about that dead battery

[NewYorkerfromMass]

I have some questions about the following statement of Sherole Eaton:

"I had my back to him when he turned the computer on. He stated that the computer was not coming up. I did see some commands at the lower left hand of the screen but no menu. He said that the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone. He said that he could put a patch on it and fix it."

1. Are "commands at the lower left hand of the screen" an expected screen display for a dead battery?

2. What information could be lost by a dead battery? Is this plausible?

3. Is "a patch" the appropriate remedy for a dead battery?

[Ellipsis]

1. no

Date and time, yes. Data's on the hard drive. it's physical storage.

[Must_B_Free]

15. Definitions of the relevant terms from wikipedia

CMOS refers to both a particular style of digital circuitry, and the family of processes used to implement that circuitry on integrated circuits (chips). CMOS logic on a CMOS process dissipates less energy and is more dense than other implementations of the same functionality. As this advantage has grown and become more important, CMOS processes and variants have come to dominate, so that as of 2004 the vast majority of integrated circuit manufacturing by dollar volume is on CMOS processes.

In computing, the Basic Input-Output System or BIOS is computer interface code that locates and loads the operating system into RAM. It provides low-level communication, operation and configuration to the hardware of a system, which at a minimum drives the keyboard and provides primitive output to a display.

[lthuedk]

30. Sounds like the tech swapped out the harddrive.

[Dancing_Dave]

146. Right on, it's PHYSICAL STORAGE!

Vote information on the hard drive would NOT be lost because the CMOS battery was low. He was talking total Repuke BS to find a pretext for changing the vote info to hide the fraud and make that 3% come out looking exactly right in any case!

This affidavit totally blew the cover on the fraud! How wonderful that a brave fellow citizen was willing to risk her career by bringing this up!

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. IMHO and over 25 years of computer experience

he is full of shit.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

23. Now this is the kind of experience we need to hear from

because the computer in question is apparently 14 years old.
Also, I understand the life span of the nickel cadmium batteries used nowadays to be quite a number of years, although a computer from 1990 might be different?

Thanks for the response, although some elaboration would be (much)appreciated.

[DoYouEverWonder]

After all the Y2K nonsense

why are they still using computers from 1991? I thought everybody and his brother upgrading at that time.

Where did you hear the computer for 14 years old?

[Liberty Belle]

65. I had a computer 14 years ago with a dead battery.

No data was lost. This is bullshit.

[candice]

138. Me, too, just needed to replace the battery to keep the clock/time correct

Didn't Windows 95 come out in July of 1995, not the end of 94? Took along time after the court ordered Apple to show them their source code for Microsoft to come up with a GUI that resembled Mac 1984, with a few updates. Now they have to catch up to OS X, which I doubt will happen. (Love my PowerBook G4--best computer ever.)

[KoKo]

148. somebody posted that really old computers did need the batteries to

run the DOS stuff.. And, that "resetting" the computers after battery change was common...However, I sort of wonder about that. Not being an oldie Computer User..how would I know?

It sounded logical to me and that many of the computers in these polling places ARE VERY OLD! How do they count votes being that old? Why didn't they upgrade...as Jesse Jackson, jr. said. there are as many voting machines as "Precincts" in the US...I thought he exaggerated, but I wonder know if he didn't get to the truth of it. If you add in age of machines all over US some back to 88 according to DU Poster I trust...then how many versions of software and how many different Operating Systems are out there in the US...How many need "batteries" to run at all...and how many only use batteries for the "Date and Time Functions?"

I don't know...as a "non-techie" but it all sounds like there are many ways to "FIX" an election given what we know.

[mrdmk]

140. Lithium Batteries were then as they are now

The Lithium Batteries are good for 5 to 10 years, maybe more. Rarely do Nickel Cadmium batteries make it into the CMOS section of your computer (I have seen this in one instance and it was a laptop).

As in a post earlier (another thread), for the most part, this does not make any sense.

[htuttle]

3. This sounds like BS

The only functions that a battery would touch would be those that store the current date, screen resolution, etc... 'Volitile' settings, in other words.

Even if it was a battery-powered computer, the information would be stored safely on the hard drive nearly forever, power or no power.

I cannot imagine what a 'patch' would do regarding a dead battery.

This is a big pile of bullshit.

[aquart]

7. So this person lied?

Meaning he could not possibly have been doing what he said, so what the bloody pluperfect hell was he doing?

[htuttle]

11. It's equivalent to an auto mechanic saying...

...that because the air in your tires was low, your car wouldn't start.

Makes absolutely no sense.

[Must_B_Free]

17. you are totally wrong.

noone said the data was gone from the hard drive. What I got was that the harddrive config parameter were lost because the BIOS battery was dead.

[htuttle]

24. Hard drive configuration parameters are not secret incantations

Seriously. You can look it up if you know what kind of hard drive it is.

It's not a show stopping problem.

[genieroze]

59. I think he swapped out the hd

and then he went into the bios to set the new hd parameters.

[pointsoflight]

70. The witness claims that the technician DID say data was lost.

Go back and look at her statement.

[genieroze]

57. More like your battery was dead

and said he put a piece of tape on it to fix it. What he really was doing was swapping your engine.

[genieroze]

55. Changing out the HD?

[Doctor O]

131. A computer which loses its battery

will not boot up. The battery maintains the memory required to issue bootmup instructions for this computer. A battery will normally last about 5 years.

[htuttle]

137. Yes, but it's still very easy to fix

Even if it loses it's BIOS settings, it can be restored in a matter of minutes unless the technician is an incompetent boob.

There's still no reason that 'the data was lost' (as the tech said), due to a dead computer battery.

[Doctor O]

145. The battery can be replaced easily. Probably about 5 minutes

but if the configuration was lost on some of these older machines, most tehnicians today are used to windows and depending on a lot of factors to include manufacturer, model, operating system (type and mfg of hard drive, bios mfg, DOS, windows 3.1, or even unix systems) had differing configurations and unless you had experience in all these you may not remember them nor have the conifgurations to fix them. Bios could also require a patch to the Bios to uprgade the Bios.

[judy]

4. Was this a laptop, or a desktop?

Either way, this does not make much sense.

The stored information is stored so that it will not go away if the computer loses power (i.e disk storage), thus #2 does not make sense.
#1 depends on the operating system.
Was this computer battery operated? Was it a laptop?
If so, regarding #3, the only way to fix a dead battery is to plug in the computer. A "patch" is a software term to mean fixing a piece of defective software, and has nothing to do with the battery.
For example, if you have a program that crashes your computer, you complain to the manufacturer, and they might send you a patch to install that will fix the problem.

[Ellipsis]

6. a 14 year old desktop I thought. Yes? n/t

[Broken Acorn]

5. This is a Smoking Gun!

All a CMOS battery does is store date and time.

That's it!!!!

Any IT Professional knows this is a total bs lie. Plus, computers still work even if the CMOS battery is dead. There is no lost data.

I will testify for Arnebeck in Federal Court regrading this!

[Ellipsis]

9. the man from the valley speaks. n/t

[Must_B_Free]

12. WRONG

CMOS is low power consumption technology for the BIOS. That is why the batteries last for so long.

The BIOS holds time AND device settings, so if it was an old machine as seems to be indicated, the drive parameters were likely lost. In the old days these usually had to be entered by hand.

If the battery were dead, you would get the same opening BIOS diagnostic machine, but it would say something about the harddrive not being found and perhaps the date would go back to the base starting date.

This story is legit, the smoking gun is that he posted the desired results on the wall to cheat the entire test.

[htuttle]

21. Any computer tech who couldn't recover from that should be fired

Nobody knows how to configure an old style BIOS? They don't have the device settings ANYWHERE? They have no idea how to tell it how to find the hard drive?

Sorry. If this were an untrained person saying this, I'd buy it, but if they were qualified enough to apply a patch, they'd be qualified enough to figure out how to set up the BIOS to boot. I did it myself numerous times back when we still used those cursed 286s.

If you have more than one machine that is the same, it's even easier, since you can usually copy the device settings from one to the other (or do they all have unique hard drives? Bull...not in a government setting).

[Must_B_Free]

27. noone is saying he failed because of incompetence

it appears that he replace the battery, but it still didn't work.

as far as foulf play, they could have zapped the machine and fried the BIOS chip itself, opening the door for anytype of tampering.

All I am trying to point out is that "the data was lost" is a very ambiguous statement that is being turned into somethign it didn't apparently mean for non techies. Our propagandists are selling as if the harddrive was totally wiped out, but the proper interpretations from context is that the bios settings were lost.

[pointsoflight]

72. I see two major issues.

1. As you say, his statement to post the desired results.

BUT ALSO

2. The fact that Blackwell ordered the Triad officials to modify the tabulators to suppress the vote counting for races other than the presidential race. I have yet to see a single reasonable explanation for this. It's alot of extra work and it's something that Blackwell had to know would raise eyebrows if discovered, yet it's completely unnecessary. What does it matter if the machines output the other vote counts? That's completely unimportant. Just skip over those lines in the output, simple as that. I can think of no reason to do this other than to hide something.

[Name removed]

96. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[harris8]

16. duh, my memory is fading, but...

I seem to recall that the (battery-powered) CMOS memory in some of the old PC's retained other important stuff, like the HD "type" (1-44 or whatever), the boot order (floppy first vs. HD first), and other BIOS settings. Or am I thinking of something else...?

On edit - never mind, others here have already addressed this.

[Must_B_Free]

19. You are exactly right.

harddrive type 1-44 or user configures if you had to enter sectors count, # of cylanders, etc.

[Broken Acorn]

25. Let's be honest

If the computer was 14 years old, I doubt the comp could run Windows let alone the election software.

The CMOS wouldn't erase the memory.

[troubleinwinter]

8. A dead battery does not effect stored data. It's crap.

[Must_B_Free]

13. data being BIOS settings

not data on the hard drive.

[KnowerOfLogic]

39. Commands in the corner suggest BIOS change, which suggests

hard drive changes.

[genieroze]

56. Doesn't that depend on the bios?

[KnowerOfLogic]

122. Yeah, but it's certainly a possibility. nt

[lthuedk]

82. Sad truth is: The Triad trixter has already destroyed the evidence.

Thanks FBI. Thanks Justice Department. Goodbye democracy.

[Chimpanzee]

10. Nope 24 years and it's complete bullshit

[Must_B_Free]

14. wrong - see post #12

[Ellipsis]

20. Would this corrupt the drive?

He swapped out the drive as well.

One of the last Old Mac guys here, No Bios on Macs.

k

[Must_B_Free]

29. No

no corruption of the drive.

I did not read that he swapped the drive. Where did you find that?

It looks quite possible that someone gave the machine an electric shock. This could produce the described problems.

[Ellipsis]

35. I read the original post last night

and... I thought they had a video of this guy. I will look

k

[Ellipsis]

41. can't find post could use some expertise here.

too new, can't search.

I have been reading nonstop since Zogby's "I smell a rat article".

Thought it was on DU. Can't remember who broke the story.


k

[pointsoflight]

71. Cobb's statement

“He then headed into the back room where Triad supplies tabulators, that is the machine that counts the ballots, is kept. This Triad representative told them that there was problem with the system, that the system had a bad battery and it had ‘lost all its data.’

“He then took the computer apart and started swapping parts in and out of it. And in another in the room. And he had spare parts in his coat, as one of the people moved in remarked how very heavy it was.

“He finally reassembled everything and said it was working but not to turn it off. He then asked which precinct would be counted in the 3 percent recount test and that one which had been selected as if it had the right number of votes was relayed to him he then went back and did something else to the tabulator."

[Brundle_Fly]

75. there is a similar thing to a bios on a mac

its just command line...I use it once in awhile for third party hardware.

this whole thing is bogus, to exchange a battery you need to turn off a computer. not on. If the battery was dead the system shouldnt turn on, and you regardlessly would not lose data from the hard drive.

[Chimpanzee]

43. I disagree

[Firespirit]

18. Weighing in...

1. Can't answer that... I haven't had to replace a computer battery. It's possible, I guess.

2. The hard drive, which would hold the software and vote tallies, is completely unaffected by it. People remove and transplant these things all the time with no ill effect. The ONLY data that might be lost is volatile data such as the date and time.

3. That just makes no sense. IMO there was a FIX all right, but not to the battery. The computer will boot even if the battery is dead.

[Must_B_Free]

22. Mostly agree

except #2 also included the setting that allow the BIOS to properly recognize and talk to the harddrive.

#3 It does appear that he did more thn just replace the CMOS battery. He could have swapped the harddrive, sounds like these people wouldn't know if he had.

[Firespirit]

28. True

Ms. Eaton's testimony didn't strike me as being from a particularly "techie" person.

Since the computer was 14 years old, there probably was a dead/dying battery.

It's a shame that there wasn't a witness who DID understand what the guy was doing... And that remark about falsifying the numbers calls his motives into serious question.

[Shalom]

26. The equivalent for autos is engine rebuild for a dead battery !! nt

[jsascj]

31. Why didn't he just

Plug that sucker in?

yes, I'm a complete computer illiterate.

[Must_B_Free]

33. Cause he kept pumping the foot pedal, but it wouldn't get going...

(joke)

[jsascj]

34. LOL

:D

[dweller]

48. well, in my day we'd geta coupla Bubbas standing around

and give that puppy a rolling start and pop the clutch and .....

oops, sorry... Wrong thread.


dp

[jdog]

79. thanks to you guys for the last three posts....

I've been reading all this computer stuff and it was a relief to hear something I could understand!

[coreystone]

32. Is there testimony in Sherole Eaton's statements indicating the ID..

of the individual as being a verifyied employee of Triad???

[mackdaddy]

40. Triad had the Maintenance contract on the machine

As well as originally suppling it. He was a regular visitor, and they knew him by his first name. He was not their regular tech though.

MAYBE it was explainable that he tore into the PC.

QUESTIONABLE at the very least he wanted the precincts to be counted.

CRIMINAL if he suggested the Cheat Sheets for the hand counters to the Election officials.



I have personally seen this machine in the BOE office, and it is very old, probably a 1990 vintage or so. Motherboards of this vintage usually had the coin type mercury or lithium batteries to keep the CMOS setups. Some had a plug in Ni Cad pack but not many by this time. I was involved in making industrial control computers with PC motherboard, with a DOS front end during this time frame.

[coreystone]

52. Sorry! I don't mean to offend, but, How do you know he was a regular...

visitor? The recollection from the statements made indicate that "Michael" was calling to inform that he would be arriving later in the day. Perhaps a petty issue, but, there are so many.

:hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

36. They are doing recounts and no one tells these people not to let anyone

touch the computers!!??? BIG FAT DUH!!??

[IndyPriest]

38. Yes, one of the strangest things about this...

CEO Rapp says TRIAD's been doing "this" (?) since 1985??!!

[skids]

37. The CMOS battery is a cover.

Everything about the CMOS battery replacement is consistant. I HAVE had to replace CMOS batteries on mainboards, and the fact that the computer was 14 years old helps to bolster this claim.

Now, the fact that "commands were in the lower left" is fishy. But the person giving the affidavit is not very computer savvy, so what he meant by commands would require further inquiry. It is possible that in order to make it look like the machine was broken, the technician simply held down the SHIFT key during boot, and the commands were in fact DOS commands. (Holding down the shift key skips the initialization scripts, and brings you to a DOS prompt.)

However it is also possible that the "commands" were simply from a BIOS routine, and perhaps not even commands at all. We would need to examine the machine's BIOS to see how it reacts to lost hard drive parameters. And yes, a dead CMOS battery on a computer this old could cause it to forget it's hard drive "geometry" settings which would prevent the OS from booting. Computers this old do not autodetect the hard drives.

Finally, salvaging a CMOS battery from the spare is consistant, and needing the machine to stay on for a while for the battery to charge is also consistant.

But while this is all a good show, the idea that the CMOS battery would suddenly fail when the machine had booted just a month or two before without such problems (if it had had such problems, there should be a record of it in maintainance logs, and they should have replaced the battery then) is a bit hard to believe. In addition, if the machine contained a custom BIOS image that opened back doors into the system, this technician had opportunity to erase that image and reprogram it. I'm not saying that is what happened, but it could have.

The real smoking gun here is the dialogue about posting the "cheat sheet." Although it possible to argue that the affidavit may be mistaking a chart indicating codes simply to identify the precinct, the part about posting it out of view and disguising it is in no way ambiguous. That is where the strength of the case lies.

What needs to be done is this:

1) examine the BIOS of one of these machines when it has bad hard drive geometry settings, and seeing if anything does appear in the lower left side of the screen in this case, would help determine whether the whole CMOS thing was a ruse.

2) Find out when the machine was most recently turned on, whether it booted fine then, and how long it had been turned off for between then and when the technician arrived.

3) Get a statement from TRIAD as to the nature of the "patch" and why it was neccessary. A patch is usually not required to deal with a dead CMOS battery, nor is one usually available that would help -- normally BIOS makers do not add hard-drive detection routines to old computers... you just live with it.

[BlueDog2u]

49. Now this, Skids, is an intriguing theory

"if the machine contained a custom BIOS image that opened back doors into the system, this technician had opportunity to erase that image and reprogram it. I'm not saying that is what happened, but it could have."

I'm a beginner tekkie, but that makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[sandnsea]

127. LOTS of battery failures

And memory failures. More than this particular case, that's what bugs me about this. Most of us have had computers for 20 years at least, never had so many battery failures as these basically unused vote machines have. Never had the number of functioning "glitches" because of memory failure as these basically unused voting machines have. That's the part I don't understand.

[skids]

141. If you have documentation...

That more machines "required" CMOS batteries, That would be pretty damning. Please share.

[Ellipsis]

142. Proof? Bring these guys into the DU vortex. Supergeeks! slashdot.org

hell they probably know the engineer.

http://slashdot.org/

Seriously, these guys are major digital artillery!

k

[skids]

143. I'm a regular slashdot poster...

I've been a member there for years.

And while the single case of a "CMOS battery failure" would onlt result in a big debate as to whether CMOS batteries go dead, ever, if you had any documentation of more than one Triad visit where they said there was a CMOS battery failure, this would seal the deal. No self-respecting /.'er would believe more than one CMOS battery failure would just happen to occur right after the election.

Anyway, /. has had many articles so far: one on Clint Curtis most recently.

So please, if any of the Ohio ground people have more than one account of Triad claiming they needed to do a CMOS battery replacement, divulge!

[Ellipsis]

144. Digital artillery indeed! Thank you! and a direction for you...

...before I scurry aside.

I would think the answer would lie in Past invoices with the county or state, and I imagine are public record,

Vender number for Triad ?

Pull the payment history.

k

[WilliamPitt]

42. Is anyone asking why a desktop computer would have a battery?

I've never seen a desktop computer with a battery.

[DoYouEverWonder]

44. Yes, they do

Usually thin lithium batteries. I'm not sure what they are using now, but except for the older ones, they are very reliable and rarely need replacing, that's why you don't even know you have one.

[WilliamPitt]

45. Ah. Thanks. I had no idea. n/t

[Monkie]

60. true about the battery BUT...big but

there are a few reasons why the triad "technician's" story as told by the non-technical observer is bogus.
everyone who works with pc or pc-like hardware knows about the cmos battery issue,anyone making/designing/repairing they know.
a machine with a service contract like a election machine,they have data sheets,service manuals,procedures to follow when repairing or servicing that machine,after a service or a change,someone signs of on that.everything is documented.
something as trivial as replacing a battery that is empty after say 5-7 years (i'm being conservative but cmos battery life expectancy data must be available) should have been done as part of that service contract (the machine was 14 years old so cant have been the first battery)
it would also be trivial for the technician to call the office or check his own copy of the service manual to find the manual settings needed to access the harddisk (or look it up on the web as i do)
you can then use the machine as normal after you set the system time (also trivial)
or he could have booted the other machine and checked its harddisk settings,because these are machines that are built and designed to a documented specification.
the harddisk setting would be lost if the machine was powered off,but again so easy to fix that in 5 minutes with another battery.
and i'm speaking from experience,and not just with replacing batteries

[Stand and Fight]

50. Yep. Exactly right. n/t

[glugglug]

73. actually the NEW batteries SUCK

Ever since the ATX standard arrived (circa 1997), the batteries on desktop motherboards have had enough power for less than a year, often less than 6 months...... if the computer is unplugged.

Shutting down an ATX system doesn't really turn it off. Some parts are still powered which is why modern PCs can automatically wake up from LAN activity, modem connections, keyboard presses, or even be set to turn on at a certain time. The CPU and video card aren't powered in the "OFF" state, but other parts of the motherboard are, and the CMOS memory is maintained from A/C power when available instead of using the battery.

If you actually UNPLUG a modern PC or flip the switch in back of the PSU instead of just doing a clean shutdown or pressing the button on the front, the battery will die within a matter of months.


Commands in the lower left corner sounds like a DOS prompt to me. I can't think of what else it would be. Most likely reason I can think of to go to DOS would be a BIOS patch, which would be consistent with the HD being replaced actually -- a BIOS from 1991 is not going to be able to handle the capacity of any drive manufactured in the last 10 years without a BIOS patch.

[TravelerDiogenes]

153. Yes, the DOS prompt will show up in the lower left corner if

the screen fills up with 1.) entered commands or 2.) "echoed" activity. I was stumped by this until I dredged deep into my memory from those "wonderful" days of DOS - that was when being computer literate really meant something, not just being able to point and click in appropriate places.

For those who never dealt with DOS, and not too intimidated by DOS-speak, the normal starting place for DOS prompts is the UPPER left. But as commands are entered, each <Enter> scrolls the DOS prompt down a line, until the screen is filled up with lines of commands, and certain other displayed ("echoed") info. Then, basically, all the "command prompts" show up at the lower left. Usually, it was a "C:\" with a blinking cursor to its right.

On boot-up especially (as I understand to have been the case there in Hocking County), there would be a series of commands that are automatically "echoed" to the screen. This happens if there is an "ECHO" command in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file or the CONFIG.SYS file, or after the operator enters the "ECHO" command manually. These two files would run every time a computer boots up (i.e., is started). "ECHO" means that the automatic commands are visibly displayed to the monitor screen. The "ECHO" command could ALSO be within some other program that the operator called up, displaying info that would possibly be useful to the operator or diagnostician.

Anyway, the only time I ever saw commands at the lower left was when the entered commands and/or echoed (automatic) commands filled up all the lines available on the screen (55 if I remember correctly), which was often. After the screen "fills" up with these, the next command entered or "ECHOED" command would cause the earlier commands to scroll up and off the top of the screen, so that only the latest commands remain visible. While this state existed, all commands WOULD display at the lower left.

Note 1: The computer operator can cause the commands to start displaying at the top left again, by typing "CLS", which is the DOS command to <CL>ear the <S>creen.

Note 2: For IT people diagnosing problems or just getting the feel for what the PC was doing, it was COMMON to ECHO commands to the screen, because then they had a visible trail of what was transpiring - what commands were running and what parameters each command was set up with. IT people cannot operate in the dark, and DOS was about as "in the dark" as you can get - so the "ECHO" was a useful tool on DOS machines.

Note 3: The "ECHO" could be turned off by entering "ECHO OFF" at the DOS prompt at any time.

I am NOT trying to defend this guy for the things he was doing - only trying to give some of what I know about that particular point. I was NOT an IT guy, just someone who NEEDED to know these things. If I bored anyone, apologies. . .

BTW, the fact that the the commands were entered in the lower left DOES basically tell me that they are operating in DOS. My question is "Are you freaking KIDDING?" In 2000, I was amazed that voting was still being done on punch cards - 1880 technology. In 2004, I am amazed that they STILL are, and that worthless 1990 computers even still are functional ANYWHERE. Who the hell is still writing software for DOS programs? Are they completely STUPID?!

[0007]

124. Lithium batteries are put in smoke detector with a ten year life

expectancy.

[Ellipsis]

46. to hold time, they do.

It's not a couple of doubles a's though.

well done "again" sir on your article. Welcome back.

k

[Willy Wonka]

47. Will, I'll forgive you this time for being a bit illiterate..

Here's an example of a CMOS battery:



And the CMOS battery is found here on a typical 486 SX motherboard:

[Must_B_Free]

53. And obviously, that is not rechargable

However, I think there is another type that I recall as a black retanglular piece of plastic, but I am not sure if that is rechargable. I think it was OLDER technology than the button batter shown.

One poster did an excellent explanation on a post in this thread (#37, Skids) and he seems to concur with there being some validity to the "Recharge" explanation, but I have personally never heard of or a rechargable CMOS battery.

[WilliamPitt]

81. Many thanks. That is highly instructive.

[Must_B_Free]

87. Actually, that picture is labeled incorrectly

the CMOS battery is in the bottom left corner of the picture... See it? the round silver disc wih the clip holding it down? it's about the size of a quarter and you can see that is right in proportion to the PS2 ports below it.

[Willy Wonka]

91. Oh yeah. Thanks!

I didn't see that one. I just grabbed a random motherboard to show its position. Most of the time, the batteries on the newer MB's are usually on the middle ones.

[dogindia]

51. kick

[genieroze]

54. Edited

1yes
2no
3no

[Quakerfriend]

58. Exactly!

:kick: :argh:

[genieroze]

61. Here it is in a nutshell

Your PC needs to remember information in order to operate correctly: the date and time, memory, disk drive config. This information is stored in CMOS memory, which is retained with the CMOS battery when you turn it off. When the battery is changed there is no power for the moment and
you may have to set up your BIOS preferences and depending on the age, your HD will need to be set. At no time do you lose data, because that's stored on the HD.

[Dan Hogan]

62. This is just nuts.

We are chosing the leader of the free world, not to mention every single member of the US House of Representatives and a whole bunch of local people and we are using 14 year old machines? What is this? The machines should be under lock and key somewhere with a ridiculous amount of red tape to go through just to see the damn thing, not to mention touching it. That tech should spend more time filling out forms than he spends fixing the machine itself. The procedures that he is using to find the problem, fix it, and report it should be well documented and available.

This is amateur-hour in American elections, folks. Its time to fix this for good.

[Ellipsis]

66. if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It gets used what once every two years. What I can't believe is how much Diebold and the others get for a new machine that can't print out a receipt. Thats nuts!

[sandnsea]

128. GLITCHGATE

After Four Billion Dollars of federal money, plus who knows how much state and local, we've still got 14 year old machines??? This is the real scandal and the best way to draw attention to whatever else might have gone on. I keep saying what you're saying, nobody listens...

[TravelerDiogenes]

155. They always tell you, "But it is so expensive!" to

buy new computers.

BS!

There are MILLIONS of MUCH newer PCs being thrown away every year. A few tens of thousands of people would GLADLY DONATE their old PCs, if it meant that the electoral process could move at least into the non-stone age.

Also, I would imagine that Dell or someone would give a REALLY good price to a city or town or state that wanted to buy thousands of PCs. For $400 street price right now you can get a very serviceable PC. That price if bought in the thousands, would come down to $200, maybe as much as $250.

Those PCs when bought back in 1990 probably cost $2,500 each, and that is with a 13-inch monitor.

[ewulf]

63. So are we to believe that important information was stored in RAM only?

Did someone forget to save or something? As they say, always backup!

[Liberty Belle]

64. Bingo. Kick!

:kick:
Please be sure to send this to Arnebeck, Conyers, and Olbermann.

[Carolab]

67. Something not addressed in this thread

why did he tell the elections personnel not to shut the computer off so the battery could charge, and then moments later told them to turn it off and then back on and to leave it running? Even they questioned that. What is the significance?

[Spangle]

68. Asked for a screwdriver

I believe I read some where. This person shouldn't have been left alone with the machines. There should have been other witness to this event.

What ever he removed from the other computer, someone should have seen what that was. If they were not watching, then.... Major questions should be asked to WHY someone wasn't watching.

It was mentioned that his coat was heavy. Did anyone see him go back to his coat? Was this guy left alone. I don't recall if I read something like that.

[momzno1]

69. How likely is it that any tech would be prepared

and even have an extra battery in his coat pocket. If he was coming for a "routine" visit - which I totally don't believe - There is NO way that he just happened to have an extra battery just in time for a "coincidental" failed battery.

the whole thing is bullshit - jmho

edit: plus it seems like his pockets were heavy and ready for lots of computer changing, and altering.

[GOPGoindown]

74. How many of you techies

go on a service call with spare parts, supplies and equipment hidden in your coat? Wouldn't you have a service case or somthing like that? How can this story not be exploding all over the media?

[CraZdem4life]

84. i tote a toolbox around, i dont hide stuff in my uniform jacket...n/t

[tandem5]

89. yes, it's a tad odd...

if tad = super humongously

[Must_B_Free]

108. Techs carry parts

not in their coats, maybe but my friend carries a wide variety of toner carts in the back of his car because he fixes printers and copiers.

[Ellipsis]

116. hardware has many definitions

like Al Capone.

[KTM]

132. I do

I carry a tool bag, and my laptop bag.. but I also have been known to travel with VERY heavy pockets (and the trunk of my car is a wealth of spare parts.)

Yes, if I knew what I was working on, I'd carry spares - ESPECIALLY on ancient crap like this... never gonna find parts for it at the local PC store !

No offense, but MOST of this sory is plausible.. heavy pockets, bad CMOS battery, lost BIOS settings, whacked HD parameters - all believable.

To me, the issue is WHY was ANYONE allowed to work on the machines AFTER the election, without reps from all effected parties watching ? Isnt that the law for recount procedures ? Isnt that the same thing they locked down data for in other parts of Ohio ?

Nobody should have been allowed to touch any voting machine after the election - it should be viewed the same as having access to paper bllots, voter rolls, etc. The law was broken by allowing the tech to work on the machine - if not, if the law has a provision for technicians to fix the machines, it should be amended.

Maybe in the next election we need our own techs onsite as well.. it is SO easy to fool people who are non-technical.. a little BS, some technobabble, most non-techs will turn around and let you do your thing. Even moderately technical people are easily fooled by a confident bit of geek-speak. I used to work with a guy who had a good tech job, had gotten some certs.. but he simply didnt have a clue what he was talking about... he'd spout a little cloud of confusing geek-speak, and everyone thought he knew what he was talking about (unless a REAL uber geek such as myself happened to be there, then I would always demonstrate how he literally had no clue... but he always managed to get people to believe him if you didnt SHOW them how he was wrong.)

[stella2cat]

112. highly UNLIKELY, the CMOS batteries seldom die and it's not

something you expect. In almost 25 years of using pc's I've replaced one battery -- and that was on someone else's machine.

Not to mention that it wouldn't be HEAVY. The only part I can think of that's heavy in a pc is the hard drive. hmmmm....

[satya]

76. 4.Why did tech say "not to turn the computer off until after the recount"?

Any chance he could've installed some sort of device so that the machine could be accessed remotely?

p.s. thanks to William Pitt for the copy of the affidavit I'm quoting...

[RubyCat]

121. I think he swapped in a hard drive with vote rigging software on it, and

the software was written to delete itself upon the computer being turned off. That way, if anyone were to confiscate the computer and inspect it afterwards, he would find a totally clean machine and be none the wiser.

[LiberalAndProud]

77. This is Triad's business. The actions of the technician are unacceptable.

There is no way that this sort of business practice is acceptable. If my company had this contract, especially in the face of the allegations that have been made, there is no way I would let my technician touch a machine without at least one knowledgable, impartial observer. I would have my tech fully document exactly what steps had been taken, what parts had been replaced and what firmware/software had been applied.

Believe me, my techs hate me because of the documentation that is required. I demand it from my techs because my clients in the private sector demand it of me. If the Ohio BOE doesn't require some level of documentation, the Ohio BOE is woefully negiligent.

[tandem5]

78. well it all boils down to what kind of computer we are talking about...

If this is a regular old desktop pc then all that stuff the tech said was BS. If it's some special deal for specifically counting ballots... I don't know. Rechargeable?? Are we talking about a laptop?

Confirm the model of the computer and then you will know for certain if he was lying.

[Lil]

80. Doug Jones: ". .replacing a dead battery . . . no need to patch anything"

http://rawstory.com/exclusives/programmer5_1215.php

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

In an affidavit filed along with the Cobb-Badnarik-Kerry filing that added recount tampering to their lawsuit, Professor of Computer Science Douglas Jones asserts that Triad Election Systems' visits to local Board of Elections compromises the credibility and integrity of the Ohio recount.

-snip-

15. The Eaton Affidavit states that the representative stated that he could "put a patch on and fix it." This assertion, and its wording, are both troubling. The reported justification for working on th voting machine in th first place was a dead battery. If one is simply replacing a dead battery on a voting machine, there is no need to patch anything; "patching" suggests that there is a more serious problem with the machine than merely a dead battery, particularly in light of the pending recount. In general, the word "patch" used in the context of computer systems refers to changes to the software, . . .

(more)

[tandem5]

83. yeah, but even that statement makes it more complicated then it has to be.

instead of reaffirming the term "voting machine" it would have been better to clarify whether or not the machine is specialized or just a standard pc. If its just a regular pc then everything becomes very clear - the tech was lying.

On edit: I should say the tech was misrepresenting his reasons for taking apart the computer rather than simply lying.

[Ellipsis]

85. OK the guy is lying

But about what, It my be a simple that he's a f*ck up. He could be a a shitty second string tech or a sales rep tapped to help on the recount cause the real guys is on vacation.

I read about this before they give this witness went to Conyers. I thought they videoed it. Ms.Easton and her fellow associate Anybody else read that? It be pretty cut and dry then.

K

[LiberalAndProud]

86. My question: Why are they using 14-year-old computers?

This is SO totally bogus.

A 14-year-old PC would have been an 8088 (pre-286) with an MFM or RLL hard drive with a MAXIMUM capacity of 40Mb (not Gigabytes, Megabytes).

There is NO WAY that this was a vote tabulator of any kind. The computer could not have been 14 years old. That is bogus. Are we talking green screen here?

LIES!

[Must_B_Free]

88. good question

not uncommon for places to keep these ancient machines in use for a long time. Especially institutions that don't have money to be made off of getting newer equipment.

[Ellipsis]

90. how bout a TI64?

remember those?

They don't call them "computers" for nothing, they are natural tabulators dude. Plenty fast for the task at hand. Model T's still run and go pretty damn fast compared to walking or counting as it were.

40MB is plenty thanks for saying pre 8088, or my language a Mac IIcx.

make me think though back to Clinton Curtis and his simple program.... this a plain Old DOS Box Maybe we are not thinking simple enough here. How do you fool an old DOS box?

k

[Must_B_Free]

109. just in case they want to play Parsec?

while counting the votes

[glugglug]

98. 14 y/o PC != pre-286

The 80386DX came out in 1985.
I have an engineering sample dated 1983.

[Ellipsis]

99. oh dat be plenty fast. n/t

[LiberalAndProud]

129. Geez time flies. Your are correct. A 14-year-old Dell would

probably be a 486.

[thjay]

105. I think the backup computer was 14 years old

Read the testimony again. It's not completely clear but I think she is referring to the backup computer.

"Our computer is fourteen years old and as far as I know had always worked in the past. I asked him if the older computer, that is in the same room. could be used for the recount. I don't remember exactly what he said but I did relay to him that the computer was old and a spare. At some point he asked if he could take the spare computer apart and I said "yes". He took both computers apart."

[BR_Parkway]

125. And they are spending how many million$ on voting equipment?

[yourout]

92. Need to arrest the tech then....

lean real hard on him and try to get him to rat out the higher ups. Threats of hard time in federal pen might get him talking.

[tandem5]

93. "yeah we gotz the goods on you - so you betta talk now, see" n/t

[Ellipsis]

94. Do you have his name? Ask him. if No answer? Then you know .Eh? n/t

[libertypirate]

95. 14 year old dell PC

That is the best description of it that I have seen. Battery in pc's is usually coin shape, sometimes soldered to the motherboard, about the thickness of two or three quarters. If he replaced something it provably wasn't a watch battery. Did it have wires, did he plug into the computer, or was it pressed in like an additional board. If it is small it could be a laptop hard disk. IBM makes a 1X1" or 1X2" hard drive about as thick as an eraser. It could have been a internal flash USB component. Like a memory stick. Shit it could have been a receiver cell, satellite, pretty much anything.


Hope this helps

[Ellipsis]

97. cool... No special "rechargeable" battery then.

Heres my guess. He pulled out the drive cuz it did have software on it. Then maybe some simple wireless serial I/0 receiver plugged into the port. They may have added another serial port is all. The battery could have been "something special" ....or they pulled it to clear the Bios on purpose yes?

Wild Segue:

What about this whole Piotr Blass reverse integer thing? Anybody hip on this?

k

[Straight Shooter]

100. Could someone address post #25 about the software issue in this machine?

Am I wrong in thinking that the Diebold (and other evoting machines) were running on Microsoft Access, which in itself is not considered reliable anyway, but seems to me that the program itself would be too large to store and run on this 14-year-old computer.

What gives?

This "tech" needs to be subpoenaed and deposed, ASAP. The sooner the better, so we don't get a lot of "I don't recall" and "I really don't remember" type of statements.

Edit: Post #25 by Broken Acorn: "Let's be honest. If the computer was 14 years old, I doubt the comp could run Windows let alone the election software."

[Ellipsis]

102. not the same solution.

punch card counter tis all.

my god what would we do without windows.

k

[Straight Shooter]

104. Thanks for the explanation.

I've had a working familiarity with computers for many years and I'm competent to a degree, but this thread is making me dizzy.

People who never visit DU have absolutely no clue as to the intelligence and expertise of the members here.

[Ellipsis]

107. just a farmer from Wisconsin

I have the luxury of spending the last 17 years with a bunch of hardware freaks and color scientists. I was tasked with interfacing with artists To understand the pyramid of technology one must have been there as the foundation was laid.

an old dog using creative metaphors.

k

[jsamuel]

101. Comp Sci Major... NO

bullshit

either it works or it doesn't... It would be stored to a hard drive not ram and that is IF the computer doesn't connect to an outlet. I don't know of any computers that loose information if the battery goes dead...

[Must_B_Free]

110. read the thread and start studying

cause you're dead to rights wrong

[zimba]

103. I believe Triad uses VisualFoxPro

At least they are listed as users at this site;

http://sql.wikis.com/wc.dll?wiki~WhoUsesFoxPro

The following is a definition of VFP. I dont know anything about this computer language stuff, but the parts about maintained with minimum effort and software built quickly sounded interesting.

(VFP) is a programming package sold by Microsoft. It contains a programming language, a database engine and an integrated development environment (IDE). IDE is a fancy way of saying that programmers can do most of their work inside a single program. VFP has an excellent record of backwards compatibility so code that was written 5 years ago can still be maintained and improved with a minimum of extra work. VFP is also a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool which means that its design is focused on software built quickly.

http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VisualFoxProDescription

[Ellipsis]

106. I remember fox basic

...getting dangerous here. (Hardware Guy) Similar to real basic it was cross platform. Mac and PC. hmmmmm. The plot thickens.

QED

k

[stella2cat]

113. I think they use VFP as the back-end for their Voter Information

System, which is like GEMS. Not sure if it's used with the punch card tabulation

[zapped 1]

111. more important than Bev...

..Harris. How many threads do we need on her?
Please, let's stay on message!!!
Kick!

[shraby]

115. I have a question...

what kinds of commands are at the bottom left of the screen? The dos ones I've always seen are at the top left of the screen.

[zapped 1]

114. another kick..

..somehow, this seems to be more important than 20 Bev Harris dilution threads.

[Ellipsis]

117. They rebooted the machine

I remember reading that... updated the eprom or some other such thing...getting dangerous here.

[Emit]

118. Conyers letter to FBI

http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=495

"On December 13, my staff met with Ms. Eaton who explained to them that last Friday, December 10, Michael Barbian, Jr., a representative of Triad GSI unilaterally sought and obtained access to the voting machinery and records in Hocking County, Ohio, modified the computer tabulator, learned which precinct was planned to be the subject of the initial test recount and made further alterations based on that information, and advised the election officials how to manipulate the machinery so that the preliminary hand recount matched the machine count. Ms. Eaton first relayed this information to Green Party representatives, and then completed, signed and notarized an affidavit describing this course of events, a copy of which is attached.

The Triad official sought access to the voting machinery based on the apparent pretext that he wanted to review some “legal questions” the officials might receive as part of the recount process. At several times during this visit, Mr. Barbian telephoned into Triad’s offices to obtain programming information relating to the machinery and the precinct in question. I have subsequently learned that Triad officials have been, or are in the process of intervening in several other counties in Ohio - Greene and Monroe, and perhaps others (see attached). "

[Emit]

119. Voting Technology Expert's affidavit

There's another thread discussing similar things, so you may have already seen this. But, I'll add it here anyway. This is for the Glib/Kerry filing. Can't get the affidavit portion to copy, so go to link to read his take on this, as well as his background.


http://rawstory.com/exclusives/programmer5_1215.php

"In an affidavit filed along with the Cobb-Badnarik-Kerry filing that added recount tampering to their lawsuit, Professor of Computer Science Douglas Jones asserts that Triad Election Systems' visits to local Board of Elections compromises the credibility and integrity of the Ohio recount."

affidavit follows

edit: typo

[Ellipsis]

120. They rebooted the machine, (I have shadows hmmm!)

I remember reading before she came to a Conyers she said they rebooted the machine. Did they update the eprom or something like that?

[EuroObserver]

123. This story does & doesn't check out. The real issue...

>>mackdaddy (32 posts) Wed Dec-15-04 11:08 PM: I have personally seen this machine in the BOE office, and it is very old, probably a 1990 vintage or so. Motherboards of this vintage usually had the coin type mercury or lithium batteries to keep the CMOS setups. Some had a plug in Ni Cad pack but not many by this time.<<

This is a Windows 3.1, 3.11, Windows-for-Workgroups era PC. 16-bit operating systems but plenty for running a simple database system programmed using something like Visual FoxPro, which was at that time, along with Borland's equivalent, considered to be superior to microsoft´s offering (Microsoft's SDK, Visual Studio and monopoly stranglehold soon killed the opposition, of course).

This machine could also have been upgraded to run Windows 95 which was released end 94 if I remember right. So no problem for running tabulation or whatever software with a reasonably up-to-date Windows interface.

As for the observed "commands" at bottom left of screen, as described these could be either/ messages from the BIOS and/or DOS command lines - boot sequence and/or BATCH commands and/or DOS command session with the technician, scrolling up the screen.

Machines of that era that lost BIOS configuration because of battery-power loss to CMOS (the batteries were rechargeable, but not indefinitely; they eventually go flat) would usually, after displaying a few lines at screen bottom-left (but more usually top-left?), go automatically into BIOS configuration mode, displaying a whole screenfull of options and commands for configuring everything from date and time thru hard drives to motherboard type and configuration, all set to default.

So, basically that part of the technician's story could be taken as credible. Which is not to say (there is no way to know) that he didn't in fact do something else. The talk of a 'patch' and a 'fix' seem to imply that something more was done.

Where the story just doesn't, cannot, work is in claiming that 'information' or data has been lost. Unless indeed he is referring to something that's just been erased.

But, in any case, surely the particular issue here is that no technicians (and nobody else either) should have been going anywhere near these machines or their software or the voting records without everything being properly authorised and witnessed and documented.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

126. Excellent response along with all the others

man, I forgot there ever was such a thing as a 286 and 386!!!
The mere fact of the mention of the "patch" seems to suggest malfeasance, unless the guy comes out and denies it. But that is all simply a matter of corroboration.

[genieroze]

130. Someone said this was a laptop, here is some history.

Just clink on the links in this link and you can get the specs.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllaptop.htm

[chorti]

133. this machine was used as a tabulator

I think we need to be thinking not just about the hardware but also the software. I'm not saying this happened, but let's assume for a minute, that Triad was trying to cover something up and needed to go around to all the counties where the "fix" had been made.

This machine has an old database program, FoxPro or dBase or something like that. And it has punch-card tabulating software, which probably spits out strings of data, with a header row announcing the id of the precinct, then a header row announcing a new ballot, and then all the rows of data, one for each contest that the voter is voting on. Then a ballot end row and another voter header row, et cetera, until you hit the end of precinct row and the next precinct header row. The precinct header row is important in Ohio punch card tabulators because the order of candidates is switched precinct to precinct. Plus some precincts may be voting on a certain local race down the ballot that other precincts are not voting on. But this is very basic software.

The smart software is the database program. There will be one database file with all the precinct ID's, the list of all races in that precinct, and information about the order of the candidates in each precinct. So the tabulator file creates a text file that is imported into the database program. The data in this file is then converted to meaningful vote tally information. This is precisely where any "fixing" of the data would occur. You could easily program this basebase program to flip every 100th Kerry vote to Bush, or whatever you wanted to do. You could program only certain precincts to be "fixed". This would be important knowing the 3% recount rule in Ohio. In any case you would want any "fix" to be very subtle so that any Dr. Phillips examining the precinct totals couldn't find any anomalies.

So now, you come to a recount. First, it would help if someone from the BOE would be in on it, in order to make sure that one of the "fixed" precincts was not chosen "randomly" for a recount. You should be home free unless someone actually looks at the database code. In this case you would not need to examine anything or change a hard drive or whatever.

But let's say the BOE was not in on it and the precinct chosen had been fixed. You would need to put in place a new database file that is not "fixed" so that it agrees with the hand count and you don't have to do a 100% hand recount. Downloading this file by floppy disk would be too suspicious. It would be much easier to say that the machine was burned out or the battery was dead or make something up - and give you an excuse to change the hard drive.

The database file should be able to recognize the precinct header information and determine the order of candidates for that precinct. This makes it unnecessary to call anyone with the precinct number in order to determine the order of candidates to make sure the computer is programmed right. The only reason you would need to call someone with the precinct ID would be to determine if that precinct is one of the ones that was "fixed". If so, you would need a software "patch" in order to unfix the tally for that precinct. That is, you would need a new database file that would correctly record and tally all the votes in that precinct so that it will correspond 100% to the hand recount. If its off a couple votes, even 5 or 6, from the tally recorded on election night, that can probably be explained away. And you are able to avoid the 100% hand recount that would definitely show the fraud.

[Ellipsis]

139. me thinks to look below the DOS, the opposite of you

can one manipulate the FPU? or replace it with a differnt one?

getting dangerous now (on what I know)

k

[demodonkey]

147. Triad Techs WERE putting software on machines from floppies for...

this recount. I heard this directly from at least one Board of Elections officer in Ohio with my own ears.

This recount was just for Presidential race. The Ohio law says you are not supposed to count any other races. Rather than just print out what the original software as used on election day prints out (and disregard anything but the Presidential results), Blackwell ordered that the counties have special software put on every machine to stop all other races (other than President) from being counted or printed out in any way.

Ohio law makes tampering with election materials and computers illegal, but notice how this sort of conflicts with the above law and of course Blackwell sides with changing the software....

Anyway this gave the Triad techs (and some indy techs) total legitimate access to be installing software onto the tabulating computers from floppies before the recount. Who knows what all else they could have installed or uninstalled?

And also software used in the recount was NOT the same software used in the original election.

[Ellipsis]

149. this doesn't marry to the techs first statement. n/t

[demodonkey]

150. What statement? (there have been many)... eom

[Ellipsis]

151. a "software patch to fix the battery."

unless misconstrued. By Ms.Eaton.

He'd say "Hi I'm here to reinstall software for a modified recount for the Presidency only".
"Oh wait, the computer does'nt start up. Hmmm maybe the battery is dead."

k

[demodonkey]

152. Some counties hired Triad techs to run the machines for the recount...

this is legal. When the hired techs reported for their duty the AM of the recount, they installed the new "special" recount software from a floppy or CD.

No need for any dead battery story in counties where they were ASKED and HIRED to be there...

[Ellipsis]

154. not germane to this thread. n/t

[lonestarnot]

134. IF ANYONE TOUCHES ANOTHER MACHINE

THEY NEED THEIR HANDS HACKED SINCE WE APPEAR TO BE HEADING FOR THAT TYPE OF GOVERNMENT, LET'S IMPLEMENT THEIR TYPE OF PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT NOW.

[Straight Shooter]

135. Your CAPS key is stuck.

Typing in all caps in cyberspace is equivalent to yelling.

[lonestarnot]

136. I KNOW THAT! HAVE BEEN YELLING ALL MORNING AS I WANT EVERYONE TO HEAR

THIS CITIZEN WITH A PITCHFORK WHO IS ON HIS/HER IT'S WAY TO DC JAN6TH 05!

[zapped 1]

156. Monday is the day...

..that this event is officially being investigated.
I hope Kerry has someone there...

[Ellipsis]

157. I'd like to see the guy doing the documentary there. Bleeding Ohio?

Yes, It's why we need to clarify things before then, best as we can.

Did I hear this was an open forum? was that just a misleading post?

k

[NewYorkerfromMass]

158. Well, it seems Kerry's intervention is based heavily on this affidavit

of Sherole Eaton.
I am concerned because it is imperative that there be corroboration between her statements and other witnesses and evidence.
It will be interesting to see how it all plays out and comes together.

[flashsmith]

159. CMOS

I've worked with microcomputers since 1986. It was not uncommon then for the battery to go dead after 4 or more years. When the battery dies, the configuration of the hard drive is lost. In particular, the # of heads, # of cylinders, and precomp were lost. Modern computers detect this automatically but they didn't back then. If you replace the battery and just take a guess at the settings, you risk wiping the data on the hard drive so it's best not to guess. Sometimes this information was labeled on the hard drive itself. Often it was not. These days, you would go on the Internet and find the settings. If they didn't have an Internet connection in the office, it's not unreasonable for the technician to take a look at another computer of the same vintage and see if it had the same hard drive. If so, you could just boot it and pull the settings off that machine. If the other computer didn't have the same hard drive, then the technician would have no choice but to call the home office and have someone there research the settings. All of this could have been what took up so much time. This could also be what the technician meant by patching. Resetting the hard drive configuration would have been the proper phrase but maybe the technician has seen enough blank stares in his career and used a simple generic term to explain what he did to a layperson. The explanation of the repair seems to me perfectly reasonable. The cheat sheet however does not. Neither does having the repair occur without the required democratic/republicans present. It seems ALL the laws protecting the chain of possession of the votes and equipment were completely ignored.