VOGONS


Reply 20 of 39, by tincup

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Nothing but those razor thin 'paper cuts' you get from working on the inside of old style bare sheet metal cases everyone seems to get.

Reply 21 of 39, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

How exactly are you supposed to get circuit boards in place without cutting your fingers? There seems to be no reasonable way of doing so that does not risk harming the board in the process.

Reply 22 of 39, by retrofanatic

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
DonutKing wrote:

I remember reading here on on another forum that someone took the metal cover off an AT tower case- one of the old one-piece, U shaped covers. They put it behind the upside down. They managed to stumble and landed on the case and got a huge gash on their arm, requiring many stitches.

After hearing this I now make sure to keep the U shaped shell well out of my way when working on my old AT cases...that sounds awful.

MaxWar wrote:

I burst a blood vessel in the back of my hand when I was trying to wrestle out a stuck Molex connector from a hard drive. When the stuck connector finally gave my hand jerked brutally against an edge of the computer case. The back of my hand hit the sharp metal edge which resulted in tremendous pain and a burst blood vessel. I initially feared I had broken a small bone in my hand considering the brutal shock but It healed pretty well despite the initial pain and hematoma.

..glad to hear it healed ok...once I did a similar thing in my old NEC computer case trying to pry out a molex, but instead of catching a sharp edge and cutting my hand, I only banged it pretty hard and bruised it pretty bad on a blunt edge (thankfully). Now I try to use a set of pliers and make sure there is nothing behing that can hurt my hand.

Reply 23 of 39, by obobskivich

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Jorpho wrote:

How exactly are you supposed to get circuit boards in place without cutting your fingers? There seems to be no reasonable way of doing so that does not risk harming the board in the process.

How do you mean? Slow and steady has always worked for me, but it does depend on the enclosure; I like big towers for a reason.

retrofanatic wrote:

After hearing this I now make sure to keep the U shaped shell well out of my way when working on my old AT cases...that sounds awful.
.

Great, another thing to fear... 🤣

In all honesty though, usually those u-shape cases get to hold my toolbox though... 😀

Reply 24 of 39, by Jorpho

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
obobskivich wrote:
Jorpho wrote:

How exactly are you supposed to get circuit boards in place without cutting your fingers? There seems to be no reasonable way of doing so that does not risk harming the board in the process.

How do you mean? Slow and steady has always worked for me, but it does depend on the enclosure; I like big towers for a reason.

DIMMs have been the worst in recent experience, they have a sharp edge and seem to require considerable finger pressure to move into position. PCI cards and the like can occasionally be rough as well.

Reply 25 of 39, by obobskivich

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Jorpho wrote:

DIMMs have been the worst in recent experience, they have a sharp edge and seem to require considerable finger pressure to move into position. PCI cards and the like can occasionally be rough as well.

Most DIMMs that I've encountered in recent years have spreaders that mostly allay that. Putting them in at an "angle" can be easier as well. Rubberized handles on pliers (or similar) can also be used to apply some pressure in lieu of your fingers, if that helps. On PCI cards (or other add-in cards) I've never really noticed "sharp edges" as a problem - some newer add-in cards also have spreaders/covers (the nVidia Quadro cards are a really good example of this) which can help (but make sure you aren't applying all of the pressure to a heatsink or shroud, as that can cause damage). The ones that don't, I usually inspect to make sure I'm not grabbing on a "break off" point (where the PCBs were separated in manufacturing), because those can sometimes be pretty ragged. One thing I have noticed with a lot of add-in cards is the I/O shield usually isn't "straight" - you usually have to help that seat right (if the card is refusing to insert or sit flush it's usually the I/O shield, not the shoe), so putting some pressure on the I/O shield from behind the case can sometimes help coax the card in. If that fails, I usually pull the card back out, get the pliers out, and bend it into shape. 😈

Reply 26 of 39, by konc

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Apart from standars cuts on cases while sitting cards etc that is already heavily mentioned, I can only remember of one other nightmare (I was working as a last-cog technician back then) : Early dram memory modules, still coexisiting with simms, that were ment to to be fitted on first socket 7 m/b's... #$@$%@%&*!
I'm still not sure if this was happening because of m/b slots or because of the dram chips themselves, but back in the very beginning of dram, placing such a module on the m/b required a lot of force (and in some cases blood). Most probably specs weren't as precisely set as now and sizes might had slight defferences. There are stories of boards going into production theoretically supporting memory chips not yet released, so there might be some truth in them...
In any case, regularly working as a tech adding memory with closed eyes and trying for half an hour to place a mem chip into its position without breaking it is surely something worth mentioning! Especially when your finger was the looser 😀

Reply 27 of 39, by Radical Vision

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Not much at all.
Only one time i don`t know what was in my head, but i opened a PSU and while it was in my hand i did turn it on and i get zapped, don`t know why i did this, maybe to get the feel of electricity....

But as i read what others have done, at least no one did cut himself and bleed to death 😵 😵 😵 😒 😒 ...

Mah systems retro, old, newer (Radical stuff)
W3680 4.5/ GA-x58 UD7/ R9 280x
K7 2.6/ NF7-S/ HD3850
IBM x2 P3 933/ GA-6VXD7/ Voodoo V 5.5K
Cmq P2 450/ GA-BX2000/ V2 SLI
IBM PC365
Cmq DeskPRO 486/33
IBM PS/2 Model 56
SPS IntelleXT 8088

Reply 28 of 39, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

A few years ago I was taking apart an old hard drive. On the top cover there was a sticker that was holding a circular metal cover disc in place. I pressed it out with my thumb. When it popped out I cut my thumb very deep on the sharp edge of the hole that that circular cover was over.

Nerve damage.. oh yeah! Part of my thumb is still kinda numb.

Until you have nerve damage from working on computer stuff, you are just a noob. 🤣

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 29 of 39, by Tetrium

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Radical Vision wrote:

Not much at all.
Only one time i don`t know what was in my head, but i opened a PSU and while it was in my hand i did turn it on and i get zapped, don`t know why i did this, maybe to get the feel of electricity....

But as i read what others have done, at least no one did cut himself and bleed to death 😵 😵 😵 😒 😒 ...

Noone here has reported injury that resulted into their deaths yet. Maybe tomorrow 😜

Here the injuries are usually getting cut or having strain problems in my arms or shoulders from gaming too much.
I've also gotten 'powered up' by electricity but that didn't harm me in any way. I think? What was I doing here again? What is a vogon? 😕

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
Report spammers here!

Reply 30 of 39, by leileilol

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

My nails usually get the worst of it.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 31 of 39, by Radical Vision

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Tetrium wrote:

I've also gotten 'powered up' by electricity but that didn't harm me in any way. I think? What was I doing here again? What is a vogon? 😕

Hah that was nice one.... 😕 😵 😵 😢 😢

Mah systems retro, old, newer (Radical stuff)
W3680 4.5/ GA-x58 UD7/ R9 280x
K7 2.6/ NF7-S/ HD3850
IBM x2 P3 933/ GA-6VXD7/ Voodoo V 5.5K
Cmq P2 450/ GA-BX2000/ V2 SLI
IBM PC365
Cmq DeskPRO 486/33
IBM PS/2 Model 56
SPS IntelleXT 8088

Reply 32 of 39, by oeuvre

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

crushing your fingers in tight crevices

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
ws90Ts2.gif

Reply 33 of 39, by sf78

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I got a deep gash on my hand when a screwdriver slipped as I was removing a metal plate from a 5 1/4" drive bay. The case was one of those cheap ass things everyone bought in the early 00's and had sharp corners everywhere. It only required 3 stitches to fix the hand, but I was a bit shocked when I realized I could see all the layers inside my hand (skin, fat, muscle) before the blood gushed out. 😵

Reply 34 of 39, by Ozzuneoj

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Tetrium wrote:
Radical Vision wrote:

Not much at all.
Only one time i don`t know what was in my head, but i opened a PSU and while it was in my hand i did turn it on and i get zapped, don`t know why i did this, maybe to get the feel of electricity....

But as i read what others have done, at least no one did cut himself and bleed to death 😵 😵 😵 😒 😒 ...

Noone here has reported injury that resulted into their deaths yet. Maybe tomorrow 😜

If anyone here reports on their own death, I'm leaving. 😲

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 35 of 39, by nforce4max

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

My only problem lately is being tired after playing world of tanks for up to three hours a day for weeks at a time (grinding during events) 😒
I am looking forward to a vacation of sorts so that will be fun.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 36 of 39, by gdjacobs

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
Ozzuneoj wrote:
Tetrium wrote:
Radical Vision wrote:

Not much at all.
Only one time i don`t know what was in my head, but i opened a PSU and while it was in my hand i did turn it on and i get zapped, don`t know why i did this, maybe to get the feel of electricity....

But as i read what others have done, at least no one did cut himself and bleed to death 😵 😵 😵 😒 😒 ...

Noone here has reported injury that resulted into their deaths yet. Maybe tomorrow 😜

If anyone here reports on their own death, I'm leaving. 😲

Every time I see Norton Antivirus installed on a computer, I feel like dying.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 37 of 39, by cyclone3d

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
gdjacobs wrote:

Every time I see Norton Antivirus installed on a computer, I feel like dying.

Thanks for reminding me of Norton... Now I am going to have nightmares about it.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 38 of 39, by ODwilly

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
cyclone3d wrote:
gdjacobs wrote:

Every time I see Norton Antivirus installed on a computer, I feel like dying.

Thanks for reminding me of Norton... Now I am going to have nightmares about it.

How about McAssey installed on every freaking Dell ever sold? I swear the amount of times Iv worked on a nice XPS or Optiplex and heard "I hate Dells, every one Iv owned has been slow!" Followed by "Wow my Dell is so fast what did you do?" Well gee got rid of the Malware that your quote: "Anti-Virus" missed, then uninstalled McAffee and enables MSE.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 39 of 39, by shamino

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

When I was a kid we were visiting relatives and I got into playing "Decathlon" on their Atari 2600.
To do well in that game, you need to make your guy run as fast as possible. You do that by pressing the joystick left and right as quickly as possible. The recommended method is to place your thumb and index finger on opposite sides of the joystick and "waggle" it.
I got some painful blisters from that game. When my elders noticed, I was basically forbidden to play it anymore.