sorcerer's apprentice mode 

Like Mickey Mouse's brooms, sorcerer's apprentice mode is a computer event that triggers over and over again on its own output. There was once a time on USENET (an internet message board system) where a program was written to cancel anonymously posted messages automatically. Problem was, the canceling message was also an anonymous message which caused the program to trigger on its own output.

This actually will happen if you try to downgrade a 2.0 firmware PSP and you have Norton running...the screen real estate gets used up faster and faster with the same darn error message. This is because it gets a false positive that the downgrader is PSPBrick, then Norton quarantines the "virus" which causes it to notice the freshly quarantined virus as a new virus that was just installed seconds later, and the process repeats.

some source (sorce) code

int main(){
printf("There's been a horrible error!);
main(); /* call the main function and eat more memory */
}
return 0

"I tried to copy the downgrader to my PSP, but Norton seems to have went into sorcerer's apprentice mode."

sorcerer's apprentice mode by Braveheart's thirst for blood January 13, 2007