ATM Crash

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The other day I pulled up to an ATM and it was in the middle of crashing and so I was able to shoot these pics during the crash and reboot. The ATM never did come up fully so I was unable to get some cash. I’m so not thrilled that ATM’s are running Windows XP, seems like linux would be a much more stable platform for dealing with important financial transactions such as my money. It would be cheaper to deploy also.

**update** Aug 25th 6:00pm CDT: I posted the rest of my photos here instead of having you link through to flickr if you don’t want too.

ATM Crash




51 thoughts on “ATM Crash”

  1. why are so many lights in the reflection of the screen and body of the ATM….. Just answer me that

  2. Im guessing its because it is a sunny day, there is a tree between the ATM and the sun, some of the light shines through the tree making little spots of light appear on the machine. Am I correct?

  4. Well the atm machine did face east and it was about 7:00am central time. If you look closely enough in the glare you can see all the lights shining through what looks like trees. At lunch I can take a wide picture of the ATM and you could see how it’s setup, tree and all.

  5. Why bother with additional pictures. You can see the trees behind the atm by the reflection in the glass covering the security camera (upper left corner).

  7. Typical winblowz users making the comments, paying attention to everything but the reason for the post.

  8. Thank god cars do not run full blow versions of Windows. I would hate to think what would happen if a car got a “blue screen of death.”

    It doesn’t speak very highly of the bank to use Windows for the ATM. I can just imagine the next great internet worm is one designed to affect windows based ATMs. That would be great!!!! At random time through out the day it just spits out random amounts of money. Or better yet, if you ask for $20, $20 is take off your account but $200 is given to you. 😉 The possibilities are endless!!!

  11. This sucks! Now I can’t get any of that money out that I have been steeling from the rest of the world! Maybe I can get my money from the person teller inside. But what if anybody recognizes me?!?

  12. Just so we can all diss them, that is a Wells Fargo WebATM.

    I’ve never seen one outlandishly be that shitty, but I did have one once launch me to the touch screen main menu and the entire left screen of buttons (Buy stamps, balances, MyATM prefs etc) was an Internet Explorer X as in image not found. I was kinda in a rush (and my camera phone doesn’t have great quality) so I didn’t snap a photo.

    I live in Vegas…and have seen a slot machine or two crash and display a BSOD from 98. I have a pic somewhere

  14. forget about the dam sun dudes, were you high to give windows xp such a hard time, couse i can bet that if it was runing on linux, it would have it’s disadvantages.

  15. In the UK about two years ago, I saw an ATM running Windows 2000 with an error message saying that the time needed setting.

  16. No I was not high. Well I’m only giving Windows XP a hard time for running mission critical applications, like handling my money transactions. I’d even feel better if they were using a MS Server 2003. Every OS has it’s place, I just don’t feel this is a very good place for deploying Windows XP for many reasons.

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  19. It must not even have Service Pack 2 installed. Or else it wouldn’t have the “Professional” on the startup screen.

  20. Yeah I was sad too when I saw an ATM running windows so out of protest I cut off my balls. Now I have a physical reason to add to the many reasons why my Linux loving self can’t lay chicks so I feel much better now. Thanks for listening.

  21. Why do you all hate Winedoughs so much? Don’t blame me either I didn’t develop any of the software I just market and watch my bank account build when I’m not re-booting. It wasn’t my idea to make the screen of death blue either. I’m gonna go play with my penguin now L8r!

  23. As much of an OSS advocate as I am, I really hate it when people see linux as an end all be all solution. You have to take into consideration the total cost of ownership (TCO) of something. Perhaps the banking software they use hooks together using Component Object Model (COM). It’d certainly make more sense to use windows in that case because linux doesn’t have COM libraries AFAIK (for obvious reasons).

    That said, should Windows XP be crashing on that ATM? No way in hell, I’m actually somewhat suprised to see that happen myself.

  24. Yes. I saw a self checkout at WAL*MART that was having some issues as well. Keep in mind those machines “handle” your ducket as well ; )

  27. You guys are all idiots, this is definitely a hoax. There is no way in hell an ATM is running XP software or anything windows for that matter. Not a pro-windows post, an ATM would have no business running an OS like XP. Even if you were no another planet where you would need a freaking OS to run an ATM machine makes sense, they sure as hell wouldn’t run XP.

  29. Taking shots at my handle when you stoop as low as to attempt impersonation of a well know computer magnate…. Very mature.

    Thanks for coming.

    Now back onto topic. If this bank set up it’s software properly (WHQL drivers ect) this shouldn’t be an issue. I have a feeling this happened because they hired a bad tech to set it up. Properly set up using nothing but certified drivers XP Pro should not crash.

  31. Hey S u p e r D o g: What a great idea! (WHQL drivers ect) Want a job? You might want to learn to spell first.
    Dork cries for me “taking shots” at his name even though he drew first blood. Then he tries to solve the world’s problems rather than understand the initial problem. Bye! Gotta go defrag.

  32. Cool Mod. Where did you get the ATM plastics? I have wanted one for a while now so I could place an access terminal in the back yard. (Pipe music to the back, check who rang the doorbell, etc…) I figured it would be cheaper than a custom weather safe computer rig. Shnifty none the less!

  33. you’re dumb and annoying.

    stop trying to get us all on your side.

    fin

    (obvious who this is to)

  34. Most ATMs run either windows or OS2. I assume that becuase OS2 was discontinued most companies will either go for linux or windows. I have seen the same thing a couple of times with ATMs.

  35. Actually, as I understand it, most (not all) ATMs run Windows. My wife works in the IT department for a moderatly large regional bank and all of their ATMs are Windows based, as are nearly all their competators.

    I’ve also been told when the various virus outbreaks occur the ATMs get them just like the rest of the computers on the network, and the ATMs require patching like any other Windows computer.

  36. Is this a pissing contest or what? Most financial institutions run some version of a unix platform along with an oracle database or other credible platform.

  37. Ron,
    You have such a “Deep” knowledge base on this subject. I’d like to hire you too. I have a simulation program similar to my Microsoft FlightSim I would like your input for.

  38. none of you know what the hell you are talking about.
    i worked w/ wells fargo Secure Access Engineering.
    ALL of WF systems are very secure. I mean VERY secure.
    Sure you are going to get a bad install or error sometimes, after all WE aren’t computers.

    WF employs some of the worlds best leets. And pen testing is out of this world there.

  39. There are many atms now that use Windows XP. Almost any machine you go to with a touchscreen has a version of XP installed. While they all have their problems, security hasn’t been an issue so far and i have yet to see one of these machines get a virus.

    lets keep our fingers crossed.

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  46. I am a branch manager in an ATM services company. In my area only Wells Fargo has switched their entire network to Windows XP. It appears to be pretty stable, they dont seem to generate anymore first line repair calls then the machines they replaced. Wells Fargo has updated their system to start forcing you to watch commercials while you wait for your cash.
    The Windows XP machines replaced machines running IBM OS/2 Warp 4. Nearly every machine I work on still run OS/2, but XP is slowly taking over the market.

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  48. Damn! and you’d think these things would be secure! What would happen should someone start it in safe mode for crying out loud???

  50. well i work for ncr we service those atms and to say the least i hate all the new machines they suck and take years to boot usually if u see a system reboot just hang out 15 minutes it usually boots back up and
    collects a load the older atms run os/2 ibm
    operating system adn they boot superfast and never go down to say the least atms are pretty reliable i service tons of them and there secure as hell you can be in the middle of a transaction and nothing will ever happen if it goes down juts make sure of your surroundings i seen some crazy shit that happened at atms watch what your using and whos around especally late at night

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