Post noob computer skills

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: pontifex
One day I got a new video video card and installed it. Went to turn the PC on and nothing happened. I got really worried. after about an hour of messing with it i called a local pc shop to see what mobos they had because i thought mine was dead. not quite believing it could have died from just putting in a new video card i messed around a little while longer.

here i was pressing the reset button instead of the power button. DOH!

Ouch.

yeah. guess i just started to panic because i just spent the $300+ on the new card and then have nothing work. just wasn't thinking clearly because i was so worried.

 

[j00fek]

went over this guys house with a frind that asked me for pc help. so when i show up the guy is trying to stick ddr ram in the pc133 slots , turns on the comp and nothing more than a big puff of smoke came from his box rofl

 

[Unheard]

We had a guy come into the computer store I worked @ who had broken his heatsink clip (SKT A) and thought it was a good idea to just hot glue the heatsink to the CPU. I'm trying to track down pictures now.

 

[slsmnaz]

I was building my first one and getting really frustrated why the bios screen wouldn't come up. The comp was on and the monitor was on but I had forgotten they needed to be connected

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: Unheard
We had a guy come into the computer store I worked @ who had broken his heatsink clip (SKT A) and thought it was a good idea to just hot glue the heatsink to the CPU. I'm trying to track down pictures now.

Ooo, I wanna see those pictures. I've had a few clipies die on me, never makes me a happy camper.

When swaping processors to try and track down an issue I snapped the clip off my Opteron HSF No more copper heatsink of DOOM with heatpipes for me.

My latest thing is forgetting to plug HSFs into the Mobo. It's a good thing I always leave the case open for the first boot, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed a few times now that the HSF wasn't spinning

My ultimate solution to any issues I had with windows was to reformat and reinstall during HS. I lost so much stuff that way But it always solved the problems I was having.

 

[blazerazor]

Originally posted by: HN
so some time back, martha stewart had a guest on to show how to set up a computer station at home. the desk was one of those that had the space at the bottom (off to the side) for a computer tower. stewart goes on about "look how pretty the monitor is" or "a good place to have the desk is at such and such an area". All the while, the guy is trying to setup and explain some basic things about the computer...mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. The cables have not been attached yet.

Stewart, seeing the cables hanging down towards the tower, bunches them all up:

Stewart: we're just gonna take all these cables and place them neatly up here behind the monitor and out of the way...

Computer guy:

Stewart: ...it makes for a neater appearance and a tidy work area.

Computer guy [pulls cables down]: we're going to need to connect all these cables to the tower to get everything to work.

Marta Stwart, just seeing her makes me :| inside. She piss'd off Emeril Lagasse on one episode. She is such a B'ouch.

 

[Rubycon]

Over volting the CPU makes it run faster - to a point.

This is taking things too far. :laugh:

 

[PinmasterJay]

unplugged my secondary hard drive while the computer was on., luckily only my PSU
crapped out because I really didn't want to lose all my media

 

[JohnAn2112]

Me: Hello tech support.
Customer: Hey I'm a technician and I'm trying to get one of your products to work.

...15 mins later with this "technician",

Me: Well, let me send you the newest drivers we have. There are a few bug fixes and this should get you up and running. I'll email you a link to download the drivers.
Customer: Ok, but....what's a link?
Me: *pulls hair out*

 

[ActuaryTm]

Hello, computer.

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
the only one I got is This what else you got.

ROFL omg no hahahahahahahaha

lolololololol

is that ranch or blue cheese?

omg im showing this to my whole office and we're collectively dying. (we are field service techs)

hahahahahahahaha

 

[Ramma2]

RAM in backwards
Wrong slot video card mashing
IDE/Floppy cables backwards

My worst was some old lady who said her CD drive wasn't working, turns out she thought you had to put in the discs label side down

 

[InlineFive]

Perhaps it is a watercooling setup?

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Hello, computer.

I knew that's what the picture would be before I eve clicked it. That was a good scene...

 

[Stuxnet]

My family's first Windows-based PC was running Windows 3.11. I think I was in junior high at the time. I needed space on the hard drive to install a game, so I tossed \Windows after realizing how much space it was selfishly consuming.

 

[TTM77]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
My family's first Windows-based PC was running Windows 3.11. I think I was in junior high at the time. I needed space on the hard drive to install a game, so I tossed \Windows after realizing how much space it was selfishly consuming.

'windows' is too small to get out of this problem. Need a big 'door'.

Too bad Win 3.11 wouldn't support any of the new hardware. Else it would be flying faster then XP.

 

[MisterJackson]

I had a lady bring in an HP desktop the other day, and she said her "XP drive wouldn't work" as she pointed to the spot labeled "Expansion Bay" underneath the CD burner .

Another time I had repaired a customers desktop and they called me after picking it up, the convo went like this:

Her :"We've got Bellsouth out here installing DSL and they're gonna setup my wireless. The tech says he does this all the time, but he needs to know if I have wireless on my PC."

Me: "I worked on your PC a month ago, so I don't really remember. Have you asked him if he looked on the back of the PC to see if there's an antenna?".....

Her (to the Bellsouth "know it all" tech): "Did you look for the antenna on the back?"

BS Tech: "Ummmm....yeah......no....."

Her: "*Chuckle* K, thanks, bye."

 

[AdamK47]

Several years back I was low on the totem poll doing tech support for an insurance company. They would hire people who had never used a computer before in their life. These were generally older people who understood insurance, but never used computer. You haven't seen noob until you've taught someone how a mouse works and how it makes a cursor on the screen move.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Wanna know something stupid I DID? Last year? After buiding like 5 systems and being an XtremeSystems overclocker?

So I reinstalled Windows for someone and as I was plugging everything back in, I found this plug that looked EXACTLY like Video OUT. Hey, the pins looked the same and it even fit into the video card Video-Out w/o any force.

I didn't know my friend used video out, much less knew how to operate it, but hey... probably makes sense.

Guess what it was? The POWER PLUG of an EXTERNAL Maxtor HD. What kinda POWER PLUG is a VIDEO OUT plug? I mean I thought power plugs usually are round, with maybe 1 pin in the middle, but teh same pin layout of a Video OUT?

I fried the whole damn card.... Idiotic me.

We bought a new card at Fry's and it was DoA. I thoguht I fried the motehrboard at that point, and I freaked.

And I guess it sucks to be an early adopter of PCI-E, because I would've offered my 7800GT as a temporary solution and I would just stick wtih my lappy, but bleh...

Yea, yo uknow it does suck to be an early adopter. I had to have my roommates test out AGP cards for me, and everytime people wanted me to fix stuff, I have DVI cables only and I don't need a dongle, so my dongles are all back at home... So everytime I need to borrow either a VGA cable or better yet a 2nd monitor like a CRT to work on people's systems simpyl because my monitor is DVI w/ dual dvi output on my 7800gt.

 

[newParadigm]

Once I had rewired a Molex connector to feed my fans 7volts (switch the ground on the 12v terminal with the 5v terminal). Anyway, after a new mobo and HDD and a big case mod, I accidentally switched the modded fan plug with the splitter that went to my two 160GB SATA drives and a brand new x800xt (at the time the card was worth close to $300). I freaked out when i turned it on. Sparks everywhere, and purnt plastic smell. Somehow, by the grace of god, the worst thing that happened was the insulation on the PSU wires got burnt. No damage to the HDDs or the VIdeo card. The vid card still even OC's nicley.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

School Teacher: My program's gone and I need it for class! I can't get this software to run but I've used it many times before.
Me: What happens when you click on the program?
School Teacher: I can't find the program.
Me: Go to start-search-files and folders and type in the name of the program.
School Teacher: It says it is in D:\ my cd-rom drive.
Me: Click on it.
School Teacher: It starts right up but thats not how it usually works.
Me: How does it usually work?
School Teacher: I put the cd in the drive and it starts.
.........auto-play was disabled.

 

[DrPizza]

Oh, that one reminded me...

"System Message: servers are going down for repair"
One of the teachers tried to run several applications that were located on the servers...

"The file this shortcut points to cannot be found. Delete this shortcut?"

Ultimately, over the course of 20 minutes, she deleted the shortcuts to nearly every important application she needed to use on a daily basis. I was asked to help her... I'm known, apparently, for figuring out the most efficient ways to do things. "I don't want to learn any of your short-cuts. I just want..."

 

[LeadMagnet]

The following are all TRUE and have happened to me during my 16 years of being a computer professional;

1: my dad onceput a CD into the 5.25" floppy slot and complained he couldn't read it.

2: an enduser jam a 3.5" floppy into a slot loading CDROM drive

3: a mechanic use a presure washer to clean a keyboard - it blew all the keys off - he put them back in alphabetical order.

4: An enduser used refrigerator maagnets to hold 180k floppys to the side of her monitor.

5: A helpdesk newbie - rewired our entire building's lan - computer to computer and hub to hub - not a single PC plugged into the network.

 

[Journer]

a friend of mine accidentally left his screw driver sitting on the mobo when he turned the pc on....it all died

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: ActuaryTm
Hello, computer.

LOL that movie was great!

listen here