hairball

An impossibly complicated and contrived situation or concept.

The user's understanding of computers was so wrongheaded as to be a hairball of ignorance and superstition, the origin of which may never be fully discovered or understood.

electronic hairball

When an electronic device inexplicably stops working and, after multiple and different attempts to get it to work again, i.e., unplugging, plugging back in, re-booting etc., it starts working again.

It had an electronic version of a hairball.

After resetting the DIP switches and software configurations, the jimsonator started working again. I guess that cleared the EHB (electronic hairball).