Give it a good bash!
September 25, 2013 12:09 PM   Subscribe

 
I have always found this phrase delightful. I believe it came from an Apple document about what to do with IIes (or IIIs?) that overheated and warped the motherboard.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:32 PM on September 25, 2013


I really liked the part where they hit the thing.
posted by avian carrier at 12:46 PM on September 25, 2013


Also known in the Army Signal Corp as a Brogan Adjustment.
posted by bobjaben at 12:49 PM on September 25, 2013


That and checking that the power source is active (the cord in plugged in) are the first steps in any field service call. That loving slap (vibration) will often free a sticky solenoid (contact) or drop a sticky tumbler.
posted by Mag Plug at 12:49 PM on September 25, 2013


My air-conditioner's air handler has a sticky relay and so periodically I flip its breaker, pull off the cover, and whack the relay with the rubber handle of a screwdriver several times. Working so far!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:52 PM on September 25, 2013


google search on (hit, two, four, site:shoecomics.com) is not bringing me the strip I am thinking of. Punchline is "hit it with a 2 X 4".
posted by bukvich at 12:55 PM on September 25, 2013


*Thwack*
posted by Rock Steady at 12:55 PM on September 25, 2013 [4 favorites]


Duncun must have been born in the early 1970s because he nailed every reference I could think of and there was a lot of shows or movies in there that Gen Xers would know by heart.
posted by smoothvirus at 1:07 PM on September 25, 2013


Thanks! A lot of the credit goes to these TVTropes contributors. I discovered that site when I asked MeFi for help with Let's Enhance in 2009.
posted by dunk at 1:17 PM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]


dunk: I discovered that site when I asked MeFi for help with Let's Enhance in 2009.

Tell your productivity we are sorry about that.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:19 PM on September 25, 2013 [4 favorites]


One of my '57 Chevys had a sticky starter solenoid, and to get it to start, I had to smack it with a hammer. Then I fixed it so it wasn't sticky any more, and it developed some other problem.

It took my first wife some time to figure out that I wasn't angry at the TV when it went all static and I thumped it till it stopped.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:03 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is exactly how Mrs. Grumpy does it.
posted by Uncle Grumpy at 2:24 PM on September 25, 2013


My Xbox makes strange noises sometimes which subside if you pet it in just the right way. No need to be so rough.
posted by Navelgazer at 2:28 PM on September 25, 2013


One of my '57 Chevys had a sticky starter solenoid, and to get it to start, I had to smack it with a hammer.

This used to be extremely common. I have had four or five personal and work vehicles need the starter tap over the years.
posted by localroger at 2:52 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


25 years ago I worked for a (different) company that made oil & gas drilling technology. I'm talking about 1,000-lb steel pipes with 2 ounces of electronics built into them.

I'll never forget a failure report posted on a wall in our production area which read in part: "Addressing device with a sledge hammer restored normal operation..."
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:23 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


One of my '57 Chevys had a sticky starter solenoid, and to get it to start, I had to smack it with a hammer.

Sounds like my '94 Wrangler. It made dates entertaining.....
posted by brand-gnu at 3:44 PM on September 25, 2013


I was slightly stunned when I realised that I previously posted this *puts on tinfoil hat to stop dunk controlling my mind*
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:45 PM on September 25, 2013 [2 favorites]


Awww, back in my salad days of IT, we called this "Impact Repair".
posted by Sphinx at 4:19 PM on September 25, 2013


gotta say, this is one of the best of these types of videos I ever seen. Way to go, dunk!
posted by rebent at 4:47 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Das machine control is nicht fur gerfinger-poken und mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenwerk.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:59 PM on September 25, 2013 [3 favorites]


Did you try turning it off and back on again?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:07 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Kinetic Impulse Response Tuning (KIRT)
posted by flyingfox at 5:40 PM on September 25, 2013


I facetiously used Percussive Maintenance for a long time, but have since moved onto citing my Magic Aura when miraculously rendering functional these misbehaving machines. I also like telling kids to shake the books that won't check out on the self-check machines before trying them again. If the words being out of order is the issue then that usually works.
posted by carsonb at 5:45 PM on September 25, 2013


The guy kicking the tires at 1:30 and 1:47 is making me crazy. I feel I should recognize it, but I can't name it.

I believe [percussive maintenance] came from an Apple document about what to do with IIes...

I was under the impression that the term was a whole lot older than that, WWII era military slang, perhaps. I can't give any firm reason why, although I believe I first heard it from retired military people.
posted by Western Infidels at 5:50 PM on September 25, 2013


A joke my original boss liked to tell:

At this one company they had an enormously complex machine and there was only one guy who really knew how it worked, and he was retired. Well one day the machine stopped working and the techs crawled all over it and tried everything and finally the boss dialed the number of the retired guy and agreed to meet his price to come in.

So the guy comes in and gives it a quick look-over. He makes his way to some obscure linkage whose function nobody else really understands, pulls a small hammer out of his pocket, and gives it a tap.

The machine starts working again. Cheers erupt. Retired guy writes out an invoice for $1,000 for his services.

"Now wait a minute," the new boss says. "All you did was tap the thing with your little hammer, doesn't seem like you did a thousand bucks worth of work. Care to itemize this?"

"Certainly," the retired guy says. The amended invoice reads:
Fixing machine with hammer tap: $1
Knowing where to tap machine to fix it: $999
posted by localroger at 5:54 PM on September 25, 2013


Western Infidels: here you go.
posted by CaseyB at 6:30 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


Fixing machine with hammer tap: $1
Knowing where to tap machine to fix it: $999



localroger: This was an actual transaction (x10) between Charles Steinmetz and Henry Ford (scroll about 1/3 of the way down).
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:19 PM on September 25, 2013 [8 favorites]


The current preferred Navy term is "Mechanical Agitation". We even had a Engineer's Standing Order at one point that instructed on how to stop leak by on a notorious valve with a specific stance and a swinging force not to exceed "the force required to hammer in a ten penny nail in five swings" which I guess sounded plausible enough to submit to the scrutiny of Naval Reactors.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 9:49 PM on September 25, 2013 [1 favorite]


wenestvedt: The Apple III had a well documented Drop Fix. That might be what you were thinking of.
posted by flyingfox at 10:21 PM on September 25, 2013


Had to do this to my Atari 520ST all the time. Badly seated BIOS chips or something. The 'Atari drop' according to Wikipedia.
posted by jiroczech at 5:18 AM on September 26, 2013


Thanks for that ZMT, I thought I was pretty familiar with that era in technology but I'd never heard of the guy.
posted by localroger at 5:23 AM on September 26, 2013


It has the Marty McFy head smash, which is my favorite example of this trope.
posted by omredux at 5:29 AM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's just so wonderfully convenient that our initial instinct to react with frustration is exactly what's needed to solve the problem.

Also, glad to see that the Fonz earned a whole slew of clips.
posted by vytae at 7:58 AM on September 26, 2013


For hitting machine with hammer: $0.02.

For knowing where to hit machine with hammer: $499.98.
posted by flabdablet at 9:15 AM on September 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


For knowing the machine just needs to get hit with a hammer: $1,500.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:28 AM on September 26, 2013


The look on the customer's face after reading the itemised bill: priceless.
posted by flabdablet at 11:12 AM on September 26, 2013


Not reading the whole thread before jumping in with my $0.02: LOSE AT INTERNETS
posted by flabdablet at 11:13 AM on September 26, 2013


The 'Atari drop' according to Wikipedia.

I can attest that it was also just what a couple of ThinkPads needed, back when I did that for a living.

Conventional wisdom was that you would do this onto a soft pillow or mattress. I used an executive chair.
posted by dhartung at 3:50 AM on September 27, 2013


When I worked in equipment repair, we called it "Impact Adjustment."

Sometimes I do the Andy Griffith/No Time For Sergeants bit where you (pretend to) spit in the back before you whack it. :)
posted by Archer25 at 1:33 PM on September 29, 2013


The music on this (and the tumbleweed one) is really good btw
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:53 PM on September 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


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