Whats the stupidest thing you've done whilst building your PC

My first computer (which I didn't build myself) was running a bit hot and the CPU fan was quite noisy. Having watched some videos on Youtube and thinking I kinda knew what I was doing I decided to remove the CPU cooler and clean the dust out of it. I found some strange goo under it (not knowing anything about thermal paste back then) and dutifully cleaned it all off and put it back together.
It was weeks before I realized my mistake but I never understood why the computer just ran hotter and louder after my *fix* :D

ps: stop distracting me from searching from that competition picture now with all these interesting threads!
 
Splicing a PSU cable with my teeth... While it was still plugged in via the mains.

Was quite funny. Gotta a massive twang round the gob and the PSU powered on.
 
TechMeh said:
Splicing a PSU cable with my teeth... While it was still plugged in via the mains.

Was quite funny. Gotta a massive twang round the gob and the PSU powered on.
Click to expand...
LOL! You'd probably be okay though, if it's an output from the PSU you're talking about since you've got at most 12v DC, the mains cable on the other hand mightn't be the brightest idea to do. :D

As for me, I think it might have been the 2nd rig I built. I assembled it as you do only to press the power button to get nothing, no fans spinning, zilch. So I spent the next part of the day swapping parts in and out of it trying my old motherboard, cpu etc. with zero success.

After quite a while I got my multimeter at the PSU and did the trick to turn it on my shorting two connectors together with a paperclip, of course the thing didn't turn on ie. the fan didn't spin up. It was only then I found out the PSU had a power switch on the back. I proceeded to flick it, and low' and behold, the system booted as it should. :banghead:

Another more recent moment of stupidity was accidentally deleting my Windows partition (with many files I didn't want to lose) over the command line in Debian when I wanted to resize my /home partition. I mixed up /dev/sda and /dev/sdb. :(

My most recent one is in this thread:
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=59543
 
Zoot said:
As for me, I think it might have been the 2nd rig I built. I assembled it as you do only to press the power button to get nothing, no fans spinning, zilch. So I spent the next part of the day swapping parts in and out of it trying my old motherboard, cpu etc. with zero success.

After quite a while I got my multimeter at the PSU and did the trick to turn it on my shorting two connectors together with a paperclip, of course the thing didn't turn on ie. the fan didn't spin up. It was only then I found out the PSU had a power switch on the back. I proceeded to flick it, and low' and behold, the system booted as it should. :banghead::(
Click to expand...

It's just one of those simple things you don't even think about :lol: When I watched my mate build his first PC he put the PSU in backwards with the plug socket inside the case and the cables all sticking out of the back, and it was just something so silly I didn't think anybody would ever do it, but he did :L
 
Built a rig for my mate, cutting edge at the time - i7 920, two Radeon 4870s in Crossfire, think it cost him around £900 in parts alone so he was well chuffed.

He asked me to pop round his with it to connect it up to his new TV, loads of his mates there, so of course I popped oven the case to show off all the hardware inside, lots of ooohing and aaahing and general geek admiration. Of couse back then I was considered a PC wizard because I did neat cable management, and not just hook everything up like spaghetti. Go figure.

So I hook everything up, generally chatting about 3Dmark scores and how I was really pushing the chip to its limits at 3.2ghz on air cooling, and I turn on the TV, and his surround system, and with a slight pause for dramatic effect, I press the power button.

Nowt.

Nada.

Zip.

Sweet F. A.

Slight nervous giggle, I check that the mains cable is plugged into the PSU and that the socket is switched on at the wall. It is. I press the button again. Nothing happens. Start to sweat slightly.

Pull the PC back out from under the desk, and check all the wiring from PSU to motherboard is all present and correct.

It is.

I'm feeling rather warm.

I check all the chassis cables from the front IO panel are attached to their corresponding headers.

They are.

I'm sweating like a Mexican drug mule going through customs.

I start to hear muttering. The geeks are turning hostile. I won't make it out of here alive.

Then I hear a little voice, almost a whisper, and it says "Does this need to be on?"

It's my mates five year old daughter. She's pointing at the switch on the back of the PSU. Which is currently off.

I bought her the biggest damn teddy bear you've ever seen.
 
Remmy said:
It's just one of those simple things you don't even think about :lol: When I watched my mate build his first PC he put the PSU in backwards with the plug socket inside the case and the cables all sticking out of the back, and it was just something so silly I didn't think anybody would ever do it, but he did :L
Click to expand...
That's pretty darn silly alright. Although at least it's easily fixable though.

Davva2004 said:
It's my mates five year old daughter. She's pointing at the switch on the back of the PSU. Which is currently off.

I bought her the biggest damn teddy bear you've ever seen.
Click to expand...
Glad to see I'm not the only one who's guilty of that one. ^_^
 
While cleaning my fans last week (Enermax ABPolish) popped the blades out good old clean and put them back thinking all is sweet and done I switched on and a spinning blade of death shot across the living room at light speed... scared the crap out of all of us it took over an hour to get the cat off the top of the door. :-(
 
I bent my 8320s cpu pins and covered it in thermal paste (on the pins and on the motherboard as well) when I tried to remove its stock cooler. It hadn't ran for weeks and as such the thermal paste was more like glue :l. Luckily I repaired it by using some thermal paste cleaner and an old credit card to bend the pins back in to position.
 
Thankfully I have not really had too many problems, worst thing I've done is knocking the 24-pin out of its socket with the power supply when building a pc for my dad in a CM Elite 120. Took me about an hour to realise what had happened and I was about 1 minute away from telling my dad that he needed to replace something.
 
Held a delta fan by the blades whilst I was cleaning and accidently turned my rig on, Nearly lost a finger, These fans spin at 5500 RPM and move 225CFM of air, They are beastly and not meant for normal rigs but I plug this one in when I want to do some de-dusting, I have since put fan guards on both sides ^_^
 
Last edited:
Dicehunter said:
Held a delta fan by the blades whilst I was cleaning and accidently turned my rig on, Nearly lost a finger, These fans spin at 5500 RPM and move 225CFM of air, They are beastly and not meant for normal rigs but I plug this one in when I want to do some de-dusting, I have since put fan guards on both sides ^_^
Click to expand...

The servers i work with have banks of 8 of them o.O
 
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