The stupid things we do

tony_j15 · July 25th, 2003, 02:09 PM

This thread is dedicated to all of us that have ever done something stupid with your comp, whether it be harware, software, ect. The idea is for everyone to post these *ahem* slightly embarrasing things we've done. I'll go first.

I took apart my comp all the way, it needed to be cleaned and have a better wiring job. After putting it all back togather(took close to an hour) I hit the power button. Nothing. Oh great. Checked everything. cpu in, memory seated, power supply, another power supply, motherboard. Guess what? The wires for the power button were plugged into the reset spot. After flipping them around, it powered right up.

C'mon folks! Clear your tormented memories of these moments. Its better to share.

EvilCrow · July 25th, 2003, 02:14 PM

Most stupid thing I've done was not secure my heatsink tight enough on the lugs, which caused it to fall off during full load, and fry my brand new Athlon XP 2400+ and ECS L7S7A2 motherboard.

I'm getting the replacement CPU and motherboard in the mail in 3 hours, infact.

jmebonner · July 25th, 2003, 02:15 PM

LOL, this may be a LONG thread

I recently received an A7N8X after RMA-ing an MSI. I hooked everything up just right, taking time to double check it all before I attempted to power on. I flipped the psu switch in the back to the on position, remembering that I'd forgotten to switch it on before. Plugged it in....nothing. I was STEAMING! "Another bad board from newegg?!?!" I left the room, chilled out, came back and sat down in front, checked all power cords, cables, etc. Then remembered to hit the power button on the case, lol...what an idiot I am

Everything's worked fine since.

Bob The Great · July 25th, 2003, 02:17 PM

After 5 years of building computers I still almost everytime forget to set the FSB from its defualt 100mhz. Almost every time, and then you gotta fiddle with the computer till it finnaly realizes "oh yes I can actually do 66/133/166 etc...).

Also once when I was working on my PC I checked everything. It all looked good and my new DVD-rom was inserted properly. I hit the power switch, and nothing happens. So piece by piece I take each thing out and try the power. Still nothing! Did I fry something? Then I remember I had switched off the power supply before working on it. ERGGGG!!! I put it all back in switch the PSU on and it powers up perfectly. Took like 2 hours for a 10min job.

Droppyale · July 25th, 2003, 02:21 PM

Not too long ago I was having problems with my bios, it wouldn't post, after 5 days of dealing and struggling with it, It finally worked, turned out it was a bad flash...

but wait, that's not it...

I had bought a hard drive thinking that might have been the problem...

well it wasn't so I took the new hard drive out, and when I was going to install my old HD (with all my stuff in it), I dropped it...

and guess what... it died...

now... isn't that stupid ?

joker_927 · July 25th, 2003, 02:35 PM

I tried to screw plug in a ard Drive while the computer was still on.

The whole computer shutdown and wouldn't boot for about 5 min.

Then I was screwing in a loose HD while the computer was running and I guess I touvched two magnetic poles or something in the case because a spark shot out when my screwdriver touched the case, then a bolt of small lightning shot from the HD to the motherboard. Sounds freaky, but it really happened. I didn't turn it on for a day.

Booted up and everything seems fine.

NeoStarO1 · July 25th, 2003, 02:43 PM

haha, This is gonna be a good thread!

Way way way back before I ever knew anything about computers my brother had called me thinking I could fix computers cuz he knew I had torn apart mine before. Well he didn't have a cd rom in his computer and wanted one so I scored him a used one and tried to replace it. However the case baffled me to no end. I had NO IDEA how it was suppose to mount. It didn't mount like mine. So I thought great, what kind of case is this. So i asked for some duct tape and I jerry rigged his cd rom into place. Yup you heard that right, I duct taped the cd rom in place making its own little sling to lay in and then taped it up to keep it staying put. My brother looked at me, okay whatever works.

Much much later I found out the problem. that particular case needed mounting brackets as they were the ones that slide inot the case rather than screwed in.

That was back in my naivity days. Now i know better.

But hey, it worked like a charm!

originel · July 25th, 2003, 02:45 PM

i once did something similar to what you did joker a few years ago...so i totally believe you (although it went from the cd to the ps).

anyways...i'm getting two old computers ready to sell in a garage sale tomorrow built from scrape parts i had lying around. i had finally finished with the 2nd computer when i remember i hadn't still copied backups of the drivers over to the 1st one. note i was using the same monitor to work with both comps. i had explorer open to the floppy drive already (no network cards, so i had to do it the old fashion way) so i pulled out the floppy and just clicked refresh. the same thing comes up..."oh great it's not fully reading from the floppy, this driver better not be dying." so i try it again. same thing. i open the case to the comp when i realize "hey wait a minute...this computer isn't even turned on...ah #$%^! this is the wrong computer!" so i spent several minutes messing with the floppy on the wrong computer

wju425 · July 25th, 2003, 03:07 PM

This is about a friend who's case is real stupidity and some laziness. Seen anyone who doesn't put their floppy, cdrom, and hard drive in the case? This friend doesn't and just leaves 'em laying around. He went got a new floppy and hard drive and laid the hard drive upside down and put the floppy drive on top of it. He called me asking why his computer won't work. I came over and saw that he laid the floppy drive on top of the hard drive's controller card. Because of that he blew the hard drive and the IDE port of his mobo.

I have another friend who changed memories in a slot one mobo and it won't boot. He just put bigger modules in there so they're the same kind. When I came over he asked me to look at it. Everything looked good and I saw that an empty slot had the locks open. I closed the locks and the computer booted. This is not really a case of stupidity but not all mobos have that "strange feature."

\o/ Billy

nomaxim · July 25th, 2003, 03:14 PM

AOL!

Do I need to say more!

Honestly, I get free Dial-up from my University, but hey it' s dial-up, too slow!