What is the biggest newb mistake you have made since you got interested in computers?

[BentValve]

The very first build I had was in about 99' .. . I screwed the motherboard directly to the case and wondered why it would not work. Hey, at least I figured it out on my own what I had done and no damage had been done.

 

[nick1985]

buying a dell.

 

[BentValve]

I am laughing now just thinking about it because I remember thinking "hmm this piece of crap does not even lay flat, I was screing downt he corners and watching the motherboard flex downwards as I was screwing it on.
After seeing the standoffs and looking at them for abit I finally put 2 and 2 together.

 

[Kishan]

n00b mistake #1: Computer doesn't work. Why don't we just RMA everything. D'oh!

 

[Rhin0]

At some point in time I or someone unknown to me sprayed my $450 dollar IBM P72 monitor with Windex. Well it sorted hosed it... As long as there is no sun it is ok but the anti glare coating is trashed in the middle were the spray was.

Needless to say I was pissed... I don't even notice it anymore (not as bad as it sounds) I have often thought about stripping all the coating

 

[MisterChief]

Bought a Radeon 9200SE, despite warnings

 

[icejunkie]

Originally posted by: nick1985
buying a dell.

I'm still laughing. LOL!

 

[NarcoticHobo]

Got 1/2" OD fitting when I needed 1/2" ID fittings for my watecooling system.

Yea... I know mines not very good.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: MisterChief
Bought a Radeon 9200SE, despite warnings

and then you bought a 9800XT, i dont know which is worse

 

[rammstein junkie]

umm i fried a geforce2 lol static is fun

 

[Mrvile]

While trying to remove the stock hsf that came attached to my mobo/cpu combo, I unclicked the two things on the side of the hsf and hadn't realized that that was as far as I needed to go. I tugged gently on the thing, didn't come off so I looked carefully at it and saw that the damn thing was screw into the motherboard!! I then started unscrewing it from the motherboard, trying to fit the screwdriver behind the hsf to get to those damn little screws, wondering how the hell they got the thing attached in the first place when I realized I was unscrewing the backplate. I had already somehow removed one screw so I said f it and pulled harder on the hsf and pulled the whole godamn CPU out of the socket.

I have to say that hsf work is the hardest part to building a computer. Everything else is just plug it in if it fits, but the hsf is so godamn stupid!

EDIT: Wow I type slow I started this after reading icejunkie's post. And I was going to comment, why the hell would you pay 350 bucks on a 9800XT.

 

[hoppa]

Originally posted by: Rhin0
At some point in time I or someone unknown to me sprayed my $450 dollar IBM P72 monitor with Windex.

ive been cleaning my 19" viewsonic with windex for over 3 years and have never had a problem with glare. in fact, i know the coating is still there cause i rubbed a spot of it off when i bumped into my monitor with something or other, and it is very visible.

 

[uOpt]

Had no idea about the additional power connector on a Pentium-4 mainboard. Took a while to figure out.

It's actually not mentioned in the Asus manual for that board, although it is mentioned in newer manuals.

 

[flamingspinach]

Bought a bunch of generic parts just because they were on a shelf at Fry's, and did no research... -_- Ended up stuck with a Diamond Stealth III S540 (S3 Savage4 based) video card for three years... (this was back in 2000)

No on second thought the stupidest thing I did was reinstalling XP and losing encrypted files, as mentioned in the sticky thread - recovered 'em a year or so later though.

-fs

 

[Quasmo]

bought a dual pentium 3 motherboard for $200 untested from a trade show.

 

[halfadder]

Staring at my Commodore 64's monitor totally clueless when it asked me to insert an INITIALIZED floppy so I could save my word processing document. I don't think I was able to save anything for the first 6 months until I finally figured out how to initialize/format floppies with one of the utilities programs. (Some of my games were able to save onto another blank floppy as the game itself used its own file system with a new blank disk)

Another big mistake was when I had my first slot-load CD-ROM drive on a PC that sat under my desk... without looking under my desk first, I stuck my arm down and thought I was inserting a CD into the drive. Turns out I slipped the disc in the narrow gap between my CD-ROM drive and my CD-RW burner drive!! It put two serious scratches on the CD!!!

 

[Todorov]

Here is he..

http://www.ironoak.de/PE/forum...44a556aa67ed75f6dac9b8

 

[MisterChief]

Originally posted by: Todorov
Here is he..

http://www.ironoak.de/PE/forum...44a556aa67ed75f6dac9b8

:laugh:

 

[halfadder]

Common around 1993 - 1995: "I think I need to buy a Multimedia for my PC"

 

[Mrvile]

Did anyone notice koostis's (from the linked forums) icon? He's on page 2, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

 

[ip]

Originally posted by: Todorov
Here is he..

http://www.ironoak.de/PE/forum...44a556aa67ed75f6dac9b8

I feel so smart!

 

[Philippine Mango]

When attaching my first thermally controlled HSF I put the diode ON the cpu so when I mounted the HSF it was getting hot temps and it ended up crushing the dang thing!

 

[ts3433]

I was being an ignorant n00b and tried to use the floppy cable (I didn't know/see that it didn't have as many pins as the other) that came with my AN35N-Ultra with my CD burner (I couldn't see that it wasn't covering all of the pins). I ended up stealing an IDE cable out of a Dell to finish installing XP till my parents could give me a ride to go get the correct cable (stupid board only came with one).

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Did anyone notice koostis's (from the linked forums) icon? He's on page 2, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

I was staring at that thing for like 15 seconds until it clicked!

 

[MisterChief]

Originally posted by: KPSHAH316

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Did anyone notice koostis's (from the linked forums) icon? He's on page 2, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen.

I was staring at that thing for like 15 seconds until it clicked!

Same here, but isn't that just the most awsome avatar you've ever seen? Kinda creepy after a while, though