how I really screwed up

[fixrupr]

I would like to see some of you geeks own up to some of dumbest things that you have done. We could all learn and laugh. Half of the stuff I do would be worthy of a post. ------I'm not a geek but I'll start anyway.-----

I had installed a 24x10x40 CD burner and was sorting my way through NERO software. I was moderately successful, but got stalled on "packet burning". I gave up and shut down. When I later booted the machine, I had all kinds of problems/crashes. After a couple of hours of trying to get back to square one, I discovered that I had left a blank cd-r disk in the burner. I removed it and all was well, except that my head hurt from banging it on the shop wall. I'll join you all in saying "what an idiot".

[This message has been edited by fixrupr (edited 11-08-2001).]

[Rick]

Check this Link Out.
We are not alone.
http://rinkworks.com/stupid/




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To ERR is HUMAN
To REALLY screw things UP, YOU NEED a COMPUTER !

[andyswork@beci.net]

Rick loved your link! My mess ups are so bad I would be embrassed to write em down. Good talking to you yesterday.

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One day i will be a pro, Thanks Andy

[BigBlue66]

Once I thought I made a mistake, but I was wrong. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif


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Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[mjc]

How about "archiving" each and every dll on my system?

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[kenja]

I haven't made a mistake since... yesterday. Decided to lower the RPM of a CPU fan by running it at seven volts (using +12 as positive and +5 as negative). Grabbed a four-pin Molex assembly out of my spare parts box. Diced and spliced; soldered a beautiful new wiring harness complete with shrink tubing. Doh!!! Wrong gender!

[ranchdog]

I sent DOS to the Recycle Bin once. HELLO.

Back in the days of WIN95.

Had a little trouble getting things to boot-up.


http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[leichaolan]

Once I was formatting/fdisking an older removable HD and "forgot" to change the drives on the fdisk menu. I ran fdisk from the removable so I assumed that the removable was the default choice. Ended up fdisking C:. Mess things up real good.

[Steve]

I once deleted Config.sys and Autoexec.bat because I thought they were in the wrong folder. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/redface.gif Heh heh, that worked good. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

I once took the fan and heatsink off an AMD processor, ran the machine for about a half hour. Then while pointing out the processor to the person I was training, I put my finger right on it!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif WOW, those things are hot! Instant blister.

Then there was the time I discharged a video display capacitor, to the frame, while my left hand WAS ON THE FRAME!! Good thing someone was there.

I could go on, but I'm starting to get nervous. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Peace and Love, brothers and sisters. Peace and Love

[kenja]

Glad you're still with us, Steve!

[Steve]

Thanks Kenja,

Glad to be here. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Peace and Love, brothers and sisters. Peace and Love

[BigBlue66]

Steve!

Hey bud, got any more? Got a real kick out of your post. hehe http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

BB 66


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Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[Steve]

Well, thanks BB66,

But I'm sure we've all done things like this,...right?

Who dosen't remember the day they found the "live" capacitor in a "dead" power supply? Now there's a moment... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

And then there was the day I "balanced" a 25" crt on the top of a 10' step ladder while I put my screwdriver and pliers in my pocket! Doesn't take much imagination, does it. I still wonder "What the HELL was I thinking?!"



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Peace and Love, brothers and sisters. Peace and Love

[This message has been edited by Steve (edited 11-13-2001).]

[ranchdog]

LMAO.

Steve, you da man.

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[Paleo Pete]

Spent 30 minutes troubleshooting a video problem on a previously working system...3 video cards, different memory, different power supply, considered a different CPU...when someone walked over and turned the monitor ON..... http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

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Support the right to keep and arm bears.
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.dreamwater.com/paleopete/computer.htm) has been moved, please update your bookmarks.

[bassman]

LMAO Steve, thats a riot. Since I haven't been in computers that long, I haven't had the opportunity to do anything quite that entertaining yet.
All of my goodies are from construction.
While unloading a unit of 8 skylights off a sideload truck bed, we used one forklift to slide the unit off the truck 8'ways. I then drove another forklift under the unit 4' ways. Since the skylights were slightly larger then 4', we put some 2x4 on the forks to catch the other side(have done this in the past, its kinda sketchy). Lifted the unit off the other forklift(approx. 5' off the ground) and all looked well. As soon as I started forward, the load shifted, the 2x4 snapped.
I no longer had a nice tidy stack of 8- 4'x8' automatic fireventing, $3000.00 skylights, it looked more like a roll of something you would see at a recycle center http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif
The funniest thing was trying to get my boss to believe me in the insuing phonecall, hehehe. He kept saying I was lieing to him.

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Please let us know if what we suggest helps. This helps us help you better.

[BigBlue66]

I once replaced the distributor cap on my car without removing the ground cable from the battery. This car has all the bells, whistles and electronic sensors.

when I was putting the distributor cap back on, I heard a faint bbbzzzztttt. Didn't think much of it until too days later my alternator died. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif

BB 66


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Life = Karma, or is it, Karma = Life?

[fixrupr]

Pete's post reminds me that I drove across Ohio to find out what was wrong with my wife's mom's pc, which had been an Xmas gift from us. She had a spiral notebook with instructions, which she followed explicitly. She had been instructed to power up using the switch on the surge strip. Our son had been there for a visit and had turned off the monitor. Oh well, a guy needs a reason to visit inlaws anyway.


"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy."
--Red Green--

[Whyzman]

Computer neophyte Whyzman had a computer built for him. Wallpaper was the builder's logo. I wanted it off! Found this file name Bootlog which for sure had to be the shortened version of the file with the screen LOGO on it. Dragged that bugger on over to the Recycle Bin and then proceeded to flush the Recycle Bin.

Boxed that bad boy up and sent it back at my expense...they had no idea why it wouldn't turn back on!

Tried my hand at assembling a computer myself...decided to to connect the floppy drive so as to conserve cable length...hooked it up in the middle and folded the remainder neatly securing it with electrical tape...Ah Ha, you've been there too! LOL

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May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[This message has been edited by Whyzman (edited 11-14-2001).]

[fixrupr]

These posts make me feel slightly less stupid. Aaaaand,I was wondering if anyone wants to throw in a few bucks to pick up a double indemnity policy on Steve.

[geebee76]

Hi Guys,
like a few others, I haven't been doing computers
long enough to have experienced any major embarassments...
just the usual removal of unimportant system files.

So I would like to share this one with you.

One year while preparing my greenhouse for the oncoming winter
I decided to buy a nice new gas heater (you're starting to guess
already)
Anyway after hooking up the regulator and the hose to the gas
bottle outside the greenhouse I shouted my wife to come and turn
on the gas. "Turn it on full I said" as she peered through the glass,
"are you sure she asked", "yes, I've set the regulator" I replied.

For the first few seconds nothing happened, the force of gas coming
out of the heater prevented it from igniting but after a few seconds
more it realised who was master and decided to give up and light.

Well...to say it went with a bang is an understatement, the whole
greenhouse swelled and shook accompanied by a flash of flames that
made me feel warm all over. My wife screamed as the smell of burnt
hair filled the air.

The whole episode couldn't have lasted more than ten seconds but it
felt like minutes to me. I survived relatively unscathed except for a few missing body hairs. We still laugh to this day about it.

One thing I did learn from it is that I can build a really strong
greenhouse. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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You are making progress if each mistake is a new one!

Sig from Here (http://www.oneliners-and-proverbs.com/)

geebee76@hotmail.com



[This message has been edited by geebee76 (edited 11-15-2001).]

[ranchdog]

.....geebee That's Heavy.....

POOF!! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....

[geebee76]

POOF!! LOL

Now some people reading this will be thinking that I was extremely silly in what I did but if you look at it closer you will realise that I did take safety measures. I had a second person on the scene and after she stopped screaming, she managed to switch off the gas, thus preventing further injury. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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You are making progress if each mistake is a new one!

Sig from Here (http://www.oneliners-and-proverbs.com/)

geebee76@hotmail.com

[bassman]

roflmfaofd
OOOOOHHH YYAAAAHHHHHH, SAFETY FIRST

And the Redwood trees? How did they hold up?

------------------
Please let us know if what we suggest helps. This helps us help you better.

[geebee76]

Yep, that's my new moto Think Safety http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

Bassman, the Redwoods survived because evolution had provided them with better fire resistance than me and on this occasion with a higher level of intelligence as well. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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You are making progress if each mistake is a new one!

Sig from Here (http://www.oneliners-and-proverbs.com/)

geebee76@hotmail.com

[iisbob]

Well,... in nearly 20+years of PC building/servicing etc; i can tell you i've had a few embarrassing moments! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

But i don't think i'll ever be able to top my first day on a job as a junior system administrator.

Eager to impress my senior members, when the email server went down-i vailiently jumped to the rescue! Since it was giving " out of space " errors; and it had two drives-one for archiving messages-i decide in my infinite newly acquired sys-admin wisdom that i was going to format the archive drive.

Lo and behold-I enterd the format command and with one rush of supreme confidence in my skills; i deleted the garbage that had accumlated over the last several months!

Unfortunately it was the wrong drive i wiped. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif


Thank goodness my bos at the time was a really cool guy, he helped me to reinstall and get the server back up and running and covered for me.

You have no idea how mortifying it is to be on your first day of work, and have several hundred people ( including the CEO ) screaming , Where's my email!?

Since that day, i've ALWAYS double and tripled checked my drive letter before i do any kind of formatting ( and i still cringe even to this day! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif )



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iisbob
"Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It's not fair that some men should be happier than others."
-- Oscar Wilde

[Steve]

Thank you guys, I'm starting to feel better.

I was startin' to think I was Tim The Toolman Geek or somethin'.

http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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Peace and Love, brothers and sisters. Peace and Love