Hardware fixing/upgrading...Bad experiences

lord_spaceman

lord_spaceman

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Who here has had bad experiences fixing / upgrading PC's for other people (or even for yourself) ? I remember swoping my friends mobo into a new casing. The PC never started after that. After many hours of trying to see what was going on, it got taken into a PC fixing shop. Apparently the mobo was cracked ! :eek: Strange thing is that I've done quite a few and never cracked a mobo! Odd.
 
Nothing too bad, I burnt out a Duron 600 processor last year becuase somehow (:confused: ) I forgot to put the heatsink on, not major though, since it was my stuff.

Accidently, while trying to clear a BIOS problem on a clients PC broke the BIOS battery connector (this flimsy metal thing), bad design on those AsRock motherboards. Got him new same model mobo, still using that mobo in my file server, just loses time everytime the power goes out.

Never cracked a motherboard yet...
 
Was a client site in Stanger and just before I leave for the airport on the Friday ... do a last minute inspection and slide close the PC case only to pinch a power cable between the case and chassis.

One nice blue spark and the machine dies.

OMG !!!!.

A fervant prayer and the vision of spending another hot stinky weekend in ****ty Durban.

Switch off and switch on and the PC boots up and the applications starts up.

I grab my laptop and run out of Dodge as fast as I could !!!!.
 
tibby.dude said:
Was a client site in Stanger and just before I leave for the airport on the Friday ... do a last minute inspection and slide close the PC case only to pinch a power cable between the case and chassis.

One nice blue spark and the machine dies.

OMG !!!!.

A fervant prayer and the vision of spending another hot stinky weekend in ****ty Durban.

Switch off and switch on and the PC boots up and the applications starts up.

I grab my laptop and run out of Dodge as fast as I could !!!!.
Click to expand...

lol
 
somehow .... somehow managed to connect a molex upside down. poof, 1 dead disk. "Fortunately" it was mine. :eek:

had 2 external drives (one a Manhattan, the other a Vantec). Had to copy stuff from one to the other. Plug power bricks into wall, switch wall on. Connect power cables to enclosures, and switch one. Discover (as that lovely burnt-electronics smell hits the nostrils) that 1 brick was DC, the other AC .... yet the connectors were exactly the same. 2 dead disks - only 1 was mine :(
 
if anybody asks, just tell them you are a plumber or something. There is nothing worse than going to fix a mates pc and suddenly finding out that YOU are responsible for every piece of taiwanese/chinese cr@p component within that pc, and that at anytime in the future if it goes wrong they will blame it on YOU.

Not worth the hassle.
 
werner said:
if anybody asks, just tell them you are a plumber or something. There is nothing worse than going to fix a mates pc and suddenly finding out that YOU are responsible for every piece of taiwanese/chinese cr@p component within that pc, and that at anytime in the future if it goes wrong they will blame it on YOU.
Click to expand...

Yep ... there is nothing worse than the developing the reputation as the resident "computer" guy in a family ... there are always somebody pestering you for advice i.r.o their Windows woes or advice on what to buy at a family gathering.

Now explain to a clueless person why their 32MB 386SX can't run Windows 98 and Office 95 :).
 
tibby.dude said:
Yep ... there is nothing worse than the developing the reputation as the resident "computer" guy in a family ... there are always somebody pestering you for advice i.r.o their Windows woes or advice on what to buy at a family gathering.

Now explain to a clueless person why their 32MB 386SX can't run Windows 98 and Office 95 :).
Click to expand...

Unfortunetely I'm that guy...:(
 
I'm that guy too, but I dont have any problems.

I just say I dont want to hear bitching and moaning about stuff bought from other people and charge fully to fix something not bought from me or broken by me, I tell that to my clients too if they have a problem with cheap crap they bought if they are previous clients of mine, I might sell cheap stuff, but it has to be of a acceptable quality.
 
masticore said:
somehow .... somehow managed to connect a molex upside down. poof, 1 dead disk. "Fortunately" it was mine.
Click to expand...

It's an awful and sudden feeling is it not?

I remember once putting a BIOS chip in an XT the wrong way round - managed to switch off before it actually exploded, but wow was it hot! Fried! Luckily a mate was able to burn me another one and the board was OK :)
 
jabulani said:
It's an awful and sudden feeling is it not?

I remember once putting a BIOS chip in an XT the wrong way round - managed to switch off before it actually exploded, but wow was it hot! Fried! Luckily a mate was able to burn me another one and the board was OK :)
Click to expand...

OLD school!
 
U guys ever open a pc, with its power off but lan card still connected to another pc which was on? After touching the lan card's chip by mistake, saw a blue spark then a hole on the card....both cards of the pc ended up screwed~
But good thing they're cheap:p
 
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