Computer euthanasia...

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I am really going to have to support the Bad Bios Flash movement. It'll be easy to do, leave no physical evidence, and it'll bork it all to hell. :D
 
Lethal said:
That brought to mind an incident from many moons ago when I worked at a record company and the amplifier in my office kept crapping out. Their policy was to repair, not replace. After umpteen service calls (which cost the company way more than a new amp would have in the first place), the tech told me, "Ya know, off the record, if you were to unplug it and wrap a paper clip from here to there, then plug it back in and turn it on, they'd have to replace it." I ended up with a new amp. ;)
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Reminds me of a (somewhat apocryphal) story about a disc pack, back in the days when they used to be the size of washing machines. This particular example was a real problem, from a not very good product line, and had been fixed umpteen times to no avail. So the system guys took it out to the woods for the weekend for a spot of target practice and shot the crap out of it, hauling the erroneous unit back into the datacentre the following week and calling out the engineer. So field service cart it away for analysis and happily the tactic works, it gets replaced by a newer model without the problems; but only after a complete problem-report of the old drive is prepared, detailing the faults being compounded by "certain" foreign bodies finding their way inside it such as twigs, leaves, bugs and a large number of bullets (all correctly identified!) all itemised and enclosed in a sealed bag. I suppose you have to appreciate their sense of humour!
 
etherkillers...that is too good...I have sent that to several people here at work and I heard one of them laugh when they read it....that would be a good and fairly easy thing to do as well...rig a few of them up and I think you could kill the PSU by sticking someting in to stop the fan and it would over heat and possibly die
 
How about donating it. I'm sure there's some poor soul out there who could find a new home for it. Donate it to charity->get "brownie points" from the wife-> capitalize and ask for a new raptor.
 
I'm assuming now that he's not answering is because the computer is fried. If not then u should go ahead with the bios flash and what would be even more interesting is if you try writing your own bios and try to flash it :eek: ... now that would be fuckin funny !!

SEND PICS :D :D :D
 
Excuse me for this, but this contest with your wife is sounding suspicious and hoakey.

By not opening it, you wouldn't be breaking a little silver tape strip seal on the side that voids your warranty that every pc manufacturer puts there. Also, your wife gave you complete permission to trash it in any form, yet you can't leave physical evidence on the outside of the box, like putting an axe through the side of the case, or major internal evidence, like iron filings inside.

It's like you are attempting to break it in a manner that you could return it under warranty, but not in a way that is easilly fixable. This would be so that the tech at CompUSA/Best Buy couldn't just stick your restore CD in and get it back online.

It all points to a fraud to get the company to compensate you in some way for the warranty so that you can get a new, updated PC.

I mean, it would be better to not trash the machine and give it to charity or a friend. Your planning on destroying it to an usuable state anyhow which means that you get $0 from it. By donating it to charity, you would get the same $0. This would solve your problem as the PC would be gone, but someone else gets some use out of it and you would be free to get a new PC.
 
this is too funny. if it were up to me, I'd just get a new computer regardless of what she says. it can't do anything to the relationship cause it's too trivial to cause any harm. i'm sure you can have her cough up some cash for the raptor some way or another... she's your wife!
 
jgoewert said:
Excuse me for this, but this contest with your wife is sounding suspicious and hoakey.

By not opening it, you wouldn't be breaking a little silver tape strip seal on the side that voids your warranty that every pc manufacturer puts there. Also, your wife gave you complete permission to trash it in any form, yet you can't leave physical evidence on the outside of the box, like putting an axe through the side of the case, or major internal evidence, like iron filings inside.

It's like you are attempting to break it in a manner that you could return it under warranty, but not in a way that is easilly fixable. This would be so that the tech at CompUSA/Best Buy couldn't just stick your restore CD in and get it back online.

It all points to a fraud to get the company to compensate you in some way for the warranty so that you can get a new, updated PC.

I mean, it would be better to not trash the machine and give it to charity or a friend. Your planning on destroying it to an usuable state anyhow which means that you get $0 from it. By donating it to charity, you would get the same $0. This would solve your problem as the PC would be gone, but someone else gets some use out of it and you would be free to get a new PC.
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That's nice, too bad this is more fun. And since what 433 mhz computer do you know is still under warranty (6 year warranty? since when?)
 
The best thing and easiest would to get a large magnet from like a magnetron in a microwave.

Keep it next to the hard drive for a couple seconds, preferably while on and it won't ever work again. Beware the click of death :D
 
I would just donate it. There are many unfortunate people out there that would profit from having a PC, even for word processing.

But, if you must destroy it, you could up the Vcore and overclock it as high as iit can go. Then, eliminate all air flow in and out of the case. Run something like folding @ home (or something that will stress the cpu and continue to run with errors) and let the cpu overheat.
 
If you want to kill it just water cool it.
I mean really water cool it, fill your tub with water submerse PC then turn it on.
You don't need to submerse the power supply it's going to be a lot safer if you only have a few volts DC traveling through your water than 110 AC.
BTW as an added measure to make sure you get the desired results add a little salt to the tub water.
 
to kill pc :
connecte a wire to the +12v of a molex connector (yellow), then short it with the connectors/contacts... around the processor, chipset, GPU...

even if you have a shit PSU, you will have around 8 amps of current, which is more then enough to fry your processor, chipset, ram...
 
Jam something in the PSU fan vent to stop the blades from spinning, then run your folding program until the PSU melts. Then again it may just trip-out before it's damaged. Or you could unplug the PC, jam something conductive inside the PSU through the vent and then power on and hope something inside shorts out.

The interrupted BIOS flash sounds like the best idea by far though. :)
 
Evil Weazel said:
If you want to kill it just water cool it.
I mean really water cool it, fill your tub with water submerse PC then turn it on.
You don't need to submerse the power supply it's going to be a lot safer if you only have a few volts DC traveling through your water than 110 AC.
BTW as an added measure to make sure you get the desired results add a little salt to the tub water.
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orelse, less dangerous, look at the back of your PSU, ans switch it to 220v, then turn it on. i fried my alienware that way...

EDIT : it will either completely fry your PSU, or blow the fuse. regardless, it isnt even going to turn on.
 
Get those multipliers and bus settings super high, let the computer have a nice boost of energy, then run the hell out of it and bury it to the ground.
 
Harddrive death:
If its that old maybe its harddrive is on its last leg.... so something that would constantly access the harddrive, read & writing may bring it down.

Powerfailure death:
boot up, do something intensive.. like loading a large application, then unplug it, then start over.... boot up.... run... unplug...

several simulated power failures may kill it.

Overheat death
I like this one, its my original idea... (noone try stealing it)
1st start Prime95 or Folding@home, then put hair dryer on high at the intake of computer airflow, run for as long as it takes.... muahahhahaha!! :)

Condensation death:
a.) Put CPU(whole computer) in freezer (if it fits) then take it outside and run it in humid conditions.

b.) Take a spray mister and mist the air going in... (blow dryer may help to get it in better! ;) )

Electricution Death

Got the idea from the etherkiller. Just take a 110v plug (dont plug in yet)... unshield the wires... stick them in to the floppy drive, doesnt really matter where..... then plug it in... hopefully it frys the floppy AND motherboard!

- If these dont work, PM me and I'll post more deaths!
 
DOS prompt

<C:\> deltree C:\* /y

there you go, i remember an online radio prank, the DJ did that to some AOler
 
Ok, sticking with the original rules of no obvious physical damage, no fire, and no opening the case... the idea on page 1 about a car battery and a couple alligator clips works well - the compusa i worked at years ago (i quit the first summer that P4s were retailing) if we had a computer that was returned defective, but not really defective, or was in for repeat service, and just couldn't be fixed, a similar solution was used. little clip here, little clip there, boom.
 
BIOS is really the only 'non-physical' damage you can do & the first thing that popped to mind.

After that, I'm saying power-supply abuse - somebody said this was an AT PSU, in which case the power switch actually switches power rather than just sending a signal to the PSU. Toggling this repeatedly should, after a few minutes, burn something out. Alternately, toggling the 110/220 switch repeatedly while it's on, large conductive objects inside the PSU or misting concentrated salt-water into the PSU while running.

Suck on the keyboard plug & plug it in while the system's running & you run a good chance of frying the KB controller - essentially making the system useless.

Something about the etherkilller/car battery strikes me as 'unsporting'.
 
if your not allowed to open the case to break it, the rules should also specify that you win if the case needs to be opened for repair.

If those ARE the rules, then the BIOS idea (power failure halfway through, or even just flashing with an incorrect BIOS..) To fix it, you would have to replace the BIOS chip :)
 
I think Both chrisf6969 and One other poster has the rigth idea. , But I'll put my little twist on it. If it's that old, the processor doesent have any overheat protection.

Instead of just jamming the fan or running hot air into it, Put it in a plastic bag, tape around the cables in the back (bunch them up) start the computer and crank up Prime 95.
 
Scorpionjwp said:
I do have another question, please don't tell me you want to destroy that raptor drive, those are nice drives. If you wanted to only destroy the computer, don't kill the hd, you could use it for storage later on. I see she that she has bet you to destroy the hd, the one thing that is most modern on that computer is the hd, in todays standards that hd cost more than your old pc.

I know alot of people in this forum would cry if you destroyed a raptor without thinking of saving it or selling it off.
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Umm, his wife owes him a raptor if he wins.. He's not trying to kill one...
 
ryuji said:
ok.. this should kill it for sure... get a car battery charger and hack up a old keyboard.. connect it to a few wires on the plug and plug it in and charge your computer.. do same for usb ports so its impoccible to get any kind of input devices working.. as well as 12v down a 5-6v plug at high amps... that should kill it.. or even set the mobo on fire... immediatly so it can be put out when it happens.. if that dotn do it..you could allways hook the negetive side of the battery charger to the case and start feeding assorted ports the positive
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A friend and I used that technique to get an old Quantum Bigfoot HD, hit it w/ teh battery charger. It spun up one last time so we could get the data off it :D
 
I hate to say it, but this topic sounds like a guy trolling for ideas on how to damage someone else's computer without getting caught. If he and his wife have the money for 10k RPM drive as a "bet," and he can get one right away if he kills this one... one would think they have enough sense and money to buy a new PC for 800 bucks and sell the old one for a hundred. Why would they destroy the old one?

Call me a professional skeptic... I know I'm taking all the fun out of this, but you have to be curious as to why someone would say they "can't open the cover," "has to be done in software," and "can leave no physical evidence." SCREAMS sabotage on someone else's box, like his boss or something.
 
Stick a toohpick in the fan of the power supply to keep it from spinning, then let it sit on and wait for the boom.
 
Find a copy of the Win32 CIH virus. Put said virus on a floppy disk. Start up machine and instert disk, then just access your A:. Now set your clock to April 26th 1998 and reboot.

RESULT:

Overwrites boot sector with encryption, and if your lucky, will flash your bios blank for you. Either way, your hosed.

Good luck.
 
just run something that will casue the hard drive to spin constantly - like disk defrag; then, drop or shake the case until the hard drive crashes.......that is sure to cause the read/write heads to slam into the platters, rendering the drive useless; you could also try the same thing with a paint shaker....
 
If you want to kill just the HDD then get an old low level formatter for dos and low level format ther drive. Almost all HDD's manufactured in the last 5 -10 years cannot be low level formatted without destroying them. Low level formatting is done at the factory now, it used to be you could do it yourself.
 
Since someone already brought up the Etherkiller idea, idea #2:

As Dan stated in his Computers in Space article,
An ordinary PC or laptop won't work at all in vacuum, initially because the hard drive heads need an air cushion to float on. Many people think hard drives are hermetically sealed, but they're not - they just have no through-flow ventilation. In vacuum, a hard drive will instantly eat itself when turned on.
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Also,
Without air, there's also no air cooling. Many normal computer components will overheat without air flow to cool them; purely radiative cooling is a lot less effective than even passive convection.
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And finally, you may possibly be able to mess it up with a nice, strong burst of radiation. Gamma probably is the best. Of course, gamma radiation is more detrimental to our physiology than even the computer's, so you might want to take a little vacation (read: get way the hell away) before trying that sort of test. Take the wife with you. Go to the store and have her get you your hard drive.

/Still vote for the BIOS flash idea, however. A little easier than constructing a vacuum.
 
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