Build a PC - Horror stories

fiveub

fiveub

fiveub

OcUK Staff
Joined
12 Apr 2008
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I'm sure from time to time we have all built a computer making the odd mistake. I've seen all sorts from working at OcUK, from customers gluing the graphics cards in the PCI-E socket, to customers complaining their PC is not working (they haven't turned on the PSU).

This thread is for you to share your horror stories, it can be you, a friend or someone you know.

I'd love to hear them! :)
 
The best one I know of is back in the day when people were operating pc's in a tub full of cooking oil and someone said to one of my mates about it, "yeah you can even water cool a PC these days" :confused:

Well, said mate decided to take his pc apart and placed it in a tub of water and switched it on:eek: Thank god he never killed himself when doing it. Lession learnt I think, and his old man grounded him for six weeks.
 
Thankfully, I've been spared the worst, but I do remember visiting a (then) local fire brigade ~25 years ago because some of their PCs were misbehaving. These were ICL DRS M60 PCs. I opened one up and it was absolutely full of dust. So I asked for some compressed air with which to clean it. And they hauled out a Breathing Apparatus. :) A quick blast and they were in full working order.
 
Broady21.pb said:
The best one I know of is back in the day when people were operating pc's in a tub full of cooking oil and someone said to one of my mates about it, "yeah you can even water cool a PC these days" :confused:

Well, said mate decided to take his pc apart and placed it in a tub of water and switched it on:eek: Thank god he never killed himself when doing it. Lession learnt I think, and his old man grounded him for six weeks.
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Lol I remember the mineral oil PC thing but thinking that would work with water is insane.:eek:
 
One of my mates in uni forgot the standoffs for a new mobo, shorting lots of connection on the case so fried it, got a replacement and did the same thing. Pretty funny from my point of view :D
 
Spending a few hours getting all the cabling just right with a load of cable ties to then notice i had forgotten to install the backplate. Not very horror but im looking forward to reading some others. :)
 
Where do I start? The glue on card's thing was an old 'Time' trick, apparently it cut down returns due to heavy handed couriers. I've seen DDR forced into an SDRAM slot, bent pins on a CPU because it was being forced into the wrong socket type, people who don't leak test on water builds, cables blocking CPU fan's back in the Athlon XP days - that didn't end well (they can and do explode with enough volts/heat), PSU's used to come with a 110/220 switch and people would sometimes switch it, shorting out motherboards is common on new self builds where they've screwed the standoff to the wrong board layout, numerous cables forced into the wrong port types etc.
 
Helped a friend build his first pc just over 10 years ago.
The cpu fan had those spring clips that you had to somehow had to stretch over a bar.
Leverage is the key so he used a screwdriver. It slipped and went straight through the mobo.
 
Decided to touch a - surprisingly sharp - metal fan blade on a Leadtek WinFast GeForce 3 Ti 200 while it was spinning. Nope nope nope nope nope :(
 
An early blunder on my part:

I'd installed a 5.25" floppy drive into an ICL DRS M35 and the case cover would just not go back on. I'd forgotten to remove the faceplate. :o
 
Most recently, on the build in sig I plugged the power, reset, hdd led's etc into a usb port. Luckily nothing was damaged.
 
I tried to plug in a molex fan while the PC was on, most people on here know what a pig it is to connect these. For some reason, I managed to cause a short circuit & BANG! Few swear words & anxious unplugging of bits later (after testing with another PSU) everything powered up with no issues. Didn't do the PSU much good as it failed a year later.

& don't get me started on how many times I've forgotten to fit the motherboard backplate either. :rolleyes:
 
Building a system into a cheap budget case, never do that, having to bend fiddly razor sharp bits of metal until they snap to fit components in is never fun, I still have the scars on my hand to prove it!

I actually managed to kill an entire (admittedly old) system by accidently dropping a speaker onto the top of the case too. It just cut off, stripped it all down, changed psu etc put it back together but never again did it as much as show any sign of life. The impact must have somehow completely killed the motherboard.
 
Built my first PC everything went fine, powered it on very chuffed :D

However i forgot to install the motherboard I/O shield back plate.

Such a rooky mistake, pain in the ass to install after everything has been connected :rolleyes:
 
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I was asked to fix a nephews computer once. And I've never built one from scratch myself either, so was a little worried.

Amongst the mistakes he'd made were:

No paste between CPU and cooler.
He'd panicked about all the unused sockets, so had just plugged everything into anything that fitted. The hard drive was plugged into the motherboard twice using the different sockets along the line of the cable.

The motherboard was goosed. But whether it already had been when he started messing with it I'll never know. I did actually manage to repair it.
 
when I fitted the Asus sabertooth board and fx 8350 into the Phanteks tower I managed to kill it. still no ideas what I done wrong. the board powered up fine with another CPU so the CPU was sent back and got replaced under warranty by luck.
 
First PC build was a K6, put it all together and tried to power on, just kept beeping, stripped down removed all components and put back together was still the same?

Took the whole rig to the computer shop I bought all the components from, some independent in Sale, for them to test as I suspected faulty component they had sold me.

Went home and got a phone call later, they said they had found the problem, nothing wrong with the components, it it was my ineptitude for putting a mobo riser in the wrong position in the case, it was shorting the motherboard.

Could not look them in the eye when I collected and they charged me £25 for looking at it.
 
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hyperseven said:
First PC build was a K6, put it all together and tried to power on, just kept beeping, stripped down removed all components and put back together was still the same?

Took the whole rig to the computer shop I bought all the incompetents from, some independent in Sale for them to test as I suspected faulty component they had sold me.

Went home and got a phone call later, they said they had found the problem, nothing wrong with the components, it it was my ineptitude for putting a mobo riser in the wrong position in the case, it was shorting the motherboard.

Could not look them in the eye when I collected and they charged me £25 for looking at it.
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You win. Mostly for this unintended spelling error (predictive text I'm guessing) :D
 
I had replaced the cpu paste on a duron pc i had built when I put it back up right turned it on booted in to windows, after a few minutes heard a loud thunk and then pc powers off, opened it up to find I had forgotten to secure the heatsink back on and once it heated up it had dropped down on top of my gfx card.

Both cpu and gfx card where cream crackered after that.
 
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