Stupid things one has done with hardware

[Shrek]

I recalled that induction motors could be quite efficient, so I ran a fan motor (without the fan blades) for a few minutes... which turned out to be stupid as that blew the thermal fuse.

Anyone else have such stories to share?

 

[Macro Device]

Was a clinically depressed kid (about 15 y.o. at that moment), wanted to do something to entertain myself but the scale had to be large so I decided to blow the whole neighbourhood up. Took an already failing PSU, connected it to the powerline, switched it from 220 V to 110 V while 'twas turned on and voilá, blackout in more than 500 apartments.

Can't even remotely consider this an okay thing to do but it counts as a stupid thing for sure.

 

[Shrek]

Appreciate your sharing.

 

[Macro Device]

Does using RAM sticks as whip amplifiers for BDSM also count..?

 

[LabRat 891]

Once, negligent homicided an AGP 6800GT, from plugging an always-on molex into it, upside down, with the power switch 'on'...

It made all sorts of scrambled pretty colors when I tried to power it on.

 

[Macro Device]

negligent homicided an AGP 6800GT

You're charged with cardslaughter. You have the right to remain silent. Any coil whine you produce might and will be used against you on the tech forum. You have a right for overclocking. If you can't afford overclocking we will provide you with it.

 

[freeagent]

I noticed that my OCZ ram cooler wasn't clipped in place properly. I had just finished messing with the system and got lazy and didn't want to power down. So I left it running while I attempted to correct my problem. I thought I had fixed it.. but it popped off and landed on my brand new Zotac GTX285 AMP causing it to spark from the top side, near the power area iirc. Big spark, pc instant off, card dead. I was just getting to know it, it was faster than my XFX 285. Still sad about that. So now I mostly play safe.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I recalled that induction motors could be quite efficient, so I ran a fan motor (without the fan blades) for a few minutes... which turned out to be stupid as that blew the thermal fuse.

Anyone else have such stories to share?

Some 30 years ago I touched a chipset heatsink while being very statically charged. The PC after that wasn't quite stable to say the least.

 

[JIWIL]

Plugging in MB's front panel USB connection... you know the one. "It feels like it's gonna break but it won't, just keep pushing." It partially tore off the MB and I have yet to bother connecting front panel USB ever since (this was three MB's ago).

 

[Apocalypsee]

Quite a few, one I remember is curious how a tiny socket 370 Celeron 600MHz die run without a heatsink and touching them while boots up. Doesn't take more than a second to realize how stupid that is, only my stupid finger burned a bit and CPU survived because I turn it off instantly.

A lot of incidents with soldering iron during my modding era in early 2000, burn my hand on a few areas because I put the iron on the floor and try to take things on the table while I solder on the floor (I don't have proper tools), still got a mark on it after 20 over years. During this time, I voltmodded a Radeon 9600, while in frustration because it can't overclock well, I ripped out the resistor I soldered on the leg of IC and that it rips out the IC leg clean off, naturally the card died.

 

[Shrek]

Ah yes, I now recall picking up a soldering iron while concentrating on the part to be soldered, till I heard some sizzling and then felt the pain.

 

[LabRat 891]

Ah yes, I now recall picking up a soldering iron while concentrating on the part to be soldered, till I heard some sizzling and then felt the pain.

First image that popped into my head

Sorry-not-sorry for laughing. Just about every one of us that's used a soldering iron, has managed to burn ourselves, at some point.
So, empathetic schadenfreude?

 

[Shrek]

Then there was the time I blew the breakers of a whole room by connecting an oscilloscope's ground to the wrong place.

Much better to have a battery powered (floating) scope than a mains powered one.

 

[RaceT3ch]

My RX 580 was killed because my AIO was leaking on to it, and the thing was it was florescent, so it really stood out.
I literally had no idea what was wrong until I tested it in another PC and blew a MOSFET.

 

[LabRat 891]

Then there was the time I blew the breakers of a whole room by connecting an oscilloscope's ground to the wrong place.

Much better to have a battery powered scope than a mains powered one.

I'm guessing the Oscope (or at least its PSU) did not survive?
Also, yes. I'd assume 100% (optional) isolation from local Ground/Earth would be beneficial.

Oh.
Much more-recently, I killed an irreplaceable piece of legacy curio kit.
AMD 785G (as in the AM3-era chipset) Socket 939 mATX board; killed by scraping the bottom of a PCI bracket across it (trying to work under someone else's cable management).

 

[Shrek]

Actually, it survived just fine (fortunately).

 

[LabRat 891]

Actually, it survived just fine (fortunately).

Leave it to 'industrial kit' to actually have functional surge protection. Wow.

Plugging in MB's front panel USB connection... you know the one. "It feels like it's gonna break but it won't, just keep pushing." It partially tore off the MB and I have yet to bother connecting front panel USB ever since (this was three MB's ago).

My best friend has very similar feelings, for very similar reasons.
I can almost get it w/ 'Type-E' headers [they're friggin' fiddly], but I've only had those kinds of scares *removing* 19/20-pin header USB3 plugs.

More than I'd like to admit, I've accidentally pulled the plastic surround for the pins off the board with the plug. Amazingly, I think I've only damaged the headers before, never completely broken.

 

[Visible Noise]

Dropped a 486DX2 while installing it. Ceramic package cracked.

Goodbye $600.

 

[RaceT3ch]

Dropped a 486DX2 while installing it. Ceramic package cracked.

Goodbye $600.

Damn, that sucks

 

[Visible Noise]

Damn, that sucks

Eh, it was over 30 years ago. Time has blunted the pain.

 

[freeagent]

Eh, it was over 30 years ago. Time has blunted the pain.

Now take into account the inflation on that

 

[Event Horizon]

Tried to gently stop a low RPM fan by pressing down on the center hub. It made the blades hit the frame. Now I just unplug if I can't use BIOS/software.

 

[Visible Noise]

Now take into account the inflation on that

I get $1,300. Shrug. I’ve made much, much, more expensive mistakes. Like getting married.

 

[freeagent]

I get $1,300. Shrug.

I thought it would have been more.. I am pretty bad with math. Boourns.

 

[Jism]

My drone got attacked by seagulls at around 35m of height. The drone got into an imbalance and crashed into a building. From there it lost signal or contact and dropped 30m's high from the sky, in a nicely perfect spot for me to find it lol. The casing is cracked, blocking one rotor. I heard parts inside actually move around and managed to get the GPS sensor out (it came out of somewhere).

Drone can be fixed but it's cheaper to buy a new one, which i'm planning todo. This drone was a great experience but now i want a bigger one that reached 86mph or 140kmph. The part your looking at is this:

Part of the GPS sensor; it's needed to fly above 30m of heigh up to 75m.