Kids do the darndest things

[Linflas]

I do computer support in a middle school grades 6-8. I brought a workstation down to my office from a classroom to check it out. It turned out this workstation has not been working properly for sometime. Each time I powered it on it would either shutdown immediately or start to boot the OS and shutdown unexpectedly within a minute or 2 of booting. Oddly enough it would stay powered on when the HD was disconnected so an HP tech overnighted me a new drive after we spent about 40 minutes through the online chat troubleshooting the problem. When the new drive arrived it continued to exhibit the same behavior.

This time I got on the phone with the HP folks to get a replacement for what I suspected was a bad power supply. After going through all their troubleshooting steps with the guy on the phone he started work on getting a new PS shipped to me. After we did all the address verification etc as an afterthought he asked me to check the PS voltage selector switch. Wouldn't you know one of the clever little darlings was bored in lab and had switched it to 220. Today was the last day of school and they are all out doing whatever it is 12-13 years olds do when let out of the asylum for the summer so no teacher reprimands for them.

 

[eigen]

thanks for sharing.

 

[laurenlex]

PWNED by young ones

 

[40Hands]

time for vigilante justice.

 

[chowmein]

what's annoying is when they lock the system with BIOS pw. have to crack it up open to reset it.

those educated demons.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I can't believe you've missed such a BASIC thing such as a power switch.

 

[Vegito]

that happened to my wife's pc.. when we first started dating, i was fixing it and couldn't figure out why it keep rebooting.. till 2 hour later, i was calling it quits, i see the tab on 220, i was like WTF

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: BroeBo
time for vigilante justice.

or Beach Justice!

 

[darkamulets]

And people like you get a job over other qualified techs....

 

[notfred]

If I was your boss and I knew you had to have two different parts shipped out to you before you figured that out, I'd threaten to fire you if you did it again.

 

[aplefka]

Do you have to pay for the parts? Cuz if you don't then you shouldn't have told him that's what the problem was. :|

Seriously though, don't sweat it, that's something I'd probably do too. Then again I'm not a professional IT guy.

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: BroeBo
time for vigilante justice.

Get a rope.

 

[imported_xaguynamedguyx]

yeah you got PWNED hard core

 

[KarenMarie]

dont let ppl here make you feel bad about not getting it. There are loads of ppl who just forget to look for the obvious... it happens to all of us at one time or another.


funny story though.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Wow, I wouldn't have EVER thought about that to be honest!

 

[alien42]

Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Wow, I wouldn't have EVER thought about that to be honest!

nor would anyone else who posted in this thread

 

[Cal166]

Originally posted by: notfred
If I was your boss and I knew you had to have two different parts shipped out to you before you figured that out, I'd threaten to fire you if you did it again.

Plus know your basics. You probably know way more than what the other guy over the phone knows. Never have experienced with HP's tech support, it cant be worst than dell's.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: notfred
If I was your boss and I knew you had to have two different parts shipped out to you before you figured that out, I'd threaten to fire you if you did it again.

I have been at repairing PCs for a while, that's not standard TSing as it's not a common issue at all.

 

[Maetryx]

Oh man. I have to check that on my kids' computer when I get home. I don't *think* it's the problem, but now you made me worry.

 

[ProviaFan]

Ignore the more-righteous-than-thou folks, we've all screwed up at times. And yes, kids can find the most unusual and unnoticeable ways to mess things up.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: notfred
If I was your boss and I knew you had to have two different parts shipped out to you before you figured that out, I'd threaten to fire you if you did it again.

Reading is fundamental. All that was shipped out was the HD. It is an HP warranty so it cost my boss nothing.

 

[loic2003]

That's the advantage of being over there in the US of A. If you flick the switch the PSU expects 240 but gets 110. Do the same in England/Europe and it expects 110 but gets 240V. You get popping noises + smoke.

 

[Errant Venture]

obi-wan: he killed younglings