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

[zakee00]

WOW this thread is great!
ive got a coupple too
1. tried to daisy chain 4 fans (3 is maximum to plug in, the manual says. if only i read the manual lol) onto the 2 "fan only" connectors of my Antec TruePower 430w. DO_NOT_DO_IT. psu blew up, but THANK GOD everything else was ok.
2. didnt know i had to change the HTT multi to overclock
3. took HSF off and didnt put a new layer of thermal paste on (cpu is fine, it just ran hot). i fixed it with some AS5
4. plugged IDE cable upside down for my floppy drive
5. forgetting to erase the internet history after going to a bad joke site. ouch.
sticky!

 

[DoC91383]

I was playing Counterstrike, and while on a server of very close friends i decided i'd try to fart on the microphone. I ended up sharting my pants and throwing the mic out. I got an award in the mail from them for being the first person on the server to shart themselfs while playing cs. Kind of computer related if you ask me.

 

[50]

Actually considering paying someone to install a cd burner into my computer...

 

[aznman]

hmmm building a p4 2.4 w/ 8500le for 800bucks back in 8th grade....sohphmore now

 

[OCNewbie]

Originally posted by: DoC91383
I was playing Counterstrike, and while on a server of very close friends i decided i'd try to fart on the microphone. I ended up sharting my pants and throwing the mic out. I got an award in the mail from them for being the first person on the server to shart themselfs while playing cs. Kind of computer related if you ask me.

lol! =)

 

[dds14u]

Originally posted by: DoC91383
I was playing Counterstrike, and while on a server of very close friends i decided i'd try to fart on the microphone. I ended up sharting my pants and throwing the mic out. I got an award in the mail from them for being the first person on the server to shart themselfs while playing cs. Kind of computer related if you ask me.

...

 

[Siddhartha]

Enjoyed the stupid AMD vs Intel fanboy arguments that were rampaging five or six years ago

 

[Machine350]

Asking a BestBuy, Compusa, or PC Club rep for advice.

 

[Baked]

Waste money on Norton software, $300 worth of Norton software. WTF. Yeah, that's back in the last century when Norton was the king.

 

[imported_Skorpio]

Putting a huge magnet next to my floppy disks.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

keeping up with AT forums.

 

[Pohemi]

Originally posted by: Todorov
Here is he..

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

OMFG...ROFLMAO! :laugh:

 

[MustangSVT]

started playing games on it -_-; it honestly ruined my life.

 

[shortylickens]

I cant believe no one has said it yet. Maybe no one has the guts.

My first, personal, store purchased, desktop computer.........Was a Compaq.

As they say, you learn a lot from your mistakes. That mistake was the catalyst in my computer adventures. I have since learned much in the effort to analyze my big mistake. Have not purchased a desktop since. After a few expensive upgrades I decided to build my own. I will never go back.

Actually, maybe that was my best mistake.

I think I must be the exception to the eMachine rule. All the desktops I've ever had for friends a family work fine.

 

[intogamer]

Placing the hsf over the proc, when it wasn't in place or locked in. hehe That was when I was screwing around with my HP comp. RMA at bb and the guy was like someone was f*cking around with the proc. haha

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I cant believe no one has said it yet. Maybe no one has the guts.

My first, personal, store purchased, desktop computer.........Was a Compaq.

As they say, you learn a lot from your mistakes. That mistake was the catalyst in my computer adventures. I have since learned much in the effort to analyze my big mistake. Have not purchased a desktop since. After a few expensive upgrades I decided to build my own. I will never go back.

Actually, maybe that was my best mistake.

I think I must be the exception to the eMachine rule. All the desktops I've ever had for friends a family work fine.

2nd post in this thread. "bought a dell." aka, retail, aka desktop in your dictionary.

 

[Pohemi]

I'm so ashamed to admit it, but....bought a Gateway (Celeron no less) back in....97? 98? Something like that.

 

[Caminetto]

I built a system with some parts from UBid.

 

[dev0lution]

buying a cheap dell and opening it up to discover the mobo had no AGP slot....

 

[DrCool]

learning never to rush anything that's of any importance!

I was building one system, while upgrading another. It was late, It had been a pretty long day, and I was tired. One system was sitting on the carpet, while the other was on the desk. Working with computers on the carpet, with a magnitized screwdriver added up to a very big NO, NO.. but since I wasn't paying close attention to what I was doing, this didn't immmediately occur to me.

I was sitting on the carpet, working on the computer in my lap, and as soon as I put the screwdriver into the system, to tighten a screw, I saw a spark, which was proceded by a mini-FIREBALL..

the static charge of the carpet combined with the magnitized screwdriver sparked catching the front panel power switch (it was an AT motherboard/power supply). Needless to say, I lost a PSU, some front panel connections wires, and a permantely fubared Video card.. everything else survived, but the video card never worked the same after that.. (produced an image with severe tearing in the upper right hand corner)

It was definitely a good life lesson, as I learned patience is a virtue.

I never use magnitized screwdrivers anymore either, as I've traced quite a few dead floppy drives to them.

and lastly, NEVER work on a computer, while it's laying on carpet!

 

[zakee00]

wow...i didnt know about the carpet, and i built mine about 2 feet from carpet without thinking about it :S:S:S lol

 

[Farmer]

zakee00:

its ok if its two feet away from the carpet. DrCool's case was quiet special. You need to do some serious sock rubbing to build up that kinda of charge.

 

[Carp1812]

Kudos to the originator of this thread - it has provided me with many a good laugh tonight. My list:

1) Building computers for STUPID people who then need tons of tech support.
2) While doing 1) I decided that it would be OK to boot up for just a second without any thermal grease between the HSF and the XP2000 cpu to see if the BIOS would post, etc. I only had it on for maybe 60 seconds. Needless to say I ate up all the profit on that build buying a new processor.

 

[batmanuel]

Runner Up: Trying to figure out why my motherboard couldn't see the new 20GB Western Digital hard drive that I hooked up as a single drive on the cable set to "Master". Half an hour of playing around with the BIOS and reseating the cables later I actually resorted to the RTFM option and learned about the single drive jumper setting.

First place: Hooking a ThermalTake Volcano heatsink fan with a fan speed controller to the Fan Only connector on an Antec TruePower PSU. Up until that point, I'd never actually seen any of the wiring in a PC catch fire before.

 

[Amaroque]

I was playing with a program called "FDISK" on a shiny new 286. Couldn't figure out why the computer wouldn't even boot after that.

It wasn't my computer, so I ran away. The next day the guy was running around screaming about his hard drive being blank!