The day I almost died...

FOBSIDE

Platinum Member
Mar 16, 2000
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Here's an interesting story that happened to me last night. I was setting up a machine for my parents just to word process on and surf the net. It's an old P2 333 Mhz processor my friend gave to me with the motherboard and tower. All the rest of the parts I had got from various other places. Anyway, I got the machine up and running but realized I needed new drivers for the video card. Since I had gotten the card from a friend, I didn't even think to check what kind of card it was that he gave me. So I opened up my case and checked. I installed the drivers and I shut down the computer. Here's where the story gets interesting.

I proceeded to place the side panel back onto the tower and I managed to get it screwed on properly. I guess the tip of my screwdriver touched the back of the tower. *FLASH* Sparks flew and I heard all my other hardware turn off. My sub, my monitor, my other tower...off. I sat there in disbelief. I could have fried myself. That brings up a question. Why the hell is the back of the computer touching the power supply made of metal!?

Anyway, after coming out of shock I looked to see that my apartment's hub was off. I had fried the socket. Then my roomate came out of the bathroom and asked what happened. Apparently I fried everything all the way to the bathroom. Half of my room had sockets I had fried. The modem was down and so was the hub. I had killed our internet.

Fortunately for me, all we had to was reset the circuit breaker and all my hardware is in good form. I feel like an idiot but I thought I would share with you guys to lighten up your days.
 

jorken

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Way to go man, a while ago before I really knew what I was doing I was screwing around with an old p90 Gateway Desktop machine. Well to make a long story short I dropped the screwdriver in the case while the computer was on. w00h00!
 

rominl

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Nov 2, 2000
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actually, i believe the back of the case is metal coz' it helps to ground the machine. maybe becuase your system is on a carpet? also you might want to check your power cord. it should have 3 lines and 1 of them is the ground line, which should also help to ground the machine.

it just sounds odd to me that that flash killed so many sockets in your apt.
 
Oct 9, 1999
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damn dell systems. I pulled out a pci card thinking it was off (I had shut it down from windows but not pulled the plug) and the damn thing came on as soon as I pulled the pci card out. Damn I thought I just blew a brand new dell.
Oh well I didnt blow it .. thank god.

From now on I unplug things when they warn us to unplug
 

Tung

Platinum Member
Nov 7, 2000
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this is rather off topic..

but your name got me curious, FOBSIDE.

what does it mean anyway?

 

Doggiedog

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
12,780
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I'm always tinkering with my PC so I have my case open all the time. One time, some guests were going to come over so I closed the case but when I turned my PC on the whole room filled with thick smoke. I shut off the power and checked my case out when I noticed I had closed the case on the floppy power cord and cut it open causing a short.

All the plastic cables on my PS were fried in less than 5 seconds down to the copper wire.

That's some pretty scary stuff. Fortunately, my PC still worked.
 

ArkAoss

Banned
Aug 31, 2000
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the reason it nocked out half your apt, is probly because you're apt isn't too branched, My dad's a liscenced electrician, and I've done alot of wiring, but check the gfci in the bathrrom too. It might be tripped.
 

FOBSIDE

Platinum Member
Mar 16, 2000
2,178
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tung, the first part: FOB - most people know what this means. if you dont you probably are one. i think fobside became some sort of quake clan but when i was in the dorms. you know...Dogeater[FOBSIDE], LiquorStoreOwner[FOBSIDE], GotRice?[FOBSIDE]

as far as stuff getting fried, everything works so i dunno whats up with that.
 

satori

Senior member
Nov 2, 1999
471
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Man, you wanna hear a near death experience with electricity? In preschool, we were all having quiet time and a bunch of us were huddled at one corner near an electrical outlet. There &quot;happened&quot; to be a screwdriver near us and someone >DARED< me to put it in the outlet socket. Okay, we were all kinda stupid back then (5? 6?), so I did it. Man, the nun's must've been FREAKED OUT!!! Sparks flew... I scorched the skin off 3 of my fingers.

I did something sort of similiar in HS science class, too. We were doing basic circuits and we had these boards that had toggles/switches. They'd designed it so you couldn't screw things up too bad... just see the results of connecting different paths.... Anyways, I decided to see what would happen if I took a piece of metal and made a connection between 2 points that weren't supposed to meet. Welll.... ended up blowing the fuse for the lab and got kicked out for the day.

:)

I had a couple more experiences like this in college...

The funniest thing is... I'm a freaking electrical engineer now... :) Course, I'm DSP. Couldn't stand the power-side... :)
 
Feb 24, 2001
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uh, as far as i know FOB means &quot;free on board&quot; referring to shipping. either FOB point or FOB destination (when transfer of title takes place). am i missing something? what have the kids come up with now as a meaning? :confused:
 

satori

Senior member
Nov 2, 1999
471
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BrunoPuntzJones: It stands for Fresh Off the Boat. Usually meaning people from Asia that have just recently gotten here and still have a lot of their asian-ness. Another acronym is ABC, or American Born Chinese...

I've heard the term used basically my whole life (not directed at me), so it ain't something new. :)

 

FOBSIDE

Platinum Member
Mar 16, 2000
2,178
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when i was little (maybe 4 or 5) my brother decided to stick a key in the electric outlet. i decided to hang onto him. thats about all i remember. couldnt have been a good situation tho. why do kids try to stick things into electrical outlets? i have a theory. its those stupid block toys where youre supposed to stick the shapes into the correct holes. thats the problem. problem solving skills...yea right! theyre teaching us to plug up all the holes we see with stuff thatll fit. keys and screwdrivers...into the outlet.
 

FOBSIDE

Platinum Member
Mar 16, 2000
2,178
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<< ...almost died?.... ever been on fire? I have. >>



i wanna hear this story...if youre willing to share. i wanna hear everyones stupid/crazy accident stories...just dont get too graphic.
 

Tung

Platinum Member
Nov 7, 2000
2,977
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FOBSIDE, yeah, I know what FOB means.. but it was your nick as a whole that got me wondering..

i also thought it was a clan's name or some sort.. and you were part of it..

but i was wrong. so yeah.

thanks for letting me know though.
 

Jarwa

Golden Member
Jan 7, 2001
1,160
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Ever touched a spark plug on a lawnmower WHILE IT'S RUNNING? WOE!
Now that hurts!! :Q
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
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that isnt that bad, me and a friend when we were like 14 were building a p 200. the instructions for the power supply wires on this AT case werent very good and we hooked up the 4 wires wrong. Blew out the fuse box. We tried again after resetting the breakers, but i was still holding the contacts when he flipped the switch. That hurt quite a bit. We fried a 8x cdrom which at the time was $100 and a floppy. Almost killed a then $550 pentium 200 classic
 

Mountain

Senior member
Dec 7, 2000
326
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well fob since you started this thread. just for you. i was laying under a volkswagon camper van, finishing the reistall of the engine. the last thing to do was connect the fuel line, a piece of hose connecting two tubes. one coming from the gas tank and one going to the fuel pump. i had the hose clamped off with visegrips and connected the loose end to the fuel pump line. i then unclamped the visegrips, used them to hold on to the tubing while i worked the hose on further in order to attach a clamp. well, in this process the visegrips slid down the tubing, knock off the hose which allows the 16 gallons of gas from the tank to piss down on the drop light i was using, busted the bulb, caught me and everything on fire. i immediately did a situp, not good under a car, and put a huge gash in my forehead where what's left of my van still remains. the hospital did not even clean the wound, which i didnot know was there until several days later when i was able to get out of bed and look in the mirror. anyway, i scooted out from under the van, screaming&quot; i'm on fire&quot;,rolled on the concrete and was still on fire. came out of my clothes on the way to the back yard, rolled in the dirt and was no longer &quot;on fire&quot;. but my van was. backed up under a carpart where my landlord stored lumber and surrounded by oak trees, pine trees, and houses. not good. so i jumped in the full of smoke van, with left eyelashes melted together, and found the fire extinguisher, went to the back, push the lever and nothing happened. so two men and it pushed the burning van down the driveway, pass the houses, to the street, where it eventually became thirty foot high flames. say goodbye to alpine stereos, etc. a friend said &quot; i saw where the flying saucer landed in front of your house&quot;. heat cracked the windows in the house. took a little ride in an ambulance under sheets soaked in salt water. On the way to the hospital the pain was getting so bad i told the medic that i was about to freak out and he looked down at me and scolded,&quot; you calm down, we're trying to help you!!&quot;. so i felt real guilty about catching on fire and ruining his day. Then, laid and screamed for about two hours while they took &quot;blood gas&quot; samples(pain medication ruins the tests). nurse put iced towels on the burns during this time. 10 days later i went home. dont use gasoline to start any fires ever.