Dumbest thing you've done?

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Firebug24k

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
106
I've been assembling systems since the PC/XT days. And today I just did the dumbest thing I've done in the last 20 years. I was working in a rather dark corner, and I was installing a low profile PCI express card. I had to remove the low profile bracket since the case had a full height slot. Plugged it in, turned on the computer, immediately smelled smoke - a LOT of smoke. Yanked the power cord, took a very close look: I plugged the PCI-express card into a standard PCI slot. Yep. Fried the entire motherboard. Not sure what else has died, but there's a bunch of visibly burnt traces going from the PCI slots to who knows where.

Dumb.

Irony: The RAID card that caused the problem works perfectly still.
 
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I'll chip in. When I was a mom-and-pop PC technician (back in the days of AT cases and power supplies), I mis-wired the power switch to an AT power supply. I turned the PC on at the switch and immediately blew the store breaker. The power switch cable was a molten mess. Never made that mistake again :)
 
i tried flashing BIOS from a pirated version of windows, the key i put in was valid but the flash causer the SATA card to freeze and there went my mobo.
 
Messed around with the internals of a a recently unplugged PSU and accidentally touched a unshielded coil, hurt like hell and my hand was numb for ~10 minutes.
 
Plugged in the CPU the wrong way. Then installed the P4 heatsink on it. Dead $200 CPU right there.
 
Dumbest thing in recent memory was I forgot to put the standoff that goes in the upper right hand corner of the motherboard when I got my beloved Sabertooth. Was pressing the RAM into the slot and noticed the board bending an awful lot. The really embarrassing thing is that I didnt figure out what I was doing til I was pressing the 2nd stick into the slot. "What a cheap motherboard. Bends like rubber........OH SHIT!" Luckily I didnt break anything and its been working fine.
 
Oh another one: I was reassembling a P4 setup. Stupidly I left the power cord plugged in. Somehow I managed the accidentally turn on the system. Here's the problem: None of the fans or hard drives or any non-motherboard item that would make noise or lights was plugged in. I also didn't install the HSF yet. So the PC was running for a solid 15 minutes with the CPU bare before I noticed that the motherboard light was on. Remember that this was one of the older and hotter running P4 CPUs. Not sure if it ever sustained damage as I stored the PC after that.
 
user@localhost ~ # said:
i tried flashing BIOS from a pirated version of windows, the key i put in was valid but the flash causer the SATA card to freeze and there went my mobo.
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You could have stopped at "...flashing BIOS from [within] Windows...". I've had that go horribly wrong just was often as it's gone right.

I did a similar thing once. My first build used an Abit motherboard, and somehow I got really confused one evening and flashed it with a BIOS update for a similar model board.

Amazingly, things worked well enough that I was able to boot Windows XP, but I noticed quickly that something was very wrong. I can't recall whether it was BSoD's or something similar but I definitely did not have a normal-acting system.

Eventually I was staring at the BIOS menu when I realized what I had done.

Fortunately, a fix was as simple as re-flashing with the correct BIOS.

My own stupidity takes center stage, but Abit has a supporting role. The naming of their motherboard models was inexcusably confusing, e.g., NF7-S, NF7-Sv2, NF7-Sv2.0, etc.

eta:
I also plugged a PCI card in a PCI-X slot once. They're actually very similar physically; a PCI-X is essentially two PCI slots crammed together for better performance. Fortunately, the electrical spec wasn't vastly different so nothing was damaged; as I recall, the card (sound card maybe?) simply didn't work.
 
I think the dumbest thing I did was with my first full custom watercooling setup I built, I put all the components in the case and attached all the waterblocks before testing out the loop. I ended up having 3 consecutive leaks before getting the setup correct. I had UV fluid all over my motherboard, RAM, CPU, GPUs and case. I even ended up getting some on the outside of the PSU.

Thankfully, I powered it all down pretty quickly, and let it rest for 2 days. After it dried (and I tested the loop independtly from the components and verified it didn't leak anymore) I got the system up and running with no lingering issues.

Later on the same setup, I had changed out the CPU and put a new one in. Unfortunately during that process and a subsequent move, one of the hoses came loose, so when I powered it up liquid spilled out all over the components again. I heard a pop and smelled smoke and my system completely shut down. I then started it up twice again before thinking to check the coolant. Again, I powered it down and let it dry for 2 days. When I had the loop fixed again and booted it up, everything worked like a charm. So lucky a few times in there and proof that watercooling spills aren't as damaging as it may seem.

Also, a side note. I RMA'd the motherboard, RAM, GPU and PSU afterwards for issues not necessarily related to the coolant spill (and yes, I verified the issues were present regardless of the spill as well). Pretty much all the companies were notified of the spill and agreed to the RMA anyway. So a quick shout out to those two companies: EVGA and OCZ.
 
My first and dumb mistake that killed something was during a video card swap.

I was swapping an ATi 4850x2 with a GTX 480 into an MSI P55-GD65 and when putting in the 480 the PCI bracket scraped along the motherboard and killed it.

Needless to say, I ended up having to order a new MSI P55-GD65...
 
/usr/home said:
AT PSUs can burn in hell.
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Haha, oh yes, I remember connecting one half of those cables backwards too.... yep, that doesn't work so well.

Followup on the dead motherboard - got it replaced today, everything is fine (except the board). Happy it didn't hurt anything else, at least.
 
In my early pc days I forced some ddr ram in backwards and BOOM....smoooooooke. that was entertaining lol.
 
Plugged my USB header into the Firewire header on the motherboard then plugged in my brand new Seagate GoFlex. mmmm toasty.
 
Objekt said:
You could have stopped at "...flashing BIOS from [within] Windows...". I've had that go horribly wrong just was often as it's gone right.

I did a similar thing once. My first build used an Abit motherboard, and somehow I got really confused one evening and flashed it with a BIOS update for a similar model board.

Amazingly, things worked well enough that I was able to boot Windows XP, but I noticed quickly that something was very wrong. I can't recall whether it was BSoD's or something similar but I definitely did not have a normal-acting system.

Eventually I was staring at the BIOS menu when I realized what I had done.

Fortunately, a fix was as simple as re-flashing with the correct BIOS.

My own stupidity takes center stage, but Abit has a supporting role. The naming of their motherboard models was inexcusably confusing, e.g., NF7-S, NF7-Sv2, NF7-Sv2.0, etc.

eta:
I also plugged a PCI card in a PCI-X slot once. They're actually very similar physically; a PCI-X is essentially two PCI slots crammed together for better performance. Fortunately, the electrical spec wasn't vastly different so nothing was damaged; as I recall, the card (sound card maybe?) simply didn't work.
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yep. the second one was from DOS, no multitasking OS here! the worst part was that i was warned about that online when i went to get the bios file:(
 
I booted up my Q6600 rig back in ~2007 or so without a heatsink. Funny thing is, it worked fine. "Why is CoreTemp reporting 0 Degrees to TjMax on all 4 cores? Hmmm..."
 
Danny Bui said:
Plugged in the CPU the wrong way. Then installed the P4 heatsink on it. Dead $200 CPU right there.
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How? Don't pretty much all CPUs from around the 486 (Maybe socket 7?) era up have a specific pin layout to prevent this?
 
I've done all of these:

1. Mounted a mobo without standoffs because it was a specialized case made by sony. Yes the mobo died.

2. Started a machine with dried up thermal paste. It was exposed for at least 2 weeks.

3. Started a machine without the cpu fan power hooked up

4. Started a machine without the radiator power hooked up

5. Poked inside a machine with a screwdriver while it was on.

6. Opened up a box from newegg with a knife which sliced right through the mobo box and scratched the mobo. (Mobo is still working today)
 
Private_Ops said:
How? Don't pretty much all CPUs from around the 486 (Maybe socket 7?) era up have a specific pin layout to prevent this?
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I am guessing he made it fit. :D


I was doing a build for a friend and had him buy a socket 754 CPU with a 939 mobo. Whoops
 
Took a CPU to Lan party and powered it up before making sure the heatsink didnt slip or in my case fall off.. WHAT A HORRID SMELL!
 
user@localhost ~ # said:
yep. the second one was from DOS, no multitasking OS here! the worst part was that i was warned about that online when i went to get the bios file:(
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What's incredibly freaking stupid is that sometimes, a Windows BIOS-flashing utility is your ONLY CHOICE.

A couple of years ago, a friend had me upgrade an HP notebook - which had shipped with Vista - to Windows 7. After some research, I found that there was a BIOS update which was required to prevent an annoying power-management malfunction when running Windows 7 on that specific model notebook.

You probably already guessed it: HP's BIOS update bricked the computer. I later found that I was far from the first person to have this happen. But what exactly was I supposed to do? Without the BIOS update, supposedly the machine would have constantly shut itself down prematurely when running Windows 7, and/or not charged the battery correctly. Yet HP only provided a crappy, broken Windows-mode BIOS flasher.

It was already 4 years old and he was thinking about getting a new computer anyway, but it really pissed me off that HP's sheer incompetence destroyed a perfectly good piece of hardware. Naturally, they wouldn't lift a finger to help, and disclaimed all responsibility.

I have never once had a BIOS flash go wrong when flashing in a DOS-type environment, or something like ASRock's EZ Flash. So that's the only way I'll ever do it again.
 
reading some of these, two come to mind. Plugging the data cable to an IDE drive upside down and screwing the file system and forcing DDR2 into a DDR3 board. I didn't power it on. But I damaged it enough that I couldn't swap it.
 
silk186 said:
reading some of these, two come to mind. Plugging the data cable to an IDE drive upside down and screwing the file system and forcing DDR2 into a DDR3 board. I didn't power it on. But I damaged it enough that I couldn't swap it.
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I something similar the other day. I tried forcing RAM in the wrong direction. I have no idea why, but I was stubborn enough to break a heatsink off before realizing it might be best to just flip it around. :(
 
No broken Tbirds? Putting a heatsink on those was a work of art. I broke a couple but both still worked.
 
I put a screwdriver in my powersupply to stop the fan when I blew out the dust. Well I forgot avout it for 6 months til the next cleaning. That OCZ never once gave me a problem.
 
Stoly said:
No broken Tbirds? Putting a heatsink on those was a work of art. I broke a couple but both still worked.
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I was always nervous putting the heatsink onto my palamino, thoroughbreds, and barton's. But I never broke anything, so i gained a little more confidence, and eventually would just mash the heatsink on without much thought.

I somehow always had a naked CPU fan with no grill, and would always find myself fiddling around inside the computer. Eventually my fingers would find their way inside the fan.

I broke one fan blade this way (superglued it back on) and have cut off a small layer of skin off the tip of my finger.
 
serpretetsky said:
I was always nervous putting the heatsink onto my palamino, thoroughbreds, and barton's.
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Just installed a Barton in an older system a week or two ago, was thinking the same thing!

serpretetsky said:
I somehow always had a naked CPU fan with no grill, and would always find myself fiddling around inside the computer. Eventually my fingers would find their way inside the fan.

I broke one fan blade this way (superglued it back on) and have cut off a small layer of skin off the tip of my finger.
Click to expand...

I stick my fingers in my fans all the time because I'm a lazy bastard who doesn't care enough to buy $5 case fans with fresh bearings, so when they rattle I flick them occasionally and it quiets them down. If it was a CPU fan rattling though that would be a different story, but case fans aren't a big deal to me. Whenever I run across extra fans laying around though I usually get around to replacing the ones that need it.
 
Forced the 4 pin molex power connector into a CDROM upside down, somehow. Burned it out instantly.
 
Need new CPU.
Buy new CPU.
Install new CPU.
Turn on computer.
Realize forgot to put heatsink on CPU.
Need new CPU.
 
I tried to take the heatsink off my phenom 2 and ripped the locked cpu right off the socket. I forgot to twist the hs before strong arming it.
The result was a ridiculous amount of bent pins but I managed to straighten them out and it works like a charm without any issues.
 
I have layers of stoopid:

I dropped an i3 onto the socket and bent 1 pin.
Ordered a replacement. Replacement stops working for unrelated reasons.
I took it apart put one of those socket protectors in so I don't bend any pins this time... but the protector was from a different socket size, and I bent a few pins...

As an aside: Do you think Gigabyte will repair them?
 
First pc build I put together, I bought an aftermarket heatsink to put on the cpu. The heatsink came with a tube of thermal paste. Since they gave me a whole tube of paste, I thought that I needed to use ALL of the paste on the cpu to make sure there was no problems. Well, after caking on the whole cpu with paste, it only took about 30 mins to fry that sucker dead.
 
My first build ever - I didn't know the clamp force from the heatsink was required on Athlon XP CPU's. I just put the heatsink on top of the CPU without clamping it down to "make sure it would power up". Needless to say it did not power up......
 
was showing an overconfident buddy how to build a pc, and I forgot about the motherboard standups, totally fried the board and I looked like an idiot
 
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^ Reno story so far was the worst that i read i was like no no no!!!! haha.

Server i put together worked great then i added LSI Cards to do my Raid setup for the HD's. I put the power to the batterys of the LSI cards in upside down. (which they had same amount of pins so it allowed it) *Didn't notice the black dot which means the front on the plug ins.

Fried both LSI cards, super embarrassing cause it was at work and everyone had to come see why my office was smoking.
 
I knocked a huge glass of iced tea off my desk into the top vent of my old Q6600/HD4890 rig. Instant shutdown.

Amazingly, everything survived.
 
Just recently I had an Ivy delidding adventure. Decided on the vice method, put it in the vice. Got my piece of wood and hammer, had like 3 guys standing around talking to me while I was doing it (at work). Gave it a whack and watched it fly across the room and smash the corner.

Noticed afterwards I wasn't paying attention and hit it parallel to the vice clamps and not against it. Derp.
 
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