Something I learned today...

[samantha_]

I work in IT support for a company in LA, today, i actually learned something useful...
and that is...
-- Be careful when putting your hand inside a computer --

I was installing a new network card... and unfortunately the old one somehow had firmly attached itself to the computer and refused to come out.
I pulled harder, and it did come out, but the USB card right next to it gave my arm a nasty cut.
Which is why from now on, im going to refrain from using excesive force to pull stuff off the motherboard.... ;)
I didnt know those things could be so sharp anyways....

[whiskeylover]

Cool story, Bro.

... or sis, in your case.

[MasterNetra]

I work in IT support for a company in LA, today, i actually learned something useful...
and that is...
-- Be careful when putting your hand inside a computer --

I was installing a new network card... and unfortunately the old one somehow had firmly attached itself to the computer and refused to come out.
I pulled harder, and it did come out, but the USB card right next to it gave my arm a nasty cut.
Which is why from now on, im going to refrain from using excesive force to pull stuff off the motherboard.... ;)

Sounds like it belongs up with staying grounded while working on a PC. ^.^

[ZeroSpawn]

Been there done that. I suggest when removing cards use the "wiggle" method.

[NightwishFan]

A particularly nasty hard drive took me 5 minutes to remove. That is not including the screws of no size worth mentioning....

[cariboo]

+1 for the wiggle method. There are sharp things inside computer cases

[JDShu]

Sometimes when I'm fiddling with computer parts inside a computer or whatever, I pull my hand out and realize its bleeding all over the place.

[Barriehie]

A particularly nasty hard drive took me 5 minutes to remove. That is not including the screws of no size worth mentioning....

Said screws are just large enought to 'disappear' under the MB...

[Kdar]

I work in IT support for a company in LA, today, i actually learned something useful...
and that is...
-- Be careful when putting your hand inside a computer --

I was installing a new network card... and unfortunately the old one somehow had firmly attached itself to the computer and refused to come out.
I pulled harder, and it did come out, but the USB card right next to it gave my arm a nasty cut.
Which is why from now on, im going to refrain from using excesive force to pull stuff off the motherboard.... ;)
I didnt know those things could be so sharp anyways....

Did you wear safety glasses? :)

[hemimaniac]

I think we need to start a campaign to get these cases with rolled edges, as JDShu mentioned I've gotten a few good gashes from case edges and they are so sharp and clean from being cut and pressed out, @ All who go about in cases day-to-day try what i did, grab a pair of extended needle nose piers like these (http://www.fcsurplus.ca/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=1489) and coat the steel tips with heat shrink tubing ( heating to shrink for a good fit ) and fire them in yer it tool bag

they are especially great for rack work ( when dropping stuff and you need some reach )

being an ex-auto mechanic has its pluses :D

[cartman640]

Same thing has happened to me, normally on ultra sharp case edges. Since then I have given up on buying cheap cases, that's why I currently have an Antec Twelve Hundred, lots of rounded edges in there and no sharp ones :)

I do find network cards very annoying though, they make them with so little PCB now, they are nearly impossible to get out, doubly so in some of my old firewall machines, at one stage (for diagnostic reasons) I had 6 network cards in the same machine...) Best way I found was to wiggle them by the back corner and the actual network plug on the outside.

[Khakilang]

For the past 20 years in computer. The couldn't count the number of cuts I have but each cut make me wiser.

[NoaHall]

Also, be careful of fans. I've broken many a fan by sticking my arm in it or something.

[toupeiro]

There is much practice in the realm of hardware that has gone to the wayside. I had a new guy once ask me what my ESD strap was for. Even the tighest fitting connector has a safe way to be removed, most of the time it just requires a little operator patience. I think one of the worse pinches I ever got was working on a Quantum tape library, installing the robotic arm in the jukebox which was already rack mounted. I was literally at an angle where I couldn't see, only feel and I don't know exactly what I did, I was taking my time, but I had a black thumbnail for about a month.

[Icehuck]

Sounds like you didn't break anything on the computer, and no fires were put out. Boring!

[RichardLinx]

Computers can be pretty vicious, your lucky you escaped with nothing more than a cut.
It would be creepy if your hand hadn't come out at all.

[audiomick]

Hi. I plug things in and out for a living, but usually not inside a computer. I'm a sound engineer.
It is amazing how ostensibly well designed plugs that are allegedly intended to be plugged in and out, not just installed once, can give you grief. The worst are BNC and Speakon, closely followed by anything with an Aluminium threaded lock.

Since the last 7 years or so, with the advent of Digital technology, we also have to plug cards in and out of various devices. Apart from them being stubborn, I hate the feeling of plugging them in. You never know if they are seating right, or maybe going in crooked and destroying themselves.

On a side note; don't fall for the myth that a 3.5mm jack is a real connector. It is a work of the devil...;)