Dump things that other have been doing..... I have a few to shake out of the sleeve. 😀

Once when I did computers, a customer brought in a computer for repair.
He was 14 years old, and he had spend all his money on a brand new laptop (1800 US Dollars in 2005)
He admitted his mistake, that he had used it for a "jukebox" at a party and someone had spilled Rum+Coke on the keyboard.
He was in luck, as the keyboard was dead. Nothng else.

Another story... A little more severe one of the kind.
We sold a special machine to an architect, who was sitting with drawings for like millions of dollars.
He wanted something reliable and we did a RAID setup for him. Raid5 + Spare.
It turned out, that he never took any backup, because well... He claimed that us saying that it was reliable and safe,
ment that he had no reason for doing any backup at all. He thought that this setup ment that the data was indestructable.
Now... Here is the fun part. He let his son at the age of 12 play with the RAID controller's bios.
Wich in the end resulted in the son formatting 3 of the drives. Nothing could be saved.
He learned his lesson the hard way, as 10+ years of building plans went out the windows this way. And no backup existed.

Just had this popping up...
As we sold a lot of computers, people wanted to buy those cheap ones for their childrens christian confirmation.
And a father came in, friday 5 minutes before closing time, and wanted a machine for sunday.
And as we did not build machines in advance, I was asked to build one and test it in 30 minutes.
The father was asked if he wanted WinXP, and he said no, because he had bought one in advance. Oh well....
Monday, he came back, claiming that we had installed gay-porn on the machine, just to piss him off.
And we thought that there might accidentially have been something on the harddrive. Wich we highly doubted.
Just to make shure, we took a fresh from the storage and broke the seal and installed it in front of the man.
Later he came back and claimed that we had installed gay porn again. Well... That was strange, and we explained
to him how computers worked. Just in plain loose terms. Then he claimed that we had installed it in the ram.
And then he claimed that we had installed it in the BIOS. We used a lot of time to explain otherwise to him.

Now.... The sale was temprarly taken back and we took it to the workbench to see what all the fuzz was about.
(We promised him that if this was our mistake, we would give him money back)
What we saw, explained everything about that porn.

First, he had used a pirated WinXP. Yup... The one he aparently had bought.
Second, it was a Windows without any service pack's, and one that was modded to not use any serial number.
This was all in 2006, and well... SP2 was out. He had actually used it for downloading zip programs and such,
without even updating it to SP2. Not even SP1. Clearly we were at fault about that porn stuff-popups.
The porn was not even on the machine, it was all Pop-Ups....
We dialed his number and asked him to pick up his machine, after doing a complete wipe of the machine.
To my surprise, he still did not want to buy XP, even though I gave him a discount. (OEM price for a Retail-XP)
He kept claiming that the XP he had, was bought and therefor a legit edition.... Hmmmm!!!

When he came in the door and was presented with the machine, he took it an threw the entire machine across
the store-room. And screamed that we were only out to screw him for his money, and that he wanted all back.
Because his daughter had suffered mentally from all the gayporn that we had installed.

He went home, without both machine and money.

brostenen wrote:

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

- About once a year my father will have me look at his computer because it's acting funny. I move whatever he has sitting on the keyboard and it's goes back to working fine.

Clearly a case of "Error-40". That error sitting 40 cm's in front of the computer. 🤣

In Brazil we call that a BIOS error xD
BIOS as in "bicho ignorante operando o sistema", which roughly means ignorant person* operating the system 🤣

* "bicho" is, literally, animal. But it sounds too insulting in english. Here we use that word to refer to people sometimes, but it doesn't have such an insulting connotation.

You guys remember those little red switches on the back of AT and old ATX power supplies? Usually right under the power plug, sometimes hidden under a sticker with "220V only" or "110V only"?

Yeah, I flipped one of those when I was 9 or 10 years old - while the computer was running. BOOOM! Scared the living daylights out of both me and the woman using it. It wasn't even my own machine - it was at my dad's workplace - a computer used for accounting nonetheless 😀. Fried the PSU, mainboard, ram and the video card of that poor 486. I said nothing of course. Just acted shocked and surprised. Still got punished tough - they figured I must have touched some cable while the machine was running.

A few years later, I tried to swap the 66MHz 486 that was in my sister's PC for a 133Mhz AMD 586. Unfortunately, I had never done anything like that before, and the mainboard's manual did not specify witch way you are supposed to install the CPU. I noticed the CPU had a corner for orientation, but the mainboard did not. At that point, I had already removed the DX2 that came with the machine, so I could not use it for reference to install the new chip. Unwilling to risk the 586, I plugged the DX2 back in the way I thought it was when I removed it. Turned the power on, and BOOM! One dead mainboard.

Another "fun" little cockup was when I was a teenager, and I tried to upgrade the 850MHz duron in my PC for a 1.2GHz athlon. Can you guess what happened? Yup, I crushed the CPU. In my defense, some of the socket A cpu coolers out there require a little too much elbow grease to clip on. I was so pissed off! Fortunately, the shop I got the CPU from replaced it with a working one, and I bought another cooler - one with a larger mounting bracket witch was easy to install.

alexanrs wrote:

BIOS as in "bicho ignorante operando o sistema", which roughly means ignorant person* operating the system 🤣

Clearly, you need a "LARD/LART" for those kind of situations. (Large Attitude Readjustment Device/Tool)
In other words, a crowbar.... 🤣 🤣

dr_st wrote:

If it's truly just the device ID, you can work around it by force-installing a driver with a non-matching ID. Windows will let you do that, if you insist. In Linux it should be possible to do by recompiling some module. However, usually the problems will not end there. In my case, the CardBus card fails to work properly even when it's recognized correctly. It gives abysmal transfer rates or locks up entirely.

Yeah, I had thought about doing that but I wanted to treat the problem, not the symptom, and I expected there'd be others. Did not expect that would mean bricking after BIOS flash though! 😁

alexanrs wrote:

In Brazil we call that a BIOS error xD BIOS as in "bicho ignorante operando o sistema", which roughly means ignorant person* op […]
Show full quote

brostenen wrote:

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

- About once a year my father will have me look at his computer because it's acting funny. I move whatever he has sitting on the keyboard and it's goes back to working fine.

Clearly a case of "Error-40". That error sitting 40 cm's in front of the computer. 🤣

In Brazil we call that a BIOS error xD
BIOS as in "bicho ignorante operando o sistema", which roughly means ignorant person* operating the system 🤣

* "bicho" is, literally, animal. But it sounds too insulting in english. Here we use that word to refer to people sometimes, but it doesn't have such an insulting connotation.

PEBCAK. Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard.
See also: ID10T error (pronounced "eye dee ten tee", not written as often for obvious reasons.)

Jokes older than this forum! 😁

I don't think i've ever flipped that little switch. Why that's even there and it's still FCC certified is amazing.

I'm still doing "dumb" things today 😁 see PowerVR fun thread. Taking an old 3d card boldly to where no one has gone before (DX7+/OGL 1.1 games) is a dumb activity for something that's intended for Tomb Raider, Dark Rift, Mechwarrior 2, <insert Kalisto game here>,... and i'm surprised the card hasn't fried itself by now.

That switch is necessary in countries like Brazil, where 110V and 220V coexist, sometimes even on the same residence. Oh, and its not only on old PSUs... any non-active PFC PSU here in Brazil has got to have one of those... or basically most stuff that doesn't work from 90-240V automatically.

kanecvr wrote:

while the computer was running. BOOOM! Scared the living daylights out of both me and the woman using it...

...Turned the power on, and BOOM! One dead mainboard...

...Yup, I crushed the CPU.

You win the prize for most spectacular.

We are running 230 to 240 volts in Denmark.
Those extra volt for stability.
Not deadly, yet still unpleasant to touch when
installing a lamp or a new wall socket.

RacoonRider wrote:

JayCeeBee64,

Oh, your poor sister... I hope he's at least handsome and caring.

He is on both accounts, and also a good father (they have 2 kids already). And recognizes his shortcomings and calls for help when needed nowadays.

Stiletto wrote:

PEBCAK. Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard.
See also: ID10T error (pronounced "eye dee ten tee", not written as often for obvious reasons.)

Jokes older than this forum! 😁

🤣 🤣 It's been a while since I've seen anyone mention those two acronyms 😁 😁

brostenen wrote:

Just had this popping up... As we sold a lot of computers, people wanted to buy those cheap ones for their childrens christian c […]
Show full quote

Just had this popping up...
As we sold a lot of computers, people wanted to buy those cheap ones for their childrens christian confirmation.
And a father came in, friday 5 minutes before closing time, and wanted a machine for sunday.
And as we did not build machines in advance, I was asked to build one and test it in 30 minutes.
The father was asked if he wanted WinXP, and he said no, because he had bought one in advance. Oh well....
Monday, he came back, claiming that we had installed gay-porn on the machine, just to piss him off.
And we thought that there might accidentially have been something on the harddrive. Wich we highly doubted.
Just to make shure, we took a fresh from the storage and broke the seal and installed it in front of the man.
Later he came back and claimed that we had installed gay porn again. Well... That was strange, and we explained
to him how computers worked. Just in plain loose terms. Then he claimed that we had installed it in the ram.
And then he claimed that we had installed it in the BIOS. We used a lot of time to explain otherwise to him.

Now.... The sale was temprarly taken back and we took it to the workbench to see what all the fuzz was about.
(We promised him that if this was our mistake, we would give him money back)
What we saw, explained everything about that porn.

First, he had used a pirated WinXP. Yup... The one he aparently had bought.
Second, it was a Windows without any service pack's, and one that was modded to not use any serial number.
This was all in 2006, and well... SP2 was out. He had actually used it for downloading zip programs and such,
without even updating it to SP2. Not even SP1. Clearly we were at fault about that porn stuff-popups.
The porn was not even on the machine, it was all Pop-Ups....
We dialed his number and asked him to pick up his machine, after doing a complete wipe of the machine.
To my surprise, he still did not want to buy XP, even though I gave him a discount. (OEM price for a Retail-XP)
He kept claiming that the XP he had, was bought and therefor a legit edition.... Hmmmm!!!

When he came in the door and was presented with the machine, he took it an threw the entire machine across
the store-room. And screamed that we were only out to screw him for his money, and that he wanted all back.
Because his daughter had suffered mentally from all the gayporn that we had installed.

He went home, without both machine and money.

The customer from Hell! I had one of those when I worked at a retail chain pharmacy - the man refused to take no for an answer when told that Vicodin and Percocet could not be sold without a prescription. In the end he was escorted out by Security and never returned again.

brostenen wrote:

We are running 230 to 240 volts in Denmark. Those extra volt for stability. Not deadly, yet still unpleasant to touch when insta […]
Show full quote

We are running 230 to 240 volts in Denmark.
Those extra volt for stability.
Not deadly, yet still unpleasant to touch when
installing a lamp or a new wall socket.

I would venture out and say that most of the world is. Not us here in the US

120V hurts pretty bad. I can't even imagine 230-240

leileilol wrote:

I don't think i've ever flipped that little switch. Why that's even there and it's still FCC certified is amazing.

I don't think I have ever owned a PSU with this "switch of death", and haven't even seen one in years. It appears to (finally) be a thing of the past, with the possible exception of ultra-budget models, which, frankly, I wouldn't use to power-up my equipment anyways.

It seems that any reasonable modern desktop/laptop/monitor PSU handles the full range 100-240V just fine.

smeezekitty wrote:

120V hurts pretty bad. I can't even imagine 230-240

One thing that I noticed in 110-120V vs 220-230V is the effect of non-grounded adapters. It seems that many laptop power bricks in the US (e.g., Thinkpads) are sold in the 2-prong variant (no grounding pin). If you use such an adapter on a 230V grid, you may experience mild electric charges, manifested in "tingling" when you touch the corners of the laptop or slight ripple if you touch the LCD. Nothing like this happens when a grounded 3-prong adapter is used, which I think is why all laptop adapters are 3-prong in these countries.

brassicGamer wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

while the computer was running. BOOOM! Scared the living daylights out of both me and the woman using it...

...Turned the power on, and BOOM! One dead mainboard...

...Yup, I crushed the CPU.

You win the prize for most spectacular.

Why thank you, I'm honored 😁

played many games

smeezekitty wrote:

brostenen wrote:

We are running 230 to 240 volts in Denmark. Those extra volt for stability. Not deadly, yet still unpleasant to touch when insta […]
Show full quote

We are running 230 to 240 volts in Denmark.
Those extra volt for stability.
Not deadly, yet still unpleasant to touch when
installing a lamp or a new wall socket.

I would venture out and say that most of the world is. Not us here in the US

120V hurts pretty bad. I can't even imagine 230-240

Yeah... It hammers a bit in the hand. Just don't take a leak on 220+ volts.
Unless you want a beautiful singing voice. 😁 🤣

On the other hand, you can not draw more than 10a or the plugs go.
There are even a safetyswitch that pops when everything is shorted.
So you will only get a tiny shock. It won't kill.

Back when PC's was to be found first time at schools in my hometown. I saw a teacher clapping her hand on the miditower case and telling us student's, that "This is a huge floppy drive".

I remembered a silly happening.

I was replacing a user's computer, and they told me I didn't need to back up their files because they'd already moved them to their network drive. The swap went fine, their laptop was almost immediately reimaged to be given to somebody else.

A week goes by, and they call us saying their files are missing. We scramble all over trying to find the files, realize the laptop was reimaged and we have no backups, and prepare to apologize.

But then we check the user's network drive. It turns out they clicked and dragged everything from their desktop into the network drive. But since the Recycle Bin and My Computer were also selected (and you can't move those), a batch of shortcuts to their files were created in the network drive. Instead of copying a few GB of desktop files, they copied a few KB of shortcuts.

Didn't work out well for the user, and now I make it a point to not believe anybody when they tell me they backed up their own files.

AidanExamineer wrote:

I remembered a silly happening. […]
Show full quote

I remembered a silly happening.

I was replacing a user's computer, and they told me I didn't need to back up their files because they'd already moved them to their network drive. The swap went fine, their laptop was almost immediately reimaged to be given to somebody else.

A week goes by, and they call us saying their files are missing. We scramble all over trying to find the files, realize the laptop was reimaged and we have no backups, and prepare to apologize.

But then we check the user's network drive. It turns out they clicked and dragged everything from their desktop into the network drive. But since the Recycle Bin and My Computer were also selected (and you can't move those), a batch of shortcuts to their files were created in the network drive. Instead of copying a few GB of desktop files, they copied a few KB of shortcuts.

Didn't work out well for the user, and now I make it a point to not believe anybody when they tell me they backed up their own files.

Who keeps GB of files on their desktop?

I once put two CDs in the drive by accident.