Dumbass Move of the Day

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
Joined
May 18, 1997
Messages
55,635
It only took me about 20 years to do it.....but I finally forgot to take off the protect plastic off the bottom of a new cold plate. For what it is worth, an AMD FX 9590 will shut down really really quick to keep from burning itself up....hopefully. (What a dumbass.) On the upside, it is good to see an AMD CPU back on the workbench in the last couple years.
 
shitty situation but we have all messed up at one point or another.

I am more interested in the AMD cpu you are testing.. :eek:
 
auntjemima said:
shitty situation but we have all messed up at one point or another.

I am more interested in the AMD cpu you are testing.. :eek:
Click to expand...
As noted, just an AMD FX 9590. Of course at 220w TDP it does not take any time at all to get some heat to it.
 
LOL guess you were in a hurry to power that thing on? the plastic doesn't look melt/burn so the cpu should be ok (hopefully), hope it was just a funny mistake and glad you posted the pictures :)
 
I hate that feeling when I forgot to take the protective plastic cover off. Do tell us how the 9590 behaves after you get her going again Kyle!
 
Reimu said:
Do tell us how the 9590 behaves after you get her going again Kyle!
Click to expand...

She is working just fine now. Will see how the stability tests go.

KazeoHin said:
It happens to the best of us.
Click to expand...

Literally the first time I have ever done this. And what is funny is I was talking to Marc about this other day and he said he still does it while testing heatsinks to this day. :)
 
My dumbass move happened in 2003. I'm pretty strict about static charges, but the one time I didn't ground myself properly I fried my dad's work computer, which I was cleaning. The wrath of the olympian gods fell upon me, adding to the humiliation and the guilt. Ugghhh...

I could not touch another PC for a few months after that... I just couldn't do it.
 
Same exact thing happened to me back in 2004 building a setup for a friend with an AMD Athlon 2500+
 
At least you didn't do this, Kyle...

7HUSeWf.jpg
 
Actually I have done that before, but I was filling up extra space in the socket with dielectric silicone grease in order to rid myself of any condensation actually in the socket. :)
 
I did something similar with my brothers 1.4Ghz TBird back in the day. I didn't put on the Heatsink/fan and turned on the machine. I looked down and noticed, pulled the power cord, but the damage was done and out came a little puff of smoke. Tbird was toast, everything else survived. That was to be our CS server I think. Our Duron 700Mhz took that job instead. This was before the fancy barton chips that I believe used an onboard diode to read temps? AMD was late to the party with their thermal throttling tech compared to Intel.
 
Yeah, those damn TBirds would toast up VERY quickly.
 
new koolance kit? testing with a 9590 is a good idea. not much get hotter that those...
 
Not as critical but just yesterday I noticed my 6 month old ASUS GTX 980 Ti Strix DCIII OC had a protective film on the backplate.
Removed now but it had cut-outs for the GPU and any components so not really critical and I haven't noticed any bad effects or higher temps with it in place.
 
Are you testing a board or something? I personally think that processor is great with the right board and cooling but alas, it was not really an upgrade for me when I moved from my 8350. Also, I have never done that but, I have crushed some cores back in the day because of a not so good heatsink.
 
Damn. I've forgot to put a CPU in a socket before putting the heatsink on. I got the whole thing put together and it wouldn't turn on. I checked everything. The CPU laying on the desk... The memory... Shit. Sometimes, you get so into the groove that you forget one little thing, but keep on going without a second thought...
 
First time dealing with DDR 2 memory upgrading from a MOBO that was only SDRam, I ended up installing not just one stick but both sticks backwards. The moment the computer was powered on the inside of the case was glowing a bright white and had a few snaps and sparks and powered down. Ended up roasting the motherboard, both memory sticks and the CPU. That was a sad day and a huge lesson learned on being VERY careful about what I do rather than be in a rush to get the computer built. 15 years later, when I deal with memory even in servers I double and triple check to make sure they are facing the right way!
 
deaedius said:
First time dealing with DDR 2 memory upgrading from a MOBO that was only SDRam, I ended up installing not just one stick but both sticks backwards. The moment the computer was powered on the inside of the case was glowing a bright white and had a few snaps and sparks and powered down. Ended up roasting the motherboard, both memory sticks and the CPU. That was a sad day and a huge lesson learned on being VERY careful about what I do rather than be in a rush to get the computer built. 15 years later, when I deal with memory even in servers I double and triple check to make sure they are facing the right way!
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that it was even possible considering DDR2 has a key notch that isn't in the exact middle. Even putting the stick in backwards, the DDR2 stick couldn't go into the socket because the notch wouldn't line up with the key bump.

LvrV9mR.jpg
 
rat said:
I'm surprised that it was even possible considering DDR2 has a key notch that isn't in the exact middle. Even putting the stick in backwards, the DDR2 stick couldn't go into the socket because the notch wouldn't line up with the key bump.

LvrV9mR.jpg
Click to expand...
I know that is the part of rushing that got me. I was younger and wasn't really paying attention.
 
pendragon1 said:
new koolance kit? testing with a 9590 is a good idea. not much get hotter that those...
Click to expand...

Damn skippy.

BloodyIron said:
NOOOOOB!
Click to expand...

Surely feels like the right label.

ManofGod said:
Are you testing a board or something? I personally think that processor is great with the right board and cooling but alas, it was not really an upgrade for me when I moved from my 8350. Also, I have never done that but, I have crushed some cores back in the day because of a not so good heatsink.
Click to expand...

Actually I was just playing around with the Wraith cooler that AMD was pushing so hard here recently. I would GUESS that it will be the stock Zen cooler, so I figure it is worth putting some time in on before Zen gets here so we can be a bit educated on out of the box cooling at launch. (which we usually ignore)

Skripka said:
At least you OWN that screwup, boss man. :D
Click to expand...

Had to. Too much dumbass to pass up!

tmillszero1 said:
Ha! The Vapochill days! I've done the opposite and forgot to add the dielectric grease! Ahh I love condensation!
Click to expand...

Dielectric grease is your friend.
 
you have to give it enough umph! that little bump gets flattened and the stick pops right in....
seen it, haven't done it.

but I have crushed a tbird with one of those "massive" hsf from back in the day, a fop32 or 38 cant remember which same thing anyways. a couple weeks later everyone was talking about shims, I was just more carefull....
 
Well at least you didn't drill a hole through pcb.

Worst thing I've done was put a heatsink on without thermal paste. Booted up the pc, looked on my table and seen the tube. Panicked and turned it off then put it on. Was an amd 333mhz back in the day.
 
deaedius said:
First time dealing with DDR 2 memory upgrading from a MOBO that was only SDRam, I ended up installing not just one stick but both sticks backwards. The moment the computer was powered on the inside of the case was glowing a bright white and had a few snaps and sparks and powered down. Ended up roasting the motherboard, both memory sticks and the CPU. That was a sad day and a huge lesson learned on being VERY careful about what I do rather than be in a rush to get the computer built. 15 years later, when I deal with memory even in servers I double and triple check to make sure they are facing the right way!
Click to expand...

Tried to do this with DDR2 once, looked closer and turned it around. It was easy to not be able to see the notches very well and any angle could be deceptive and look like it might line up.

It happens to the best of us. Kyle has the guts to post it and let us all get a lol!

Recently placing a GTX 480 (even though it's old, still a decent card) I got too close to the RAM slots when seating it and nearly broke off a capacitor from the back of the card, was able to carefully bend and solder it back on, tested fine and haven't had a problem with it. Now I can say I fixed a GPU ;-)
 
Last edited:
Don't feel too bad...I stuck an Intel 100Mhz DX4 in the socket 1/4 of the way off of proper orientation. Customer wasn't too satisfied of the results ... neither was my wallet at the time... :(
 
Last edited:
At least it was a new AMD and not an old Athlon XP. All the latest procs have thermal protection.
 
deaedius said:
First time dealing with DDR 2 memory upgrading from a MOBO that was only SDRam, I ended up installing not just one stick but both sticks backwards. The moment the computer was powered on the inside of the case was glowing a bright white and had a few snaps and sparks and powered down. Ended up roasting the motherboard, both memory sticks and the CPU. That was a sad day and a huge lesson learned on being VERY careful about what I do rather than be in a rush to get the computer built. 15 years later, when I deal with memory even in servers I double and triple check to make sure they are facing the right way!
Click to expand...

I just tried to put the ram in backwards and there is no way to get it in unless you press really really reeeealy hard and snap the key in the ram slot.
I have an old E6700 system behind me on the bench with 4x2GB sticks I was playing with.
e6700 on bench.jpg
 
MrRuckus said:
I did something similar with my brothers 1.4Ghz TBird back in the day. I didn't put on the Heatsink/fan and turned on the machine. I looked down and noticed, pulled the power cord, but the damage was done and out came a little puff of smoke. Tbird was toast, everything else survived. That was to be our CS server I think. Our Duron 700Mhz took that job instead. This was before the fancy barton chips that I believe used an onboard diode to read temps? AMD was late to the party with their thermal throttling tech compared to Intel.
Click to expand...

I was doing testing on a tbird around that same age a while back and wanted to see how long it would take to die. Left it on until it shut down and the CPU didn't die but the board was cooked. Maybe it had something to do with how long it had been in use before I tried murdering it, but that thing was a tank.

The only huge mistake I can think of having made at this point is when I built my first computer, it was an AT board and I reversed the power connectors so the black wires were on the outside. It died and I was out a few hundred bucks. It was a sad day for me.

As for little ones, I'm sure I've done a ton of non-catastrophic things that are long since forgotten. Of course everybody here has probably forgotten to plug in a fan from time to time, right?
 
Zepher said:
I just tried to put the ram in backwards and there is no way to get it in unless you press really really reeeealy hard and snap the key in the ram slot.
I have an old E6700 system behind me on the bench with 4x2GB sticks I was playing with.
View attachment 925
Click to expand...

You are right, it could take a lot of force because I pushed a little when I almost crammed mine, and noticed a problem before applying any real force. But especially when you are young where there is a will there is a way, and if you are in a hurry or just impatient, you'd be surprised at how hard a person will push. I mean, you didn't drill it like the guy with his poor 980 Ti, but how hard did you push, deaedius? Let me guess, hard enough?
 
I have never fried anything (knock on wood), but i built a system for a friend years ago and dropped it off at work. He took it home, started hooking up cables and when he tried to plug in the VGA cable the videocard pushed out of the slot and he called me. Said, "hey, i think somethings not right". I was embarrassed, forgot the bracket screw.
Luckey it came losoe then, instead of while it was running. Sometimes we just get complacent.
 
If I was going through as much hardware as you guys my dumb ass moves would be legendary.

In my everyday job I have done a couple dooseys. Like deleting the entire Netware NDS registry on production. Took ALL NIGHT LONG TO recover. I was younger and smarter then.
 
We had a Dell I7 system here a few years ago with the Protective cap still on the heat sink, The system ran for 4 years like that before we had it in here to work on it and noticed the fan ramping up all the time. .. At least whoever put it together had paste on both sides of the plastic.
67202_10205322197880681_4497490004794141865_n.jpg
 
Good Job Kyle =)

The worst thing I ever did was forgetting to hook up the 4-6 pin power to the CPU.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top