Super Game Empire

On November 12, 2003, Robbie stood among a group of technicians with red eyes and fluffy hair, looking at the workbench of the ibm-tk300 model test machine in front of him. The numbers jumping in the monitoring software on the monitor were so dazzling.

No one can stare at it for a long time for Microsoft technicians who have been working overtime for half a year, otherwise they will definitely faint on the ground.

But they have to care about these indicators. After half a year of hard work, no one wants to have big problems at the moment.

"The operating system has been working for 30 hours in a row, and the CPU computing performance loss is 30%, which meets the safety expectations of linear design!" a monitor reported.

Everyone frowned. In theory, 30 hours of strong load work is the longest game time for players. 99.9% of players will not run the game console continuously, but what they fear most is the 0.1% aberrations. Doing this kind of test is

In order to ensure that continuous work does not go wrong, it seems that its performance is not good. The longer the time, the lower the CPU's operating efficiency, and the 30% loss is already quite large.

"The energy consumption of 500 billion limit calculations has been completed, which is 10% lower than the safety valve domain." Another monitor reported.

This is instantaneous energy consumption calculation, that is, the peak performance of CPU computing power. Let's see if it will break through the CPU's computing valve domain and cause CPU computing overflow. This 10% data is really dangerous. If the CPU is exhausted, it will hit it again.

I might just collapse.

"The Halo test was over, and the CPU was not locked after running for 45 minutes with high parameters, and the circuit board monitoring was normal. The pass rate of 50 test machines was...98%!" This 98% sounded quite harsh, and everyone was in their hearts.

A pull.

Robbie pushed the crowd away a little roughly. He came behind the monitor and asked, "What's wrong with that one that failed?"

"The monitoring and diagnosis system prompts. The red light numbered R14 near the power supply of the test machine is constantly flashing. It is our motherboard fault diagnosis signal light, which means that the CPU is automatically correcting, and it is trapped in a redundant calculation and is clearing the excess float.

It takes a short period of time to reflow and modify the data link."

The monitor operated the workbench, then lit the laser pen, and found the number corresponding to the 50 test machines in the glass room next to it. He shot the laser, and Robbie and the hardware engineer pushed open the glass door next door and walked in, and found it.

The faulty test machine.

The temperature in the test room was very high, and the air emitted an unpleasant rosin welding agent and the smell of rubber overheating. Robbie subconsciously slapped under his nose with his hands, but that was useless. Everyone did see this plugged in the public.

The bare/exposed 360 host on the circuit board runs differently than the other machines next to it, and it is in a self-test state.

Of course, Robbie knew what this meant. One of the 50 test machines had a problem. Such a pass rate was definitely not enough. Microsoft required a pass rate to be higher than 99.99%.

"Continue to monitor the test and tell me the final conclusion. James, go to my office in half an hour to report to me!" Robbie did not get angry on the spot. Instead, he suppressed his anger and issued an order to the hardware leader James, and then he

Go back to his office alone.

More than a dozen people in the on-site test monitoring department saw this scene, and everyone was uneasy. After sending Robbie away, James returned to the test machine with a flash of fault lights. He asked his few deputy: "Fault code"

What is it? What is the specific reason? Is there a way to avoid it?"

The following will soon bring the fault code and the corresponding manual. This is a standard viewing library for industrial design. The corresponding explanation of the fault code of 0a401 is exactly "CPU is in a high load calculation correction state."

"I think this should be an accident. Just like our operating system, sometimes some looseness or dust on the motherboard may cause CPU signal transmission errors, the operating system crashes, and eventually lead to a blue screen." The hardware engineer feels

This is normal, and he has no suggestions for circumventing methods.

James thought this made sense, so he turned off the test machine, swiped it on the motherboard several times with the cleaning brush next to it, and then helped the memory that might loosen and several important wiring ports. After restarting, he let it go.

The tester continues to simulate the highest setting and retest.

After more than 20 minutes, the machine did not experience the same failure, and everyone was relieved.

With a bunch of printed reports, James came to Robbie's office. He knew that Robbie was under great pressure and that he was under great pressure. Microsoft's gaming department was almost forced to a dead end, and everyone

Just like the Frightened Bird, if something really happens in this final test stage, they will definitely not be able to release the x-wave x360 before Christmas, and they will definitely usher in Bill Gates' anger.

"James, is the situation serious?" Robbie was lying halfway in his seat, massaging the eye socket above his nose with both fingers.

James put the information in front of Robbie and breathed a sigh of relief: "In an extremely special situation, it should be that the data overflow in the program causes the CPU to automatically correct it, and it will be fine after restarting."

Robbie sat upright and asked, "Something?"

"Yes! But I will let them continue to monitor, it's just 30 hours of high-intensity running, and we should be more concerned about the 300 hours of results."

"We don't have that much time. James, looking into my eyes, I asked you to answer me seriously, is this problem serious?"

Robbie's request made James unable to look directly. He knew very well that if he followed this test result, he would have to classify it as a "serious system bug" and return to the hardware department to allow them to reproduce the environment at that time.

, find the root of the problem, then fix it, start the limit test again after the repair is completed, until there is no problem at the end of the limit test, otherwise you will continue to hit it back and then test after modification.

This is the complete testing process. In the IT industry, no matter whether it is hardware release or software production exe programs, it cannot escape the final testing and repair.

Unfortunately, what they lack the most is time!

"Why, so serious that we have to return to work?" The blood in Robbie's eyes was obvious. James felt very scary when he saw it, but he thought of himself, he must be much better than Robbie. He has been doing every day for three consecutive days every day.

I only slept for 4 hours.

"No... I don't need to rework for the time being, but I still need to obtain data from other game test machines. You know, we all use ladder tests. If the earliest batch of test machines did not have any problems, I think this time the failure was caused.

It's just a case." James made this conclusion difficult. He knew that Robbie should be like him and hoped that this was the truth.

“How long will it take to get the results?”

"20 hours, there will be 20 hours. Our first batch of 10 test machines have been running for 300 hours. I will report to you tomorrow."

Robbie breathed a sigh of relief: "Very good, thank you for your hard work today and report to me tomorrow morning. The test results just now, if you can keep calm, that's better!"

James left Robbie's office, and he had been thinking about the meaning of the last sentence and stay calm. He was not emotional at all, and at most it was just a hint of resistance that his body naturally showed because of fatigue.

Until he returned to the test monitoring center, his deputy came over to report that there was no problem with the test machine after he left, and he immediately understood.

There is a problem with the test, and the working standard process is to report error codes and error phenomena. When other testers watch it, they can retest the modified version in a targeted manner. Once an error bug is uploaded, a large number of people will be affected.

, Everyone will know what went wrong, and the influence was very bad.

"Very good. Today, only the surveillance officer is left on duty. Everyone else goes home to rest. I will report to President Robbie tomorrow morning!" James gritted his teeth and decided to hide this matter. The others tacitly did not mention it anymore.

One thing, they packed their own things and went home to rest. No one wanted to fail. They were too tired.

The next day, there was no fault light phenomenon. Even the test machine that accidentally encountered the fault light yesterday was running normally, which looked no different from the others. James was completely relieved and reported this to Robbie.

In fact, they concluded that x-wave x360 has met the requirements for product release.

Of course, the test will continue, and the tests of multiple gradients will continue until their new versions, but this will not include this test, and the middle is full of intriguing subtle emotions.

In his report with Bill Gates, Robbie did not mention the little guy who "accidentally crashed". The pressure on him was given to him by Bill Gates. He could not have been one and a half months before Christmas.

He could not delay any more after handing over an answer sheet that "needs to test for at least two more months".

"Microsoft's gaming department depends on whether it is life or death. If it still cannot reverse the decline, I will never have a chance to stay in Microsoft next year, so why should I tell you about this test machine problem?"

Bi's abacus was very good, and he did exactly that.

Bill Gates can only choose to trust his subordinates. The marketing department has made three publicity plans for one and a half months, and they can wait for the R&D department to determine the product quality and launch time.

Promotion is achieved around the world, and their advertising budget is 800 million US dollars. This is the Jedi counterattack of the x-wave series!

On Christmas 2003, millions of Microsoft gamers finally waited for the Microsoft game console x-wave x360 that they had been looking forward to for a long time.

This game console is only 8 months later than its competitor Longteng Entertainment Games company's DC2. Can it shine? (To be continued...)