Crazy Things that Happened to your Hardware

[catlover2]

Just thought it would be interesting to see if anyone has any other extreme things that happened to their hardware.


The other day I was playing Need for Speed: World, and suddenly it dropped to something like 5 FPS.
I rebooted, restarted the game, and other things, and the I looked at my GPU temp, and it was at 108 °C! I immediately Powered off the computer.
What happened was when I was installing a new hard drive, the SATA cable got jammed in the GPU fan.
Somehow, it survived, and is still working. It's a Radeon 5670.

Hope this catches on:)

[Bachstelze]

>Just built up new and shiny computer
>Computer running with SATA drive plugged in using the SATA power connector
>Notice some dirt in the Molex power connector of drive
>Try to remove it with screwdriver while computer still running
>Big spark, computer stops
>OMGOMGOMGIMANIDIOT
>...
>Push power button anyway
>mfw it still works fine four year later (http://vicious-violet.com/Misc/OtoyaReactionFace.jpg)

[Bungo Pony]

Had my infant son beside me when I was doing some stuff on the computer. I turned away for a split second, and he grabbed a Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card, and started chewing and drooling all over it.

Just as well. That piece of junk wasn't Linux compatible.

[DangerOnTheRanger]

I had a PSU that spontaneously caught on fire once. On carpet. Neither me (or, more importantly, the carpet) was injured. I needed a new PSU, though...

[Old_Grey_Wolf]

My grandchildren would connect any audio jack from any device that had one to a computer I let them use; if, they could find a jack that fit. The computer I let them use eventual had no working speakers, microphone, or auxiliary inputs or outputs that worked.

Back in the days of floppy disks, I would try to insert a floppy disk into the floppy disk drive, and it wouldn't fit. I found out that my grandchildren were inserting coins into the floppy disk drive slot. I cleaned out coins of several denominations on more than one occasion.

I am sure I could think of some more hardware examples. The grandchildren are older now, and the problems are software and security related. The Linux based computers I let them use are doing just fine; however, I have to help my daughter with the Microsoft Windows laptops she lets them use; long story and a different subject :).

[XubuRoxMySox]

I broke the built-in cupholder when I tried to use it for one of those supersized 32-oz drinks.

Oh, waitaminute... that's not a cup holder?

-Robin

[drawkcab]

I put my mp3 player through the wash a few weeks back. It still works!

My exgf was playing around with my laptop as I was doing chores--it melted down as she had placed it on my bed spread w/out venting it. She was not allowed to touch my new laptop without supervision.

[ki4jgt]

I had a custom built computer. It stopped being able to read the harddrive for a year then, out of the blue, it started working again.

[IWantFroyo]

My laptop's fan froze while I was installing Natty. I stopped the installation, put the thing on an air vent, and installed Debian 6 (which had been running with no problems before I installed Natty).

Still, no running fan. I sent the thing to Toshiba, and I got it back just a few days ago. The bottom of the laptop still gets insanely hot though.

[christoph411]

Don't know if it really counts as "crazy", but the motherboard in my old HP tower just died a few weeks ago... That's always fun right?! :lolflag:

[mmsmc]

my hp desktop would not run minecraft, nor would it run ubuntu(any version) but ran windows fine(due to some kind of video card problem), 1 day i decided to take it apart, pulled apart some stuff and put it back together. now minecraft and ubuntu runs :D

[imortalninja161]

i bout a nvidia GFX card once barely got out alive

[helliewm]

Cat knocked 1/3 pint of water into my XPS laptop. It would power up then die. So I left it. 2 years later, this week, I turned it on and it works :) It was running Karmic development branch!

[3rdalbum]

Someone gave me their computer a while back for the purpose of "build me a new one using as many parts from the old one as you can".

There was a graphics card installed. I brushed my fingers against the main side of it as I was checking out the case, and thought "I wonder why it's got fabric on it?"

I felt it again. Still felt like fabric in the middle of a circular heatsink.

Perplexed, I took the card out. It even looked like fabric. I ran my fingers across it again and the "fabric" started coming out.

It was no fabric. It was dust, packed in so tightly it had the consistency of felt. Completely obstructing the fan. What's so astonishing is that the computer had been working fine, but slowly. Even with no airflow through the fan for goodness knows how long, the card was still working.

[cptrohn]

I bought a cut-rate 12 cell battery for my laptop after my old 6 cell bit the dust.... the new worked fine for about 2 months and now it borks everything I do with the laptop after it gets done charging..... (as soon as it charges all the way it does something and all of a sudden I get a "battery is discharging 3% available error" Think I will just pay the extra money for a good battery for the next one ;)

[ninjaaron]

In college, I accidentally dropped my G4 powerbook off of a top-bunk several times. The last time, I dropped it onto a metal salt shaker below that put a huge dent in the aluminium Computer still worked fine, but the a big chunk of the screen was cracked and dead. Replacing the would have cost more than replacing the computer.

[johnnybgoode83]

My hamster peed on my keyboard once and the stink would not go away so I had to dispose of it.

[Dry Lips]

My hamster peed on my keyboard once and the stink would not go away so I had to dispose of it.

Reminds me of what happened to my brother... His chinchilla was on top of his laptop, and he thought that it was so cute that he'd take a picture of it. But in reality it turned out that his chinchilla was actually peeing... He had to replace the keyboard as well...

[ki4jgt]

No insult intended, but on all the custom built computers I've installed Ubuntu onto, none of them worked after 6 months. :-( Bios would stop reading hard drives, cd drives, floppy drives. Something would cause the computer to just stop working. A few days ago, I actually found a custom build from back in the day (about 5 years old) it actually started booting again, but the CD drive wouldn't work. It wouldn't read or write.

[catlover2]

I reached into my case to move something while the computer was on, and the screen completely froze.

I was in windows. :)

[johnnybgoode83]

I reached into my case to move something while the computer was on, and the screen completely froze.

I was in windows. :)

That's not really crazy, just an hourly occurance on Windows :lolflag:

[Thewhistlingwind]

I'm sure you all remember the original Xbox, and how, like most controllers, the ones the Xbox used were wired. Well; the cord lost connection from being wrapped improperly, not one to just throw it out, I noticed that if you held the cord in place the controller would work again. (Because the wire would make contact.)

I played with duct tape on the back of my controller for the next three years.

[johnnybgoode83]

I'm sure you all remember the original Xbox, and how, like most controllers, the ones the Xbox used were wired. Well; the cord lost connection from being wrapped improperly, not one to just throw it out, I noticed that if you held the cord in place the controller would work again. (Because the wire would make contact.)

I played with duct tape on the back of my controller for the next three years.

I had a similar experience with my Sega Mega Drive many moons ago.

[3rdalbum]

I bought a cut-rate 12 cell battery for my laptop after my old 6 cell bit the dust.... the new worked fine for about 2 months and now it borks everything I do with the laptop after it gets done charging..... (as soon as it charges all the way it does something and all of a sudden I get a "battery is discharging 3% available error" Think I will just pay the extra money for a good battery for the next one ;)

Really? I got a cheap 9 cell battery from Hong Kong a few years ago, for my Acer Aspire One. It has outlasted both the original battery AND the battery that came with my newer Aspire One.

In other words, the Hong Kong battery has lasted longer than both genuine Acer batteries.

[blueturtl]

Accidentally pulled a rather big capacitor off a (then top-of-line and very, very expensive) GeForce 4 Ti4600 built by ASUS. :-\" I was trying to remove the card from the slot and for some reason my thumb was on the cap instead of board. ](*,)

I was like poopoopoopoop..! :shock:

Put the card back in the machine and booted. It ran fine for years, until it was replaced with a more powerful card. 8-[ \\:D/

[odiseo77]

Some years ago I used to have a cheap speaker set that for some weird reason caught a radio signal around. I even have a thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=618915) about it here.

[Famicube64]

That's not really crazy, just an hourly occurance on Windows :lolflag:
So clever.

[stefangr1]

When I was 12 or so a friend of mine wanted to test what would happen if you would flip the 230V/115V button on the computer. Well, that turned out a little diffent then expected: sparks, smoke, a weird smell and the power went out :).

And that wasn't at the time you picked up a new PC for 500 euro...

[Erik1984]

When I was 12 or so a friend of mine wanted to test what would happen if you would flip the 230V/115V button on the computer. Well, that turned out a little diffent then expected: sparks, smoke, a weird smell and the power went out :).

And that wasn't at the time you picked up a new PC for 500 euro...

Why do computers have that switch anyway?

[IWantFroyo]

I was scavenging parts from ancient desktops to try to build some Frankenstein computer, and I stupidly unplugged a SATA cable while it was running. Oops :(

Another time, I spilled a whole bunch of tea (with sugar) onto my PSP 1001. It started working again after a few days.

[Famicube64]

#1: Radeon 9600 started smoking and scared the **** out of me.

#2: i7 2600K build wouldn't power on and scared the **** out of me. Turned out to be me not plugging in the CPU power. :popcorn:

[stefangr1]

Why do computers have that switch anyway?

Because most of the Americas and Japan use 115V whereas most other countries use 230V...

[julioneander]

My friend once brought his pc to my house. As I have 220V in my house, we switched the 127/220 button to 220.

When we turned the computer on, it started behaving strangely, with some glitches on the screen and stuff. 10 more seconds and we heard a small explosion inside the computer!

Turns out that the PSU had died. There was a lot of smoke coming out of it and a smell of melted capacitors.

When we opened the PSU to look at what should have happened, we found out that were no wires plugged into the 127/220 switch. LOL!

I'm never buying those cheap PSUs from Paraguay again!

[catlover2]

I once dropped a screw in my printer's paper feed area.8-[ It still works fine, but it randomly flashes it's error light.

[3rdalbum]

When we opened the PSU to look at what should have happened, we found out that were no wires plugged into the 127/220 switch. LOL!

Funny story, but please DO NOT open up a power supply ever again. Power supplies store a massive amount of current. Large amounts of current are lethal. Touch the wrong thing and you're dead.

The same applies to CRT TVs/monitors.

Only open up a PSU if you really, really know exactly what you're doing.

[stefangr1]

Funny story, but please DO NOT open up a power supply ever again. Power supplies store a massive amount of current. Large amounts of current are lethal. Touch the wrong thing and you're dead.

The same applies to CRT TVs/monitors.

Only open up a PSU if you really, really know exactly what you're doing.

Isn't it a technical requirement to have a small resistor inside that slowly discharges the capacitators? Or could you still be electrocuted minutes after disconnecting the PSU...

[catlover2]

Well, considering there were no wires connected to the 120/240V switch, anything is possible...

[Paqman]

Isn't it a technical requirement to have a small resistor inside that slowly discharges the capacitators? Or could you still be electrocuted minutes after disconnecting the PSU...

I would give it more than a few minutes. Mind you, if the thing has gone into meltdown it's likely to have shorted out the caps anyway. Personally I'd play it safe, big fat capacitors bite.

[Khakilang]

I install an Intel motherboard on a better looking casing and it doesn't work. It just shutdown by itself after booting into the ROM. I thought it could be the CPU problem and put it aside and concentrate on something else. After sometime I try to troubleshoot again and what do you know its alive again. Put in an 80GB SATA hard disk and install Debian squeeze and its been working so far. Its a miracle!

[Aquix]

I had a cd drive that crushed a cd into 5 pieces, and it wasn't burning it was reading. Happened once then it worked for a year after that.

Also had 2 nokia phones that I've dropped into the toilet, then scrubbed them with soap, hung them to dry and the oldest still work 7 years later. :)

[Dry Lips]

Also had 2 nokia phones that I've dropped into the toilet, then scrubbed them with soap, hung them to dry and the oldest still work 7 years later. :)

When I went to the equivalent of High-school I emptied a bucked full of water over a female student. Of course she had her cell-phone in her pocket, and when she turned it on, it died. Doh! She ought to have let it dried first, because my sister's cellphone was washed in the washing machine, and didn't take any damage. (Of course I paid for a new cell-phone to that girl.)

[Dry Lips]

Funny story, but please DO NOT open up a power supply ever again. Power supplies store a massive amount of current. Large amounts of current are lethal. Touch the wrong thing and you're dead.

The same applies to CRT TVs/monitors.


I did get a mild electrical shock once many years ago when I opened
my CRT-monitor. I had to do that quite regularly because the "on"
button sometimes disappeared into the case when I pressed it.
I had to open it to restore it to it's former position. Annoying!

Not long after the monitor died for good, I don't know if it was
related to me opening it up so many times, or not.

[Erik1984]

I did get a mild electrical shock once many years ago when I opened
my CRT-monitor. I had to do that quite regularly because the "on"
button sometimes disappeared into the case when I pressed it.
I had to open it to restore it to it's former position. Annoying!

Not long after the monitor died for good, I don't know if it was
related to me opening it up so many times, or not.

LOL, that sound familiar. I seem to be blessed with button destroying skills :( Happened with an older Packard Bell flatpanel, it's still working though. I prefer monitors with as few buttons as possible, or very robust ones :p

[aaaantoine]

1. Way back circa 1996, I experimented with trying to plug a guitar directly into my sound card. There was also some sort of intermittent power failure which would cause the computer to randomly crap out at the time (I think due to a loose/overstretched cable). I got my hands on an adapter and proceeded to linketh up. One blue screen and one power short later, the hard drive data was corruputed, rendering the computer unbootable.

To this day I still fear plugging a guitar directly into a computer, although I've since tried it -- using an amp as a middle man -- without any trouble.

2. My dad used to love playing High Heat Baseball 2001. He played for years and years, spinning that sucker in his computer's CD drive, until one day it shattered into a hundred pieces while still in the drive.

He tried to find a replacement, but ended up settling for High Heat Baseball 2003. One of these days, I should see if I can find a torrent for HHB2001.

[catlover2]

A 1TB Samsung HD I got less than a week ago just clicked the click of death.

[Oxwivi]

I've got nothing newer than a Pentium IV, and when it hangs it won't start up any more. Powering it on will just work the fan, and no POST beep is heard. The only solution I found is randomly unpluggging and replugging a certain power plug in the motherboard while it's powered on. Along with random un/replugging of the power cord, of course. Eventually, I am rewarded with the beep. Never figured out the pattern of re/unplugging that kicks it back up - some times it's sooner, sometimes later.

Done this more than 10 times I think. It's a miracle it hasn't fried yet.

[mips]

I've got nothing newer than a Pentium IV, and when it hangs it won't start up any more. Powering it on will just work the fan, and no POST beep is heard. The only solution I found is randomly unpluggging and replugging a certain power plug in the motherboard while it's powered on. Along with random un/replugging of the power cord, of course. Eventually, I am rewarded with the beep. Never figured out the pattern of re/unplugging that kicks it back up - some times it's sooner, sometimes later.

Done this more than 10 times I think. It's a miracle it hasn't fried yet.

Seen that many times, it's symptomatic of a faulty PSU.

[handy]

My trusty old GA-K8NS Ultra-939 has lost its IDE controllers by the look of it.

I've tried different drives in the drive drawers, I've bypassed the drawers & plugged directly into the cable & I've replaced the IDE cable. Even tried a different PSU just in case. It still can't find a drive.

I haven't bothered checking to see if the SATA controller works, I expect it does, though the machine becomes pretty useless to me if I can't use the IDE controller.

After I retired I gave a good sized pile of stuff to a mate of mine who fixes other people's computers, in that pile was a PCI card that had IDE controllers & you could boot from it.

I'll have to see if he still has it kicking around.

[3rdalbum]

2. My dad used to love playing High Heat Baseball 2001. He played for years and years, spinning that sucker in his computer's CD drive, until one day it shattered into a hundred pieces while still in the drive.

Mythbusters reckons it can't happen with an ordinary CD-ROM drive. It can.

Back in the late 1990s, the Spice Girls had a massive online fanbase that I was part of. Someone I knew on it said they'd obtained a demo CD of the then-unreleased Spice Girls third album, and they proceeded to go on a VOIP chat to play the CD and prove it.

They did play the CD to some people through VOIP. For technical reasons, I wasn't one of them, and the people who heard the CD through VOIP weren't savvy enough to record the call. In short, I know the CD existed because a number of people I know had heard it through VOIP.

MP3 was kinda new at the time, so I had to walk this friend of mine through ripping their demo CD and turning it into MP3. Unfortunately for me, the CD actually shattered in their drive before any of it got ripped. Unfortunately for Spice Girls fans everywhere, it contained songs that have still never been released. Only a handful of people outside the music industry have ever heard those songs, and none of them were computer-literate enough to have made their own recording.

So yes, CDs self-destructing is not a myth. Sorry it happened to your Dad, but your story reminded me of a true collector's item shattered by a CD-ROM drive.

[Thewhistlingwind]

So yes, CDs self-destructing is not a myth. Sorry it happened to your Dad, but your story reminded me of a true collector's item shattered by a CD-ROM drive.

And before anyone writes it off because it was the spice girls.

Imagine if it was YOUR favourite band?

I probably would have thrown things across the room. (While shouting obscenities.)

And if the songs were still unreleased years later, I'd feel sick about the whole thing.

I feel sick just thinking about it.

[aaaantoine]

Mythbusters reckons it can't happen with an ordinary CD-ROM drive. It can.


I reckon it can happen if the CD itself is damaged or faulty. At any rate, there's a reason CD drive speeds haven't really increased in the past 10 or so years.



Back in the late 1990s, the Spice Girls had a massive online fanbase that I was part of. Someone I knew on it said they'd obtained a demo CD of the then-unreleased Spice Girls third album, and they proceeded to go on a VOIP chat to play the CD and prove it.

They did play the CD to some people through VOIP. For technical reasons, I wasn't one of them, and the people who heard the CD through VOIP weren't savvy enough to record the call. In short, I know the CD existed because a number of people I know had heard it through VOIP.

MP3 was kinda new at the time, so I had to walk this friend of mine through ripping their demo CD and turning it into MP3. Unfortunately for me, the CD actually shattered in their drive before any of it got ripped. Unfortunately for Spice Girls fans everywhere, it contained songs that have still never been released. Only a handful of people outside the music industry have ever heard those songs, and none of them were computer-literate enough to have made their own recording.


Were any of the songs listed here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forever_%28Spice_Girls_album%29#Cancelled_singles) on the above mentioned demo CD? Just curious.


So yes, CDs self-destructing is not a myth. Sorry it happened to your Dad, but your story reminded me of a true collector's item shattered by a CD-ROM drive.

Hah, don't worry about it. Now he just plays Zuma's Revenge and Spider Solitaire. :P

[mips]

Mythbusters reckons it can't happen with an ordinary CD-ROM drive. It can.


I reckon it can happen if the CD itself is damaged or faulty.

I've had this happen to me at work once, was startled to say the least :biggrin: Visually the CD was fine & pretty new when it happened.

[Oxwivi]

Seen that many times, it's symptomatic of a faulty PSU.
Really? In the beginning it only used to happen when I took of all the cords to dust the system, but now hard-rebooting the PC is one of the things that degrade the system to that state. I wonder if PSUs for Pentium IV motherboards are available now...

[Brandon_R]

My mousepad stopped working. But it wasn't crazy. I spilled juice on it.

[Thewhistlingwind]

Speaking of pentium iv computers, mine just had its hard drive fail last night.

Of course, that was no surprise, because it was ancient.

[Dry Lips]

Back in the late 1990s, the Spice Girls had a massive online fanbase that I was part of. Someone I knew on it said they'd obtained a demo CD of the then-unreleased Spice Girls third album, and they proceeded to go on a VOIP chat to play the CD and prove it.

MP3 was kinda new at the time, so I had to walk this friend of mine through ripping their demo CD and turning it into MP3. Unfortunately for me, the CD actually shattered in their drive before any of it got ripped.

Oh, so that's why your username is 3rdalbum... Even though
I'm no Spice Girls-fan, that was a pretty good story!

[Oxwivi]

Speaking of pentium iv computers, mine just had its hard drive fail last night.

Of course, that was no surprise, because it was ancient.
My 80 GB failed last year, and a 10 GB HDD that was lying around in a Pentium III my bro-in-law kept was used in place only to die this year. Thankfully, 10 GB was more than enough for Linux.

Now there's no HDD, but I installed Ubuntu on 16 GB USB like I'd do on any normal HDD.

[handy]

Really? In the beginning it only used to happen when I took of all the cords to dust the system, but now hard-rebooting the PC is one of the things that degrade the system to that state. I wonder if PSUs for Pentium IV motherboards are available now...

These days I get PSU's (in my small country town) from a recycler for $5- each. Hopefully you have someone similar (cost effective) in reach.

[3rdalbum]

Oh, so that's why your username is 3rdalbum... Even though
I'm no Spice Girls-fan, that was a pretty good story!

Thanks, I was expecting to hear someone say "Cool story, bro" :-)

You are indeed correct, my username is definitely related to the Spice Girls third album too.


Were any of the songs listed here on the above mentioned demo CD? Just curious.

A few of the songs on that demo CD were on the real album when it was released (including Oxygen, mentioned on that page). There are still a couple whose original versions were never released, like W.O.M.A.N and Right Back At Ya.

[mips]

I wonder if PSUs for Pentium IV motherboards are available now...

Probably uses the older 20-pin connector vs the newer 24-pin connector. You can always get a second hand one if you cant' find a new one.

There is however a easy solution for using a new one on a older 20-pin MB.

You can still use it (well maybe), with the clip facing you let the extra 4-pins overhang on the one side of the MB connector if there are no caps or other components in the way. This is how I used my Antec PSU on a new rig until it eventually gave up after many years of reliable use ( It died during all that eskom load shedding we had not to long ago). I still do this when testing older motherboards with the newer 24 pin PSU connectors.

Or you could use a stanley knife and cut the extra 4 pins off if there are components in the way on the overhanging side.

http://www.smpspowersupply.com/connector_atx_pinout.GIF

As you can see the original 20 pins remain the same.

[nidzo732]

I got angry and kicked my computer case, it just shut down. I tried to turn it on but it was dead. I sent it to repair service and i thought that I'll have to pay a lot for repairs, it turns out that it was just the CMOS battery, it popped out when the case got kicked.

[Jackslaps]

This is the problem I currently have on my laptop:

I have a Dell Adamo, and while I was staying at my mom's friend's apartment in DC during the Jon Stewart Rally thing a small metal frame of hers fell and hit the back end of my laptop where the batteries were. There was constant clicking noises and my computer couldn't turn on. I called in Dell tech support and they brought in a guy after I got back from DC. They replaced the battery and motherboard (which has onboard RAM, so there are no sticks in my laptop) and it was able to turn on, however it would stop booting up at the Windows logo. I called in Dell tech support again, and they brought in a guy to replace the hard drive (a 120 gb SSD), and the problem persisted. I called them a THIRD TIME, and they replaced the hard drive AGAIN, and still the same problem. I called for the last time to ask them if I can just get another laptop, but "their servers were down" so they "couldn't do replacements yet" and to call again later. I vowed not to call tech support again and just deal with it; let it run Linux.

I went through several Linux distros since then, seeing which ones boot up the fastest. The good thing with these distros is that it actually boots up. The bad thing? The fastest recorded boot-up time I had on this laptop since the incident was Crunchbang Linux, with a speeding ONE AND A HALF MINUTES. It takes Ubuntu ~2 minutes to boot up. Mind you, I have an SSD, so booting up should take mere SECONDS, not MINUTES. Sometimes, the computer freezes on boot-up, and at ~5 minutes into booting up I get frustrated and just start randomly typing keys to see if my computer wakes up and finishes booting; more often than not it resumes.

I'm currently running Ubuntu 11.4 and I still don't know what the problem is. Neither does anyone else.

[ZarathustraDK]

My hamster peed on my keyboard once and the stink would not go away so I had to dispose of it.


His chinchilla was on top of his laptop, and he thought that it was so cute that he'd take a picture of it. But in reality it turned out that his chinchilla was actually peeing... He had to replace the keyboard as well...


ಠ_ಠ
You killed your pets?

[dragonboss]

I have an old Acer Aspire that reboots if you press the left ctrl button too hard.

We had a Commodore 64 pc with the external floppy that produced smoke that was like dry ice when it was turned on.