scope:

Description of Driving Event:

On May 16, 1994, an AMDAHL 5995M mainframe computer overheated at approximately 8:20 AM in the Software Production Facility (SPF) in Building 30 at JSC. Physical damage to the computer due to this overheat was estimated at $669,000. This overheat occurred due to an inadvertent miswiring of a circuit breaker after a routine power outage and maintenance of the breaker. The quality inspection failed to check for the proper rewiring of the circuit breaker. The miswiring caused a phase rotation of the power, which in turn caused fans cooling the AMDAHL 2550 to turn backwards. Power isolation and monitoring equipment that could have prevented any impact from the phase rotation was not properly utilized. This led to insufficient cooling of the AMDAHL 2550 which resulted in the overheat and subsequent damage.