Get ready.....starts February 1st!
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Get ready.....starts February 1st!
:eek:
Bump!
DaveW gave a thumbs up, jdbnsn gave a thumbs up and so has Paul. I believe it goes on the home page tonight.
we're waaaaaaaaiiiiiiting...
hammering it out now, be patient my children, the fun begins soon. Thanks TGS!!!
It's 5:31PM Eastern time USA. You have 21600 minutes to submit a story. Good luck!
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com
So do we post the story right here in this thread?
OK, here we go.
In 1998, I was working as a part time "Junior Technician" for an IT department at a college. We had just built 3 new classrooms, and each contained 30 workstations, with Pentium 166 processors.
The supplier had assembled all the computers for us, and done a 48 hour burn in test before delivering them so we would be sure that they worked.
As we setup the labs, we began to power them up and ghost the correct images for each different class. Some of the machines fired right up, but some appeared to be dead! Oh no... 90 new PC's, and probably 25% of them were DOA.
We began to troubleshoot a few of them.. there were 4 techs there, including myself. What we discovered was that the CPU's weren't seated correctly, and after they heated up and cooled down a few times, they would work themselves loose, and were no longer making good contact. The solution? A quick re-seat of the CPU, and it was good to go.
Remember how I said "SOME of them" had troubles? Turns out that they all did. Over the next few weeks, we ended up reseating nearly all of the CPU's, and some of the RAM. (No, we didnt continue to deal with that supplier.)
The reason I mention this story is what happened during one of the reseatings.
I was called mid-day, to come up and check out one workstation that had suddenly turned itself off, and wouldnt come back online. There was a class of students in the room at the time, and this one poor fellow was without his workstation.
I ran up to the class, screwdriver in hand to be the hero, and make this thing work. I pulled the case screws off to remove the one piece cover (*shudder*), and picked up the tower to turn it on it's side, to make it easier to work with. Whoops, slippery fingers!
*BANG* Tower slips from my fingers, and lands HARD on the desk, in the middle of a lecture. Everyone turns to look at me.. a few people jumped from the noise.
Without missing a beat, I raised my hands in a calming gesture, and said "Dont worry everyone... I"m a professional." Trying hard not to act too embarassed at my accident. "please dont be ruined" I thought to myself.
I hit the power button, and the computer jumped to life. The fall had firmly seated the cpu, and the machine was whirring away without a care in the world. There were gasps and whispers.. one person whistled.
As I picked up the tower, I was careful not to repeat my performance, and reassembled the cover. The room was eerily silent.. everyone, including the prof was watching me with astonishment. As I walked out, I heard one student say to another, "I'm gonna try that when I get home."
TRUE STORY!
Alright, here's mine...
* I have a few friends who work for computer companies.
* 4 of them actually work for IBM.
* 1 of those was actually chosen by IBM to go over to Japan and fix some problems they were having over there.
* I don't know how to do ANYTHING except play games, so when and if my computers have problems, one of them comes over and fixes it.
* In return I have to make them dinner.
...I'm probably not going to win this contest...
Hi everybody :)
I'm gonna try my luck at this here competition, with a.. true... horror... computer repair.. story :)
Not long ago, I was sleeping happily after a long night of cramming maths and theories in my swollen brain. Albeit in the middle of my exams, I was receiving countless cries for help from several fields, some easier to tackle than others (I help other people with projects and written papers). That's why I believed I could help out a friend.. This is where the HORROR began!
As I was called to check a P4 system that sometimes refused to start and which frequently just shut itself off during avid sessions of counter strike or graphical design, I never would have guessed that my knowledge and inventiveness will be put to the test by that infernal machine.
First step i took was to see if it started... It didn't.. We (me and the owner) were thinking: bad PSU, CPU or mother board. So, I took the PSU and tested it independently: i disconnected the wires from all devices and used the paper-clip trick to jump start it.. It worked (literally). So, it wasn't the PSU..
Second attempt at diagnosing the system was to dismantle everything and put it back piece by piece.. I used the motherboard, CPU and the on-board POST display.. It found the lack of RAM so I concluded those parts were OK. I plugged in the twin RAM modules and the system detected them too.. OK.. I plugged the video and.. OK :) all essential parts were OK.
Then I tried to plug the TV tuner inside and was shocked! ... The signal wire was charged with static electricity :P Anyway, the system worked.. on the table.. So, I said it must have been a fluke and put the stuff back in the case.. It was down on the floor, in the middle of the room, under the light bulb.. And it worked! I put it under the table and started gathering my stuff..
Tragedy! Now it wouldn't do anything again.. no power at all.. well, back to pieces with it.. we cleaned everything carefully, tried the POST routine again and it worked.. dang..
After several "it works!" and "what the..?", with different PSUs even, we were seeing the following: if in the middle of the room, lay flat and with the lights on, the system would power up.. put the system under the table.. no response.. "What the..?" We moved the computer like a couple of idiots and tested to see whether the geometric parameters were influencing the working status or whether magical gremlins were mocking us..
DAY 1 end...
..zZzzzZZzzz..
DAY 2..
System has been taken apart and made to work on the table.. several days pass.. I was busy and had to go to an exam... days pass, system works flawlessly..
..ZzzzZZzZZzzZZ...
Final day:
At this point, we thought there has to be some type of short under the motherboard and used duct-tape to insulate the mother board tray.. Again, same symptoms.. System works if flat.. Oh, this time I was again zapped by the TV cable, in the foot.. It was funny (not).. I gave up after the system refused completely to power up and we concluded that the PSU had passed away.. So i gave him my spare PSU.. Shock! It didn't power up... Damn.. Now I had no spare PSU! I left disappointed.. but his case was now clean, had a nice wiring job and was almost 20 degrees cooler processor-wise... but refused to work in a case..
A friend took over and.. this is the high point of the story.. tried all possible combinations and realized one thing through empiricism! All the weird behavior of the PC was caused by one thing: <<drums>> a faulty power cable! Take that out of the equation and you find your culprit!
I replaced the cable with one of my own and the system never again.. true story.. weird behavior.. shocking developments.. happy ending.. :)
Good stories guys. I am loving the length you guys are putting in to these. Already I can see a hard decision on who's the winner.
so here it goes...
So I was building a computer for my father for Christmas. I was already in the computer buildign spirit because I was currently in the middle of building a new rig for myself. So my office was already in disaster mode.....wires and tools everywhere, UPS man dropping by my door every day for weeks. and my testing station taking up the entire office desk...and everytime my wife walks in the room I get the evil stare of death. Ya you know what I am talking about, the one where she is thinking " Why did I marry this computer geek, with obsesive compulsive disorder, who broke the bank all for a new computer and totally trashed the office....I would have been happy with an eMachine."..........ya that look.
So anyway, I was hapilly modding along for a week when I was about finished. I had hid all the wires, did a few mods and made a really nice rig. The last component to install was the video card.
So I install the card, tie up any loose ends and power this baby up! Whoo-hoo. I finish installing windows and begin configuring everything. I get everything all setup and the files from the old computer transfered to the new one....
.....oh ya. might I mention this is all happening on Dec 24th and he is getting the comp. on Christmas day...in less then 24 hours...and its like 5pm.
so just as I was installing some stuff on the comp. the screen flashes yellow for a second. I was like what the helk? maybe my eyes were playing tricks....so I continued.
abotu five minutes later it flickers yellow a few times in a row. Now I am starting to get mad. glaring at the darn XFX video card. after a few seconds the screen goes back to normal....so again, WTF?
and then, the screen just gets a yellow hue all over everything! and doenst go away. I am about to drive over to XFX and put the video card where the sun dont shine.
So I go through all the troubleshooting steps....re-install the drivers, re-install the card, un plug wires...plug them back in. Nothing! still yellow! and I am really mad thinking I have to drive 45 minutes to Frys, to get another video card. but before I leave, I get on newegg and RMA it.
So I get my coat on and grab my keys...and by now its like 7pm, and I still have to get ready to drive 4 hours the next day to meet my family for Christmas!!!
anyway, about ready to walk out the door, when I had another thought.....just for ****s and giggles, I think what if the monitor is bad? The monitor I had been using was Sony 17" CRT that was my everyday monitor for 6 years. Surely it wasnt the problem. So I go into the basement and grab another monitor.
so back up in the office. I decided to hook up the sony to my new rig....and low and behold, the screen is yellow as well....and I'll be damned if my ATI x1900 AIW is bad.
So at this point I know its the monitor. I hook up the new moniter and everything is fine. I cancelled the RMA, and thanked god for not having to waste another 2 hours on Christmas eve.
in conclusion, my father was so excited to get the new computer. His old computer was a Dell 733 mhz. tan box POS! He thought the new rig , which was a Pent. D in an Armor Jr. was so cool with the blue Leds and stuff. He said he had never gotten any thing like that was was really excited!
Happy ending! :)
Great wiring job. That is really clean
That's 3 stories so far from:
gobygoby
dgrmkrp
Lukifer122
I'm relatively new to the site so I don't know what all has and hasn't been done... forgive me if I rehash...
OBVIOUSLY this is your contest since you're giving stuff away...
and OBVIOUSLY since it is your contest, you can run it however you want...
and OBVIOUSLY this is a modding forum and therefore for comp people...
and OBVIOUSLY I would never tell you what to do...
but...
Some people (there's gotta be someone) are on their first computer so they have never HAD a computer problem.
Some people haven't the first foggiest idea about how to fix computers so they have never had a PC from hell story.
Some people are only 15 or 16 or 18 and aren't going to have had the life experiences yet to win a best thing ever or worst thing ever contest.
Some people can't sculpt or afford to kit bash so they can't build a DOOM 3.
Is there any way to have a contest where EVERYONE on the site has the same chance of winning?
Submit your favorite recipe for peanut butter pancakes.
Write a story about what you'd do to mod a PC if money were no object.
Write about how you'd mod it if money WAS an object and you only had 10 bucks and a roll of duct tape.
How many jellybeans are in the jar?
I've done other contests here and on other sites and have given away the following:
2 Server towers (for 2 contests)
A mini ITX mobo
A projector
A few books on PC repair
A heatsink
and just recently I gave away a brand new case here on TBCS
I've given these prizes away to all types of members, not just the experienced. I make sure to include everyone. Someday you may even win one of my contests. It could be by telling a story, drawing a concept PC, or building an unusual mod. I am a community PC person and enjoy the opportunity to give back to a community that constantly gives me things. I am proud to be amongst such fine people!
There will be more contests as long as I live....:up:
Reading the last comment about how this isn't fair to new computer users etc... I'll tell a story about my first computer.
This goes back to the days before Windows. I was a starving student, yet had just purchased an awesome system. 120mb harddrive!!! Anyways, I loaded up 'Wing Commander' and was calibrating my joystick when a static shock jumped from my hand to the monitor. I was left with a messed up image on the monitor, no sweat - reboot. No reboot. Same image. Get sick feeling in stomach. Fear. Panic. Get friend who's taking computer programming to look at it. He says it's fried. More Fear. More Panic. Get cousin who's completing an electrical engineering course to look too. He sticks his amp meter in there. He states it's fried too. Depression. Calculate that if I eat nothing but Macaronni and Cheese for a month, I can afford to bring it into a shop. Pay shop to tell me it's fried, but they can replace motherboard, CPU, and memory. Can't afford. More Depression.
Spring Break.
Looking at the computer sitting there, I get thinking about taking it apart. What can go wrong? It's useless junk now. Lets see what's inside. I open it apart and break it down piece by piece. I see an electronic 'millipede' with the word BIOS on it. I pry on it, it finally comes out, but I bend some legs and break one leg off it. The next day I decide to put it back together. I had labeled the power connectors so I knew which one went to the harddrive and which one went to the CD-rom drive. Not knowing what to do about the 'millipede', I use a staple and jam it in the motherboard so there should be an electrical connection back to the BIOS millipede thing. I fire it up.
Beer for 'expert' friends - $20. Shop labour -$45. Fixing your computer yourself - Priceless.
My sig *cough cough* honestly... ;)Quote:
Is there any way to have a contest where EVERYONE on the site has the same chance of winning?
-Dave
Thanks for the sticky!
Thanks for having such a great community spirit ;) :DQuote:
Thanks for the sticky!
-Dave
Right...
This wasn't written specifically for this competition, so some of you may have seen it before. Since it's already on my website, I'll just link to it, with one photo here as a teaser...
Click that for the full horror...
Most of the pictures are clickable, for extreme high-res gore.
Enjoy...
Doesn't work...
The clickable link works, but for entry you should copy some pics and tell the tale here, it looks good!
I'm was given a laptop to fix, which refuses to turn on without pressing the button many times, then when it did start, it complained about the CMOS settings.
I suspected the backup battery, but didn't know where to find it or what type it was. I couldn't even get inside the thing at first.
Here is how I eventually got into it.
W00T!
Looks like I found the battery, or rather, two of them.
One six-cell and one three cell. My guess is that the larger one is the one which keeps it alive when you put it to sleep and do a quick battery swap, and the smaller one is the backup.
I think I'll take a closer look...
Eeeew... what a mess!
What's all that blue cack I wonder.
Lovely clean connections. NOT!
Those are on the smaller battery, with the three way plug.
The other one was worse.
Not obvious from this picture is something that's missing from the next...
Oh dear, that doesn't look so good.
I figured I might be able to remove the plastic from the two way header, and solder the battery directly to the board
Then I noticed this little mess.
The header pretty much fell off
Q30 was nowhere to be seen, (or so I thought until I was looking at these photos again and noticed that it's there in the first two) and D40 and D41 fell off as I was cleaning it up.
My guess is that something was spilled in there, (see the ventilation holes in the first picture) and the batteries discharged through it over a long time, causing some kind of electrolytic reaction.
At this point I decided it was probably futile trying to reconnect the larger battery, as I had a feeling it needed these components to function correctly.
Also, since there's only one main battery, the staying alive thing is irrelevant.
So, I cleaned up the connectors for the smaller one, reassembled it without the large one, and what do you know?
It started up right away. M0RE W00T!
So, to make it better still, I figured I ought to try to find a suitable battery to put in there.
I couldn't find exactly the same battery. There was a choice between a smaller one or a larger one.
I went for the larger one since I thought the charging current might be too high for the smaller one.
And there she is, up and running, with Damn Small linux.
Don't tell my wife... :rolleyes:
opps, only pc repair stories
PC, laptop, computer...
Keep in mind that your story doesn't necessarily need to detail complicated mechanical/software issues, just bad times. Here is a horror story of mine for example of no technical quality.(I cannot participate in the contest, this is just for entertainment)
After having lived here just outside Philadelphia for no more than a month, I was beyond dead broke. Financial aid had run out months ago and all expenses were credit card coverage only (2.5 cards maxed, 1 new one). As a student, it is vital for me to connect to the internet and many extremely important files concerning school curriculum and hosptial site were on my PC (and of course, my back-up system involves a spare internal hard-drive on the computer). One day while I was trying to watch the History Channel on Win XP Media Center 2005, the system hung, then powered down. Despite my common sense that the machine powered down for a good reason, I foolishly decided to push the power button and turn it back on. What followed was what I like to call the "flash-bang" effect. Through the clear plexi side window I saw a very bright, white flash of light accompanied by a loud "KABOOM" (actually sounded more like a gunshot, very loud and quick bang) Then the -bang effect, this is the internal "thud" of my stomach hitting the floor upon the realization of my moronic actions. Alas, after that moment I could not obtain any vital signs from my computer. I hung my head in a solemn moment of silence, and then cried like a 12 year old girl. What I had in my system that could have been dead to my knowledge [Athlon XP 4400+, DFI-LanParty Crossfire MB, ATI 1900XTX, 2 200GB HDD's, Soundblaster X-fi Fatality, 550watt PSU (antec I think), 2 GB Corsair VS RAM]. I was sunk, and I was also desperate for a new computer because I needed the data on those HDD's that week and had no time for part-by-part trouble shooting. Out of desperation and panic, I bought a PC off of Craig's List.com (overpriced average home build) and at the same time ordered new components (PSU, MB, CPU) hoping the others were alive. When all the new stuff arrived I decided to throw together a test setup and see if anything was still alive. Component by component every item checked out until I got to the PSU. I spent over a thousand dollars on credit buying duplicates of many of my components that were in perfect working order, all because it never occured to me to take out my $15 Volt-meter and test my $60 PSU to see if it would turn on. Now I have a spare motherboard, CPU, and whole other out-of-date computer laying on my living room floor collecting dust, and still haven't paid off the credit balance. Moral of the story, don't panic I guess.
Now we know where that 4400+ for the community PC came from. Hard luck Jon, that's a kick in the ass, eh?
-Dave
Hello, this topic is perfect for my story, since it all JUST happened about a week ago.
My girlfriend Kim has a rabbit named 'Cheerios'. I think the rabbit is named because of the food that it eats. You may think that this story ends up with the rabbit eating into my wires or something, but no animals were harmed during this ordeal. I don't mind rabbits, and Kim loves them.
My roommate Chris, on the other hand, hates rabbits. Of all the things he fears, rabbits are the worst. Chris is like 5'11'' and plays soccer.
This whole story takes place in my room, where I was putting together my computer again. I just rewired it after having ordered two cold cathode kits, and was trying to figure out a better way to manage all of the cables. I unplugged my computer and put it in the center of my room. I then took off the sides, I have a Raidmax Smilodon, and I LOVE IT.
I hadn't started organizing my case at all, I just hooked up the lights, made sure they worked, and then unplugged it again. It was about that time when Chris walked into the room. I promised him that I would build him a computer whenever he decided to spend money on the parts. He walks in, and sees me sitting there with my tower, so I stood up to show him the boxes that the cold cathodes came in. As I turned around to get the boxes, Kim's rabbit, Cheerios, runs over to Chris.
/Sigh
Chris then freaks out, and steps backwards, tripping over my case with his left foot, and slams his left foot into the corner of my metal desk.
My computer topples over and slams on the floor, Chris is sprawled held over my desk and computer.
Kim and I immediately burst out laughing, and Cheerios was scared stupid, to which he ran under the bed in panic. After the laughter died down, Chris took up, and realized his leg was really hurting. He kept complaining about it, he said he couldn't walk on it.
After about 45 minutes we took him to the emergency room, and he got an X-ray. Turns out he broke his ankle, or cracked it somehow... the X-rays are below. Chris gets a cast this week.
I went back to my computer, pushed it back over, and started it up. Unfortunately it didn't start up. I was really concerned about this, but just figured I didn't connect something crucial (I'm smart like that!).
After about an hour of checking everything, the computer didn't boot up. I used my laptop to check out forums, and saw that if your computer doesn't boot up properly that the hard drive may be borked (dead). I ran a few more tests, making sure it wasn't my PSU, by switching PSU's.
Fortunately I hadn't slotted in a new 250Gb hard drive that my friend just sold me. He had a server of 250Gb drives, the same drives that I use, because I built his computer. I slotted in the "new" hard drive, and up she started.
I reformatted my computer, and everything is basically back to normal... except for Chris's foot.:down:
This is the second hard drive I have killed, one of them was killed in an overclocking disaster, and then this one was killed through the fatal drop/landing.
I've always heard that dropping a HD could kill it, but it had never happened to me. I'm not exactly a ninja when it comes to handling my laptop either...oh well.
I hope you enjoyed my tale! I'll try to get a pic of Chris up here when he gets back from a late night study group.
That was awesome! Cheerio the ankle breaking HDD killing wabbit! And even an X-ray to boot! haha
Yeah, that's pretty damn good!
Anyone else? Can you better this?
-Dave
Ok I have one. This is only for your amusement since I am NOT entering this contest;
I used to work for a company that provided hardware and software for the on demand package industry. One day I got a call from a particularly upset customer that is usually one of our high maintenance custy's. It was the owner of a company based in New York and they were trying to print out month end statements that had to be at the bank the next morning. They were unable to get the printer to print anything, so I asked him to check the power cord and interface cable.
That set him off and he started screaming at me (louder than when he first called); "How dumb do you think I am you piece of s***, fix this f-ing thing now or I will sue you all to hell and back!" I was having a bad day too and decided I did not want to have anyone making my day worse by cussing at me and threatening me, so I told him to call me back when he was a little more calm and ready to work through his issue.
That was my first experience with a New Yorker and asking him to calm down had the exact opposite effect. I thought the guy was going to go into coronary right there on the phone, when he started screaming cuss words at me I have never heard (and I was in the navy). I asked him again to stop with the abuse then hung up when he started the next tirade, and headed right to the owners office to wait for the ensuing phone call.
The phone was ringing as I walked into the office and I briefed the owner on what had happened. He told me not to worry about it, he is _always_ like that. The owner picked up the phone and the screaming started before he ever said hello. Once he took a breath the owner asked if he had indeed checked the cables and the screaming started again. I left the office to work on other things and 15 minutes later the owner transfered the call to me again. I explained to him that I had a set trouble shooting checklist and needed to have him check certain things in a particular order to ensure _I_ did not miss anything. He said fine, but if you ask me to check the power cable again I will lose it. OK good enough, check the data cable. Is the power on? Are any lights lit? Cable fine, power switch is on, no lights. OK, get ready for the screaming, could you please check the power cord and/or the location it is plugged in to make sure it is getting power. Screaming ensued. I tried between his breaths to explain that it was either bad power or a bad printer. He hung up on me.
He called back an hour later sheepishly admitting that the power cord was unplugged. Everything was fine. Thanks.
A couple of months later we were having a customer conference and he came up to me and insisted on taking the wife and I out to dinner. He took us to a place that required a coat and tie and proceeded to treat us to one of the most expensive meals I have ever had ($1200 for 4 people, not including tip). He turned out to be one of our best customers and never screamed at me again (although the profanities still flowed heavily).
I have many more....
Airbozo I completely understand having dealt with businesses in New York too. As soon as I picked up the phone, this IT guy from NY is screaming. I finally get his information up on the database and briefly see, and comment he has a tech coming out to replace a CD-Rom drive on a mini-tower. Note: These units can be put upright or on their side. Now he's furious that it doesn't have enough USB ports. It dawns on me maybe he's not even aware there is a front cover panel. I ask him if he was aware of the front USB ports, under the cover to the left of the power button. Well if he doesn't explode calling me and the company I work for ever name under the sun. He rants about how stupid we all are, that we don't know what side the power button is on and that we even put our logo on upside down...
..."Sir, the logo isn't upside-down, but the computer is. I'm going to cancel the work order for the CD-rom replacement, you have a good day."
Ok, here's another one that got me lots of kudo's.
I was hired by McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach CA, back in '85 to work in the destructive test department (they destroy airplane panels and measure the force required to do so), among other things. One of the systems I was hired to work on was a Concurrent Computer 3220 (wish I could show some pics), a semi mainframe system they used to run the tests and measure the forces in the destructive test center. Turns out this system was _extremely_ sensitive and worked when it wanted to. For the first month I worked there, I would get a call twice a week that this system was not functioning. I would go down to the test building and sure enough across the room I could see the trouble lights on. As soon as I got within 5 feet of it, the trouble lights would go off and the system would boot up normally. This went on for a month until I just finally got tired of it.
I had the system taken out of the test rotation and tore it completely apart down to a bare frame and a pile of boards. Cleaned EVERYTHING including the power and ground connectors on the edge of all the boards. Stress tested every board in our testbed to make sure did not have any intermittent problems (even used a space heater to keep the system hot, in case it was heat related). No board failures. Put everything back together leveled the rack, wired it up and it fired right up. No issues. I thought I had figured it out until a couple of days later I was called to fix the same machine. Same issue. Across the room I could see the trouble lights. As soon as I got close to it, the trouble lights went off and it started booting up normally.
It hit me what the issue was. It was like the proverbial light bulb going off except it was as bright as the stadium lights. I moved the system over about 5 feet and started pulling the floor tiles up. I found that when the contractor installed the computer floor they forgot to put in spacers on some of the tiles that were causing the system chassis to flex. When the system flexed, the power connectors on some of the boards (usually different board every time) came loose and the trouble light came on. When someone got close to the system the floor moved _slightly_ and the chassis flexed back to where it was supposed to be and the power connectors made contact.
I installed the spacers on the floor tiles, moved the system back to where it was and it was still running 3 years later when I left the company.
These are gold. C'mon, who has more?
-Dave