: Cudder !MhMRSATORI!FBeUS42x4uM+kgp 2011-12-16 5:45

Yes, if you happen to poke the VRM controller/clock generators in the wrong way.

(Ask yourself how you can change voltages and such in the BIOS. I still prefer DIP switches or jumpers for this sort of stuff that shouldn't be under the control of software.)

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 6:04

>>25
Indeed.
http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/therac.pdf
http://google.com/search?q=sukhoi+malfunction

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 6:05

>>26
Conclusion: ~~DO NOT TRUST EXPERT PROGRAMMERS!~~

Name: Cudder !MhMRSATORI!FBeUS42x4uM+kgp 2011-12-16 6:48

http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/therac.pdf
First thought: Why does a single-purpose machine controller even need a scheduler and multitasking?
Second thought: Why isn't "overcomplicated design" high on the list of stupid shit they did?

http://google.com/search?q=sukhoi+malfunction
Hardware problem.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:24

>>25
but if you can't overclock you're BIOS, does it mean the BIOS is protected against overclocking?

Name: 29 2011-12-16 9:24

And by "can't overclock", I mean overclock it from the settings.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:27

>>29
I am not BIOS!

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:28

Yes you are! Enjoy booting up OSes all day!

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 10:03

>>28
Why does a single-purpose machine controller even need a scheduler and multitasking?
You have never programmed microcontrollers, have you?

Of course it needs scheduling and multitasking, because it performs a hell of a lot asynchronous tasks: sending control data, reading responses, reading user input, displaying whatever information it displays (most probably with the entire display stack driven by the single chip, so asynchronous on several levels), maybe even dumping logs somewhere (which means two more asynchronous processes).

Of course you can also write an ad hoc, buggy reimplementation of half of a multitasking system yourself.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 13:18

>>33
Do not bother educating Cudder, he'll never reach Satori that way. Hell, don't even respond to him in any way, maybe he'll go back to /jp/ that way.

Name: Redditor 2011-12-16 14:01

>>33
+1, brah! You just won two internetz!

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 14:30

>>33
You state, with no supporting evidence, that all of those things need to be asynchronous -- here's our super clever synchronous architecture:

int main() {

  while(1) {

     pollDevices();

     businessLogic();

     updateDisplay();

  }

}

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 14:50

>>36
Polling is shit. You waste processor time instead of using asynchronous interrupts which only use the processor when the device actually needs something. Now imagine that on a critical system like life support or a nuclear missile.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 15:02

>>37
What the fuck time is being wasted? One instruction per loop? Get the fuck out of here -- context switching will waste significantly more time than that.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 15:52

>>36
If you think about it, your main loop is like the eval/apply pairing interpreting inputs.

By the way, int main for a microcontroller? I lol'd.

Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 16:09

>>39
You just blew my mind!

Can code damage hardware?

1 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:41

2 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:43

3 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 11:55

4 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:01

5 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:17

6 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:20

7 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:26

8 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:40

9 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 12:52

10 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 13:04

11 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:21

12 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:32

13 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:42

14 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:44

15 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:52

16 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 14:55

17 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 15:16

18 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 17:02

19 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 17:58

20 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 18:05

21 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-15 19:48

22 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 0:17

23 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 0:53

24 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 3:23

25 Name: Cudder !MhMRSATORI!FBeUS42x4uM+kgp 2011-12-16 5:45

26 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 6:04

27 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 6:05

28 Name: Cudder !MhMRSATORI!FBeUS42x4uM+kgp 2011-12-16 6:48

29 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:24

30 Name: 29 2011-12-16 9:24

31 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:27

32 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 9:28

33 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 10:03

34 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 13:18

35 Name: Redditor 2011-12-16 14:01

36 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 14:30

37 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 14:50

38 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 15:02

39 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 15:52

40 Name: Anonymous 2011-12-16 16:09