Computer Horror Stories.

Hey Guys,
I'm bored and was wondering what "Horror Stories" were floating around dealing with computers. What's MajorGeek's darker side? Haha

I only remember two right now.
The first was I was told by my teacher to move one of the computers to the other side of the room. (It was a Technical Center that my High School was "tied" with) So I unplug it and go to slide it out of the "rack" it was in under the desk for it. As I did so I lost my grip on it and it fell maybe 7-8 inches off the rack and landed on my boot...well I didn't like that so I quickly picked it up and plugged it all back in. Went to boot it up to check everything, it turned on and all that. Got to right before the "splash screen" (forget the name of it right now) and it stated the keyboard, mouse and RAM all checked out then......Hard drive failure message appeared. So as inconspicuous as I was I slowly slid it back onto it's rack and walked away. I never did know if my instructor found out it was me(I know I should've went to her and said about it but I got a bit sacred). I think I told her later though.

The second was a few weeks ago at my college. Me and a buddy were getting an "old" dell set-up so he could have one for his young boys to play with "educational games and the like" Anyway, with our instructor's help we were D-Banning Hard Drives. School didn't want any of it's info going out, and so we had it all plugged in and started the D-Ban, then our instructor did something with the HD (not sure if he went to plug it in when the system was powered on or not). But he got a spark of electricity to go from the PSU cable to the HD and the PSU shut down(safety feature). We didn't think much of it so we unplugged it and waited then started again. My instructor was holding the HD now and he all but threw it across the room. I guess that spark shorted out the HD and the chips got super hot and burnt his thumb. Needless to say that HD was "toast".

 

The only "Horror" story like that , that has happened to me was the morning my g/f swore loudly while I slept, I jumped out of bed to find that my CPU Heatsink bracket had snapped for no apparent reason and the heatsink dropped the 4 inches onto my beloved HD4890 graphics card.
So I powered her down and went to work, popped into the local PC shops to buy a new bracket and they all told me you can't buy them on thier own and I'd be best to replace the motherboard.... TARDS!!.... so I came home and started scouring the net only to find the bracket is readily available and for only $6, ordered one, came next day, fitted it all back up and prayed as I pushed the power button. Thankfully no damage was done but it was a close call.

 

WOW! That would be bad.

 

Almost all of my computer horror stories deal with idiots and incompetents.

Idiots are not people who don't know the ins and outs of PCs; they are the clueless people who think they know everything and go out of their way to read you the riot act even when they're dead wrong.

My most recent case of this was today: A woman raised hell in my shop over a $40 diagnostic fee (explained to her up front) that covered almost two hours of attempting to fix what turned out to be a motherboard in a notebook PC that way beyond hope. Her "logic"? Since we had not fixed anything, she shouldn't have to pay. On top of this, she "wanted to be sure" it was being returned with "all the parts intact" (in other words, she was accusing us of attempting to steal parts from an eight year old Toshiba that won't even power on! :rolleyes). Being called a thief is not something I take lightly: While I go out of my way to help and satisfy every customer, I have made it quite clear to this one she should take her business elsewhere.

My two biggest IT horror stories; however, dealt with retail store setups where I had no control over other contractors hired by the retail chain. Examples:

• Missing deadlines on finishing Ethernet wiring - not by a day, but by over a week. :eek
• Blowing off building codes on fire alarm setup, even after I gave them a copy of the code book. Can you say "major beatdown by the Fire Marshal", boys and girls? I knew you could.
• A networking specialist sent by the retail chain who spent the entire week getting sh:***tfaced drunk at the hotel/casino where he was straying.

Even though I had attempted to cover my a** through an e-mail trail reporting these issues (and even though my immediate supervisor was very aware these issues were beyond my control), I still ended up being the DM's scapegoat and got demoted. This is why I now work for myself and will never touch any major setup project again unless I have complete control over any contractors involved.

 

Once had a gentleman bring me a computer that was very 'slow'. We were discussing options and such, when I saw a couple of roaches crawl out of it. No way dude, can't help you, please take it away... :eek

Roaches are like one step below spiders and snakes.

 

Why didn't you just shoot them?:-D

 

Shooting roaches might be fun, but not effective. And a bit destructive!

If it needs fumigating, probably needs someone that is not me. :-D

 

I've never heard of roaches in a computer before. Though I have heard about mice, a bird once( Although I can't for the life of me remember that one), and ants

 

I had baby spiders being born all over my CRT. Normal since I heat with wood. As to doing something stupid, about the worse I did was get a new video card hoping my PSU would still work. NOT!:-D

 

Roaches are actually attracted to the E.M.F. field of electrical equipment, as well as the warmth and shelter aspects. Not restricted to computers, (microwave ovens; stereo sets, T.V.'s, etc.) You don't have to be dirty to have roach problems and not all roaches are unclean, (some are just woodland roaches). So yes, not uncommon, as I've had the huge displeasure of finding out!uke

 

All roaches are nasty, dirty, and probably a sign that the owner is on the wrong path in life. :-D:-D

Sorry, roaches, spiders and snakes.. the devil's creatures. :-D

 

Well, many say that about the south - but we're not complaining...roflmao

 

That was it. It was your spider story not ants. Sorry.

 

LOL LOL LOL

The identical thing happened about 12 years ago when I was a Sales Manager at Circuit City.

A customer brought in a desktop PC that was under extended warranty. I was standing about 20 feet away from the returns desk when the Customer Service Manager started shrieking at the top of her lungs.

Fearing the worst, I ran over there, cordless phone in hand and ready to dial 911 - honestly, I thought someone had passed out or died given she would not stop screaming wildly.

She was shaking, standing about 15 feet from a Packard Bell PC with roaches crawling out the back.

I ran to the janitors' closet, double bagged the PC with trash can liners and then went across the plaza to Walmart for a can of Raid. I had to spray the entire customer service area before Paula would re-enter it. :-D

 

Very funny !:-D

 

My son-in-law repairs appliances and this month has seen repairs upward of $800 NOT covered by warranty. Seems the critters like the flat film for the glass top ranges. This is very similiar to the flat film in your keyboard.

(now how many are going to turn that over and shake it?)

 

LOL .....Or bag it?

My daughter called me end 2005 to say that her computer was so very very slow. Went over there and I got the shock of my life. Took 1/2 hr to get in. Windows Update wasn't done, AV expired, fake downloads, you name it, she had it. She never bothered to keep up to date security wise. :cry Had to remove so many apps from Add/Remove it wasn't funny! Took me all evening to clean up most of it. Yet I had told her since she got the PC what and where to download. Yep, that happens when you ignore mommy's advice.

That was my horror story.

 

People often give me computers they are going to throw out due to hardware issues or they feel it's outdated, or as payment for fixing something else for them. I'll take these and refurbish them if possible, or save the useful parts for other builds. I'll take working systems and give them to people that need a computer but can't really afford one. I never cease to be amazed at what some people feel is "outdated" or no longer useful. But I digress . . .

Aquired an old T series e-machines and was doing my usual internal inspection and cleaning. I noticed what I thought was a cotton ball tucked up beside a modem board. I went to pluck it out and of course it was a spider nest. The biggest, blackest, fuzziest spider I have ever seen burst out of that nest and onto my hand . . . I have NO idea how something that big was contained in that nest. It was like the bug creature from Men in Black when it unfurled from the human skin. Part of it HAD to be in another dimension. Huge SOB. Well, it startled* me, so of course I knocked the whole computer off my work bench.


* By startled I mean "screamed like a schoolgirl and jumped backwards four feet"

 

lol !

People wonder why their PC won't turn on.. well.. there's roaches inside the power supply

 

http://youtu.be/jkSBY7O0-mc

:-D

 

Ummm......

 

And again I'm reminded of why I live here. No roaches, no huge or killer spiders, not even ants that hurt. I've never found anything living in my machines. I did come home once to a column of ants marching along the baseboard to our bedroom, up onto my bedside table and into my clock radio. Apparently they like coffee. I had spilled on it a few days prior.
I was over at my Dad's for a quick look at his computer being slow. When I opened his browser the window was literally half toolbars and "search engine of the moment". That may turn into a horror story.

 

Ummm? I don't get the reference. Haven't heard that song in a while, though, either

 

Ya, that's god's country right there man! Southern BC right? I envy you.

 

Didn't say it made sense. :-D Flies, bugs...

 

I gots one better than my 'spiders in the monitor' story as this one takes the cake in stupidity!:-o So, a few months ago I had bought a 1500VA APC UPS which sat nicely on my floor looking cool.:cool However, I never hooked it up!:banghead

Ya, you guessed correctly, IT happened a few hours ago. Some idiot hit the S curve too quickly and severed the power pole in two!:cry Took me a good long time to get my machines back up and running and losing a -bigadv WU which was halfway through! There goes 30 hours worth of work.

Needless to say, it's all hooked up now and the power is back on. *sigh* I'm just waiting on the bashing that I'm gonna get from ya'll.:-Drolleyes

 

No bashing. Everyone has a skeleton, unopened surge protector or unused backup drive somewhere in their closet they're ashamed to admit. :-D :-D :-D

 

Augie, sorry to hear that. Was it an Uninteruptable Power Supply or a Unconnected one. :-D

Sorry could not resist. Of course, the battery in mine died a while back, and I have not replaced it. So, Mr. Murphy will most likely visit me. Now where is the bookmark where I buy UPS batteries...:confused

 

OUCH! That is really painful to hear.
("School of Hard Knocks" is the best teacher though.)

 

At my previous job we dealt with Electronic Benefit Transactions (EBT) aka food stamp cards. I had to go to a convient store and when I pulled the unit roaches started scrambling.. I put the unit in a double plastic bag, tied up tight before I took the unit and put it in my car. I put a new unit in and went home and called the Health Dept. A week later I got called back and the place was HEAVY with Raid fumes.. OMG.

Closer to the subject, I had a 24 port switch I was checking out before I mounted it and when I plugged it in the fan made a noise and then a flame shot out the vent and the unit went dead. I work in a dusty enviroment, but that was my first dust explosion, now I am a bit more careful.

 

I've never heard of that happening.

 

You want horror stories? Sure, let me dig up a couple of my old blogs....

Dremel Man

Incompetent computer tech

Don't let the smoke out

 

WOW! roflmaoroflmaoroflmao. I mean REALLY!?

 

Yes, really. Dremel Man is a legend in our department. We use a recording of that call for training purposes.

My day job is in computer tech support for upgrades. My company sells RAM and SSDs, so that (in addition to gaming) is what I usually try to help with here. And no, nothing you've heard about computer tech support is exaggerated. Nothing.

 

That was too funny! Any time I plug in the Dremel, I realize the warranty is going away very soon. :-D

 

LoL @ Dremmel man! LOL. I get a few gems every now and then from the "I'm so stupid, people mistake me for a rock" class.
I sell a guy an O.S. disk so that he can use his P.C., (you wouldn't believe the amount of time it took to convince him that a computer actually needs an operating system to work). Anyway, he's back on the phone the next day, complaining that his disks don't work. So I say, "Okay take them back to me and I'll see what's up with it. He brings it in, bitching the whole time how "I'm wasting his valuable time", babble, babble, etc. I take one look at the O.S. disk and see the problem immediately. He has him name ENGRAVED on the disks. Reckons I should have told him that you can't scratch words on the DVD and it won't work rolleyes. So I told him to throw his P.C. into his wheelie bin and by a Game-Boy :mad
Same guy wanted me to fix his VCR player. Knowing what a doofus he is, I asked him what he did to the VCR before it "stopped working". So he tells me how he took it apart and SANDED the video heads, and he can't understand why it doesn't work anymore rolleyes. I told him "thanks anyway - but take your business elsewhere". He told me he aint going to give me any more 'business'. Best news I had all week!rolleyes

 

He what...?!?!?!?

Oh. Dear. Lords. Of. Everything.

OMG.

That is beyond even the most basic common sense basics of common sense. You SAND electronics and you wonder why it doesn't work????? :banghead

 

Wow!

 

You have got to be kidding. A Dremel tool?
Second and third wasn't too bad. #2 actually seemed pretty calm.

 

It takes skill to be a pipe fitter . . . or a tile layer . . . or a carpenter . . . very technical areas all . . .

It takes skill to be an electrician. To be able to ply the trade in the framework of regulations and safety, and keep up with all the advancements in the field . . .

It takes skill to be an administrator. To be able to manage a work force in a scenario that has to be very volatile even in the best of times is an art not easily mastered . . .

A Legion of skilled work exists - some ancient, some a result of man's increasing knowledge of his world and universe . . .

My point being . . . having skill in one area does not always mean that ability will yield results in another area of expertise. Some skills can cross this line, with varying degrees of success. But all in all failing in one field does not automatically make you a doofus.

Having said that . . .

Someone that feels sanding ANY delicate electronic component is a viable fix cannot fall into the “Skilled, but in a different field” category. That's just scary.

 

Hey, I don't expect people to be technical or any other kind of expert, that's what I'm paid for. But in some humanoids - arrogance, and reckless stupidity, followed by just plain dishonest B.S.'ing afterwards - when even the microcephalic imbecile that created his/her own demise begins to realize that maybe they weren't quite as clever as they thought they were, but continue to deny reality in the vague hope that I am also stupid and going to be fooled/scared into paying for their own folly.rolleyes

 

Quite right Phantom. I know how a car works but there's no way I'm going to touch it except for an oil change perhaps. I'm not arrogant enough to do crap like that. However, I did take apart my expensive auto-reverse audio tape player(7 yrs. old or so), labeled all the screws and where they went etc. but got lost in the end, and it still worked one way before I killed it.:-o Damn $400 bucks back in the mid '80's, I forget the brand.

 

My horror story....people in marketing wanting support for their macs

 

I thought they just worked?

 

I think Macs sometimes have bad operators. Just like PC's. :-D

 

Especially the Dremel Man. roflmaoroflmao

 

The term is PICNIC

 

Professional photographers wanting support for their Macs.... *shudders*

 

And the winner is...DremelMan! Darwin Award comes to mind.

If he thought that you can cut memory to fit, then why didn't he just make one himself? Duct tape, a coat hanger, and some tinfoil out of a cigarette pack.
should work.