Reply 40 of 83, by Thallanor
I once pinched, I believe it was a floppy ribbon cable, in between the case and cover. Dead shorted. Turned the computer on and something caught fire. I was nerding out and had a plexiglass window installed (this would have been late 90s/early 2000s) and so you could see the flames. Turn off the computer, flames went out. So just turned the power button on and off over and over to watch flames light up, flames go out. Yeah, I was easily amused, 🤣.
Early 90s, Tandy 1000 TL/2, was reading in the manual to NOT use smartdrv because of compatibility issues. Said screw it, tried it anyway. Screwed the drive royally. Couldn't even low-level format it. Had to go to my parents to explain what I'd done and how I destroyed a $400 40 MB hard drive. Oops. Dad wasn't thrilled. He mentioned it when getting it replaced at Radio Shack and the manager (who I still keep in contact with from time to time) said that the only way I was going to learn about computers is by doing this very thing.
Not me specifically, but back in the early 2000s, I was doing watercooling. Was a complete cluster back then because you were on your own - you'd find someone on eBay selling homemade waterblocks, then get your hose, aquarium pump, etc. I finally had enough of it, and a friend wanted to buy the old setup. He had an old Athlon and first time he installed it, crushed the core. That was the end of his fancy new Athlon. Second time, he was too gentle. Didn't actually make contact with the waterblock. So smoked that Athlon. D'oh. He didn't try again after that. 😀