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

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: dev0lution
buying a cheap dell and opening it up to discover the mobo had no AGP slot....

owned!

 

[VigilanteCS]

screwing the motherboard right to the case.

 

[fireontheway]

I once installed all the components in the case the mobo,drives and the hsf too.I even took my time spreading thermal compund makin it nice and neat. Everything seemed right until...OOOOOOPSS the PSU is missing?The only way to mount it too was from the inside ! ouch lol

 

[Robor]

When I first moved from Sega Genesis to PC I installed everything on the "C drive" - as in the root (who needs directories?).

Purchased a Cyrix CPU.

Lost several GB's of pr0n movies because I forgot to copy them off before a format during an upgrade.

Forgot that I loaned my friend the HS/F from my old P-233 and fried it when I booted it.

 

[nitromullet]

The issue that got me a few times when doing upgrades for others was the 33.8 GB HD BIOS barrier that was common in 1999-2000 when the "bigger" hard drives started to drop in price.

Happened when I upgraded my brother's PC and again with my room mate's... You would've thought I would have learned the first time.

Edit: although I didn't do this myself, I wonder how many people have gotten all their new PC parts home with an SATA drive only to learn that they didn't have a means of loading the SATA drivers because they didn't buy a floppy...

 

[Mokmo418]

Apart from the first computer being a Compaq, second an AST...
Tried to remove the heatsink from the old rig in my sig
only thing on the stock heatsink, you have to remove the clip-on fan to open that bracket
bracket broke
could've been worse... the socket itself was fine
got a new bracket from my local shop and all was fine

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: VigilanteCS
screwing the motherboard right to the case.

LOL, guilty.

 

[bharok]

dell for me too
i was in 9th or 10th grade at the time
did not know etnough about computers / parents would not trust me
cant rememeber

 

[yhlee]

not the "biggest newb mistake" but some dumb things:

1) buying a new processor from newegg and trying up "upgrade" my dell...

2) buying the mac 15" widescreen laptop. this thing will not fit into any bag known to man (or at least any that i own)

3) deciding the computer industry was a good career path :brokenheart:

 

[sao123]

convincing my parents to buy themselves a computer after i moved out.

 

[hazard666]

Originally posted by: nick1985
buying a dell.

and messing up my partition tables many times.

 

[imthebadguy]

breaking a floppy drive......i dont make mistakes

 

[lithium726]

when i was installing a new HSF on my processor, (3000+ Barton, so this is recent), i got it all on there and booted the computer. my asus a7n8x kept on telling me that a new chip and been installed and that i needed to go into the bios to configure.. fine i said, peice of cake! when i kept on hitting esc trying to get into the bios, it wouldnt go, and i started freaking out cause there was really no reason for it to be telling me there was a new chip, when i just replaced the HSF. i thought i had fubared the chip, even tho the system was still posting and everything. i was pissed for a good few hours, and then i realized that my keyboard was plugged into the fvcking mouse port. man, that was a relief...

 

[IGBT]

Not using Sparkle power supplies..Sparkle's all I use now or replace with when troubleshooting...

 

[clarkey01]

Got a 1.5 Ghz P4 willy for an insane amount.

Bought a 5600 FX but it clocks down cos my motherboard is only 4x AGP.

 

[S0Y73NTGR33N]

Mixing up mic-bias and mic power or something like that on my ASUS k8vse-dlx. Hello smoke... goodbye motherboard.


-green

 

[g8wayrebel]

Quote:
originally postd 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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awesome.Thanks for the :laugh:


Put cpu in my board to check it for friend. No hs/f, just wanted to see if it would boot.Booted to start screen. Locked up. Touched it....surely it wasn't that hot,right?
WRONG!!!
I added required hardware and booted. It was ok fortunately.
Connected not one, but two disk drives backwards breaking pins...fixed with needle and wire cutter...still using one of them.

 

[Big Lar]

Upgrading

 

[Sureshot324]

Screwing my motherboard directly onto the case without the raisers.

 

[dripgoss]

No joke - joining AOL in 1997 on one of their "500 Free Minutes" and then trying to unjoin for approximately 5 months while they kept charging my credit card. I had to cancel my credit card because they wouldn't stop and then they sent me to collections. It took me about a year to sort it all out with them after faxing them affidavits, transcriptions of phone conversations and email to their customer service!

Now I just love it when I see an AOL commercial talking about how they have Spam control built in!!! Oh that's effin rich... HAAA

oh, I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

 

[Rip the Jacker]

- Buying a computer from Best Buy.

- Directly screwing motherboard to side of case.

 

[joedogma]

Great thread, not sure why listening to stories of meltdowns makes me laugh...btw, did I screw my mobo directly to the case? Hmmm....

 

[earthling30]

1. Went to Radio Shack looking for answers, long long ago.

2. Floppy cable installed wrong, still catch my self doing it

3. Thinking Windows ME was a good OS to use, didn't use it too long.

 

[bluewall21]

Sitting in DOS for 2 hours because I forgot the command to load Windows 3.1.

 

[Carnage4]

1) Attempting to ask Dell tech support anything relevant or useful
2) Going into Radio Shack (post-1995) and assuming that the people working there would know anything useful
3) Buying a power supply from Best Buy
4) Buying anything other than dirt-cheap media from Best Buy/CC/OM/OD/non-intarnet
5) Shorting out a brand new (at the time) P3 mobo by accidentally leaving a screw between it and the case. The slight tingling sensation I got in my hand when I touched the case gave it away