yoyo mode

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

yoyo mode
 n.

   The state in which the system is said to be when it rapidly alternates
   several times between being up and being down. Interestingly (and
   perhaps not by coincidence), many hardware vendors give out free yoyos
   at Usenix exhibits.

   Sun Microsystems gave out logoized yoyos at SIGPLAN '88. Tourists
   staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels were subsequently
   treated to the sight of 200 of the country's top computer scientists
   testing yo-yo algorithms in the lobby.

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

yoyo mode

   <jargon> The state in which a computer is said to be when it
   rapidly alternates several times between being up and being
   down.  Interestingly (and perhaps not by coincidence), many
   hardware vendors give out free yoyos at {Usenix} exhibits.

   {Sun Microsystems} gave out logoised yoyos at SIGPLAN '88.
   Tourists staying at one of Atlanta's most respectable hotels
   were subsequently treated to the sight of 200 of the country's
   top computer scientists testing yo-yo {algorithms} in the
   lobby.

   [Is it "yoyo" or "yo-yo"?]

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-03-07)