I need to break a PC

Get some warranty or void stickers/locks/chasis intruision on your base units if you dont want them fiddling! Or if you want to know when they have been!
 
cowboys then who dont care because its not their pc. So you want to train them to fix that which they break even though if they dropped it and the graphics card came flying out it could have done some nasty damage too it. Though if it came flying out id question who screwed it in.
 
It's not the staff that broke it that will be fixing it. We have an IT department who require a technican, hence the job int.
 
depends on how evil you want to be... and what sort of problems?

An interesting one is always a faulty cable, Power/Network. For a nasty hardware fault, dig out some old 266mhz ddr & drop it in a nice new board at 400fsb :p If you've got a PC with on board VGA & a graphics card, disable the onboard in bios, then plug the monitor into the on-board...

Could always drop the hdd, and ask them to identify the problematic component... anyone really competent should be able to tell a dodgy hdd by ear from 6ft :p

I guess it depends on your company policy, where I work we tend to check the basics, Screen/Cables/Peripherals and any software/bios options... If its an obvious hardware fault, like HDD... then we'll replace the disk, otherwise its just scrap the machine, and give it to some kid who'll spend a week troubleshooting it :p
 
Here's some easy ones to setup:

-RAM stick not in properly
-Cables not in properly (ide, SATA, case wires, power...)
-kb/mouse/monitor not plugged in :)
-Incorrect boot sequence (e.g. boot from floppy with a blank in there)
-Dodgy settings in BIOS (e.g. memory timings set so low it won't boot)

And some slightly harder/more risky ones:

-Expansion cards not properly seated (e.g. gfx card)
-Motherboard shorting out on the case
-Dead cpu
-Duff PSU (assuming you have one)
-Corrupt hd
 
Strangely enough....this has been the best thread I have read in ages!

OK I'm no expert, but what about a bad driver install if you want to throw in some software errors into the mix too (I dunno 64bit drivers for a graphics card or something).
 
Yeah, Just use the 8800 driver for Vista x64.
blink.gif

See my signature. :(
 
Delete some of the files in the driver... but then it migth not install at all. or perhaps turnthe pc off half way through it installing. That could bugger it nicely.
 
Short some random chips on board whilst it's powered on, I did this once by accident when tightening a waterblock with pliers to do some suicide benches.

I still have the board as I refused to RMA it on the basis that I broke it :)
 
markyp23 said:
Both of my boards boot with CMOS on clear. :)
Click to expand...

Then they must have implemented 'muppet proof' short-circuit protection on new mobos as on old motherboards powering up with the CMOS jumper on clear would more often then not fry them! Not surprising considering your short circuiting a power circuit on a live board:eek:
 
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