Funny story. Complicated chain of events.
You see, I am a huge fan of 2-factor authentication. Something you have and something you know. And one of the methods I use is a USB device called a YubiKey.
Recently my desktop got updated to an AMD 3990X. 128 threads. With an AMD RX-Vega 64. Beefy. Tied to 3 monitors.
Nearby is a rarely used multi-function printer, samsung scanner/laser, that sort of thing.
How does this tie together you ask? Well, they are all involved as co-conspirators. You see, when i plug in my YubiKey, its not uncommon for the circuit breaker to trip and require a trip to the basement. Why? Well, you see, the printer driver requests a service called colord. This is something that snoops on your devices and looks for colour profiles. E.g. when you insert a camera, it sees the type of raw jpg, etc.
Now, any USB device might be something with a colour profile (for some reason). So inserting the YubiKey wakes up the colord. Colord in turn sends a broadcast out. (Note: long open issue, feel free to vote!) which is picked up by the Scanner. Scanner responds by waking up, firing up the laser drum and heater, you know, just in case its time to print something (I print about 2 things per year). Takes a surge of power.
Well, you add that, the monitors, the new PC w/ the big beefy silicon. Throw in a mix of the fancy new lamp from the great de-purpling of the lamp. And, well, sometimes the surge is just too much.
So, there’s about a 1 in 3 chance that inserting my YubiKey to authenticate to some web site throws the breaker, and leaves me in the dark. Today I had a word w/ colord. It has agreed to stop starting up. Problem solved!
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