Computing Mistakes

[Ian]

This is kind of the opposite to the "pc advice" thread... what is the silliest thing you have done or seen done to a PC?

I once explained how to install a sound card to a friend (who knew quite a bit, I thought!)... "take the side of the case off, stick the ISA card in and then run the driver CD - the rest is automatic".

I neglected to say, "turn the PC off"... amazingly the PC worked fine and actually installed the sound card ok after a reboot. I wouldn't suggest anyone doing this though

 

[muckshifter]

what is the silliest thing you have done or seen done to a PC?

... got a month to spare.

It is quite easy today to work on a PC with it still ON ... again, DON'T DO IT ... It is simple.

Todays PCs are ATX spec and power is constant to the MB if you have it plugged in and turned on at the mains.

1. I was working on a PCs innards saying to myself, "thats a nice bright green neon light" all the while adding cards ... then it hit me why this pretty little light was shining.
2. Spent 20mins trying to get sound out of the speakers ... I knew the dam thing was working ... but you do need the speakers plugged in.
.
.
100.

Dam, I got hundreds of "silly" things I've done on a PC ... I suppose one of the best is ...

With the "new" ATX spec I made a dummy power cable ... no fuse, but if plugged in you could use it as an earth ... spent a day trying to figure out why I had a "batch" of dead components ... I put the fuse back in after that day.

 

[ChristopherP]

Did an assignment then when i was about done the screen went dead. My knee was leaning on the power button. Oops

ALso dropped my BRAND NEW Ti4800 onto my BRAND NEW motherboard from quite a height, and it was THE heaviest graphics card i ever used (wrapped head to toe in heatsink and dual fan cooling) took a chunk out of some motherboard components. Both worked and continue to work fine!!

Dropped my hard drives and a couple of power suplies from quite a height... they all work too

 

[Adywebb]

One of my many:

Recently upgraded my Step-Mums PC with an mobo/processer I had lying around - couldn't get the onboard sound to work, spent hours uninstalling/installing the drivers/OS etc to no avail.

I then looked in the mobo manual, and read "If you want to use the Rear Audio connector instead of the Front, you must place jumpers on numbers 5-6 and 9-10 ...."

Doh!! - always read the manual.......

 

[ChristopherP]

RTFM?

Never! We are men!

 

[Adywebb]

Good point Chris - I'm such a girly...

 

[PotGuy]

about 8 years ago i had an old mac - dont know which one. a big ugly grey thing

i was fighting with my brother (i was about 8 i think) and i shoved him into the screen, which knocked the screen (a big heavy 20" crt thing) into the computer, and then they both fell off the table and onto the printer, which was on the floor.

there were bits of crap everywhere

needless to say the printer was dead, and the screen lost about half it's casing

aside from that, no harm done...

 

[Adywebb]

about 8 years ago i had an old mac - dont know which one. a big ugly grey thing

I know how you feel - I once had a coat like that, gave it to oxfam....

 

[cirianz]

I know how you feel - I once had a coat like that, gave it to oxfam....

ROTFL Ady you are awful

 

[peahouse05]

big mistake

Hello,
I refilled a hp 1350 colour cartridge yesterday, left it overnight as per instructions. Worked fine today except red is green, must have got the magenta and cyan filler holes mixed up (ex physics teacher?). Getting empty one from ebay.
Cheers,
peahouse05

 

[ChristopherP]

LOL thats great!!

 

[itsme]

I purchased a Packard Bell [HELL] iExtreme that was the biggest dullest mistake I have made concerning a PC, Never ever performed as it should have done.

 

[michael 118]

bought half life 2 and took an entire weekend to install. installed it to the wrong username, tried again and installed it, again to the wrong place (namely start menu). third time lucky it worked, but i was too tired to play on it for a while....

 

[itsme]

bought half life 2 and took an entire weekend to install. installed it to the wrong username, tried again and installed it, again to the wrong place (namely start menu). third time lucky it worked, but i was too tired to play on it for a while....

 

[Raje]

Parents annoyed me.....
I unplugged the power adapter from their monitor, but left it just so that it looked plugged in. Took them 3 days to figure it out.

 

[TriplexDread]

putting a screw into bracket for GFX while it was switched on.

Yep you guessed it, the screw dropped onto M/B and fryed it.

Summat else, it wasnt mine :'(

 

[Anon_F]

Users forgetting to turn the plug on at the wall, trying to use a floppy disk in the cd-rom drive, oh and the one we all love, leaving their password on a stickie-note on monitor or under keyboard, great security

 

[ChristopherP]

LOL love it

Parents are so dependant on their kids if they dont know much about PCs, they just dont realise it - try to punish kids and OH MY GOD THE COMPUTERS "BROKEN"

Parents annoyed me.....
I unplugged the power adapter from their monitor, but left it just so that it looked plugged in. Took them 3 days to figure it out.

 

[daveydoom]

Several years ago I was building a new PC for myself and while installing the heatsink on the CPU my screwdriver slipped out of the notch and scraped across the new mobo . I had just bought the parts earlier that day and had to wait until the next day to go back and buy ANOTHER mobo

(Dumb dumb Davey)