Taking heat sink off without turning the PC on for a few mins before hand and consequently pulling the CPU out with the heat sink.
I have also done this, spent 30 mins straightening pins with a pair of tweezers
Your best PC blunders.... *OOPS!*
- Thread starter nikebee
- Start date
I have also done this, spent 30 mins straightening pins with a pair of tweezers
When I built my very first computer when I was about 9 or 10, I didn't use the mounting screws for the motherboard, I screwed it directly onto the side of the case. I didnt have a clue why my pc wouldn't even post so I took it to a pc shop and they laughed at me and then fixed it for free 
.
Luckily nothing suffered for it.
.Luckily nothing suffered for it.
Taking heat sink off without turning the PC on for a few mins before hand and consequently pulling the CPU out with the heat sink
Done that too, I thought I'd done some sort of magic trick at first... "Wow... where's the CPU gone!?"
*Looks at the underside of the heatsink*
"Oooh crap..."
Completely borked my Northwood s478 P4 that did
Probably my friends family-pc... he spent months convincing his mum to upgrade (after I spent months convincing him) and let me do it and it would be better than getting a new one, which it would have, as at the time a half decent new PC was easily £1000+. So after buying a couple of hundred £'s worth of stuff I get to work.. new memory is a bit stiff but the pressures on so I just think **** it and push harder *crack* motherboard gone. I sat there for quite a while just staring at it in horror before I went to face the music.
To this day, 10 years on almost, his mum just looks at me in such dissapointment.
To this day, 10 years on almost, his mum just looks at me in such dissapointment.
Had the PC built on my desk, out of the case. I was having a problem with it shorting out IIRC, and just wanted to check it all worked. Well, it did, worked fine, booted up, all OK, till I accidentally knock off the heat sink, cue bubbling processor, quite a bit of smoke, and my shouting profanities haha. Good old AMD Athlon Thunderbird 900Mhz, You will live in my memory for ever 
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.Not really a blunder with a computer... But i had the drill out to make some holes in the top of the case to mount a radiator... I was just fiddling with the drill and tried to hold the end bit still in my hand whilst i turned it on 
Span at full speed and sliced my hand open... cue lots of blood
Span at full speed and sliced my hand open... cue lots of blood
That should have worked surely?
Does that PSU Voltage switching thing actually work?
I remember doing that on a mates PC a fair few years back now after hearing about what it could do (I don't think he was a particularly... "good" mate).
Don't think anything happened.
I haven't spoke to him in a number of years though... so maybe something did happen
Yes, if the machine is on when you flip the voltage switch.. If the machine isn't on, it will likely just not start (and leave the PSU undamaged).
I did it when my machine had been on for a few hours, luckily nothing but the PSU was dead, it could have easily taken the motherboard/components with it!
You'd think so, wouldn't you? It blew the back off the gfx card and burned a track from the PCI slot to the motherboard power socket.
That was truly stunning. Haven't laughed that hard at a thread...ever!
Oh, and whoever mentioned turning the PC on for a few mins before removing a heatsink, thank you!!! I should be getting a Tuniq delivered tomorrow or Tuesday and, having never changed a heatsink before, would have probably done something that belongs in this thread!
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I have done that millions of times with absolutely no problems at all?
Plug one PSU into the motherboard to power that, then hotwire the other PSU to power anything else that is needed.
I've never had any troubles with anything going bang.
Sorry, but this is hilarious....Probably my friends family-pc... he spent months convincing his mum to upgrade (after I spent months convincing him) and let me do it and it would be better than getting a new one, which it would have, as at the time a half decent new PC was easily £1000+. So after buying a couple of hundred £'s worth of stuff I get to work.. new memory is a bit stiff but the pressures on so I just think **** it and push harder *crack* motherboard gone. I sat there for quite a while just staring at it in horror before I went to face the music.
To this day, 10 years on almost, his mum just looks at me in such dissapointment.
Hotwire? You mean plug in?
No I mean hotwire it.
Obviously plugged into the mains yes, but for a PSU to work it has to think it's plugged into a motherboard.
By hotwiring it you fool it into thinking it's plugged into the motherboard, and it can run without trouble.
All you need is a paper-clip and some sellotape. Simple pop the paperclip into the motherboard connector. Ensure that one end is connected to the only green wire, and that the other end of the clip is plugged into any black wire. Sellotape it in place and turn it on.
If something goes wrong in your PC this is a sure fire way of testing whether your PSU is borked or if it's your motherboard.
If your PC won't worked with the PSU plugged into the mobo, it's probably that... if you hotwire it and all parts power up then you can assume that your PSU is fine.
PSU Hotwiring Guide
http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/psumod/
http://www.techwarelabs.com/guides/misc_mod/psumod/