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What is your most expensive (or painful) computer disaster?

It's been so many years ago now (some time in mid 80s) I cannot remember the model numbers, but it was early BC (before coffee) with SIMM memory sticks (before DIMMs) and that's when I learned the hard way that (1) it does not take too much extra force to insert RAM in the slot the wrong way and (2) applying power with RAM inserted backwards sets off a cascading line of destruction through the RAM, motherboard, CPU, and PSU! :fear:
 
Bill_Bright said:
It's been so many years ago now (some time in mid 80s) I cannot remember the model numbers, but it was early BC (before coffee) with SIMM memory sticks (before DIMMs) and that's when I learned the hard way that (1) it does not take too much extra force to insert RAM in the slot the wrong way and (2) applying power with RAM inserted backwards sets off a cascading line of destruction through the RAM, motherboard, CPU, and PSU! :fear:
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Reminds me why I still take care of my Ex Wifes PC. She attempted to upgrade here RAM and well ASUS have that "One sided clip" which in all honestly is a terrible thing as you can "lock" it without it actually being properly seated, needless to say she went from i5 760 to i5 2500K as the price of replacing the board was totally unreasonable.
 
broke dell U3011 screen :(
 

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Bill_Bright said:
It's been so many years ago now (some time in mid 80s) I cannot remember the model numbers, but it was early BC (before coffee) with SIMM memory sticks (before DIMMs) and that's when I learned the hard way that (1) it does not take too much extra force to insert RAM in the slot the wrong way and (2) applying power with RAM inserted backwards sets off a cascading line of destruction through the RAM, motherboard, CPU, and PSU! :fear:
Click to expand...
BC is now before coffee. I thank thee for this revolutionary definition that i shall use from this day forth.


After my three coffee energy drinks of the day i remembered when i took apart my Athlon II X4 620 rig and the cpu was glued to the heatsink. Took a screwdriver and pried it off the metal, flinging it four feet into the air and into the bathroom sink.

No broken pins and barely bent pins it still worked afterwards.
 
It was a LONG time ago. I was checking and booting up a DP (2 CPU) server mobo on its box. It just so happened that there was a screw underneath the mobo and it shorted the whole thing out. CPUs survived and the expensive (650USD mobo at the time) was fried.
 
Do not...i repeat DO NOT fry your 780's

You are our resident baker...NOT frier.
 
CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:
Do not...i repeat DO NOT fry your 780's

You are our resident baker...NOT frier.
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I need to be talented in all forms of computer cooking. I need to find the secret sauce for turning GTX1050's into 1080's.
 
Toothless said:
I need to be talented in all forms of computer cooking. I need to find the secret sauce for turning GTX1050's into 1080's.
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Dollar sauce?
 
Toothless said:
We're on a 1366 xeon budget here. ;)
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Would you like chips with that Sir?

(The joke loses a bit in translation....you call them freedom fries)
 
CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:
Would you like chips with that Sir?

(The joke loses a bit in translation....you call them freedom fries)
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Depends if i can make chip noises when overclocked.

Or make syrup smells like my PSU did that one time and it didn't fry. Anyone remember that thread with my Raidmax 530w? That one PSU where some units caught fire or exploded.
 
Cheap Chinese no-name $15 PSU that my dad and I each bought a couple of, smoked an entire gaming system...and a capacitor leaked out onto the graphics card to add insult to injury. Sometimes the hardest lessons are the best ones learned. Sadly, this one was costly for me at the time...now I can look back, cringe a little and laugh and know it was very well learned! :D
 
I had a Geforce 2 MX a while ago. Tried to over clock its ram one day.... I think the ram was at 166 or 200Mhz, and I jumped it right up 33mhz, it never worked in 3D again.... has to use S3 Verge (i think that was the chipset) onboard for a few months--that was the most painful part. Oops.
 
Alright, where should I start... :laugh:
Luckily, most of my failures aren't really expensive, but I digress :D
  • Broken off one of the resistors on a Geforce 2 MX400 while removing it - my screen gone piss yellow as a result
  • Fried a Radeon X1600 Pro that was passively cooled while overclocking
  • Fried a 350W PSU that was in my pre-built when I was overclocking my E2140
  • Killed my 9800GX2 after baking it in the oven, as one of the chips died
  • Obliterated a battery in my Sony Ericsson X10 mini, wouldn't hold a charge because I overclocked the damn thing xD
I may have done something else as silly as these, but I probably forgot :P
 
my first ever PC build I bolted the mobo directly to the case tray and destroyed it and everything else except the RAM and CPU.
 
A few years ago, I was getting a drive error in the event viewer on my server..... For weeks, I kept checking my data drives, testing them with all the free and trial software I could garner. As the weeks went on, and no discernible issue discovered, I became less concerned.

I copied several gigs of my more "critical" files to other media; music I had ripped from CDs long gone, movies I had ripped so the family had something to watch on my laptop for the drive to, and while on, vacation, a few gigs of pictures, a few games, etc.

A small number of months went by, probably 3 or 4, to wake up one morning with my server crashed. I rebooted a couple of time (it had been problematic from the start on occasion). Minutes crept by, and I still couldn't get the server to boot... Panicked realization crept in, and I yanked the OS drive from the system, and hooked it to my gaming PC. Dead. Nothing doing. Lost years of email, documents, tax records. A lesson sorely learned...



A lesson learned by my now-wife a couple of years ago: never again borrow her husband's 6 month old nexus tablet to use while in the tub. Falling asleep while holding it can have less-than desirable results, up to, and including, icy stares, yelling, and extreme bouts of pouting.
 
Caps. Change your avatar to some catholic priest :D
 
Like a proper priest i am in the pub at the moment.
 
Back in ye olde days, I was testing an AT power supply outside the chassis. This type of power supply has 4 leads that connect to the switch on the front of the chassis. I wasn't paying enough attention, moved the leads too close to the power supply, and one of them made contact. I heard a loud "wooonk" noise, the lead welded itself to the power supply, and the electricity went out in 5 nearby offices. Luckily, I wasn't touching the power supply's metal case, or I probably wouldn't be here now. With much chagrin, I threw the power supply in the trash and wandered off in search of the circuit breaker panel.
 
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