What's the weirdest computer problem you've ever dealt with?

[Vadatajs]

Via-based motherboard. It caused many sound and pci related problems that I originally thought were driver issues. Stupid via!

 

[weeber]

I still haven't fixed this problem:

For some reason, my computer monitor does not go into standby unless I do the following. Right click on the desktop, go to screen saver, click on the box for energy savings, and then exit everything. I don't even have to change any values! If I don't follow this procedure, my screen saver comes on after 5 min., but my monitor never goes to standby. By simply doing the above, my screen saver comes on after 5min and then my monitor goes to standby after 15min.

It's a simple procedure that kind of bugs me, I have no idea what the deal is.

 

[jdurg]

When I first got my Dell a few years ago I had a problem with the DVD drive. All of a sudden, out of the blue, anytime I put a DVD or CD into my DVD-ROM the computer would access the disk then reboot. I tried basically everything. I did a re-installation of Windows over my current installation and nothing worked. I tried one-by-one updating drivers and/or changing them back to the factory stock and nothing worked. Finally, I just decided to re-format my hard drive and everything worked fine. To this day I still have no idea why the computer would just reboot every time a disc was in the DVD drive.

 

[Workin']

<< Well, that coffee cup on monitor thread was pretty amusing ... who else remembers? >>

That was pretty weird. Who'da thunk the monitor would be telling you it's time to take an ergonomic break?

 

[smp]

I can't believe that people still remember the coffee cup thread. memories!!

Before we switched to Dell at work, we had a huge fleet of Vectras. I had no complaints about them (other than being ridiculously overpriced) with the exception that we were constantly replacing the Matrox vid cards.

We have IBM intellistations at school/work .. they have matrox cards too, they fail from time to time as well .. hmmmm


Weirdest problem ever was a bad stick of memory.. man, memory is hard to troubleshoot.

 

[yourharddrive]

your mom

 

[John P]

Just recently grabbed one of my Win98 boxes (TBird750) to bring to a LAN party. Instead of the monitor and keyboard I had hooked to it at home I grabbed another monitor (Optiquest Q71) and keyboard (Microsoft Internet Keyboard) because they were more convenient. The TBird750 machine worked flawlessly at home before I disconnected it. When I hooked it up at the LAN party with the new keyboard and monitor the thing would randomly shut down into standby mode while I was playing RTCW and not come out (monitor would go from green to yellow light and system would hang at a black screen)?? After messing with the standby and screen saver setting for 45 minutes I finally realized it was probably stinking "ghost drivers". So I booted in to safe mode and removed all the ghost monitors and keyboards, loaded the Optiquest monitor driver on boot up and the thing worked fine. Kinda weird eh??

 

[goog]

Just recently wrote zeroes to a HD that wouldn't successfully complete format, still wouldn't work afterwards and scandisk found and tried to fix entries, after a few attempts XP format and install from CD boot worked. Then reformatted and installed 98se which is what I was wanting to do originally.

Also experienced the radio station (a "light" FM station) on computer speakers thing.

 

[clpl]

At my previous job we had Compaq Deskpros with Matrox G200 cards. There was a known problem with the Matrox cards. Over time the BIOS on the video card would become corrupted and the card would no longer function. I had to install a BIOS "refresher" on all of the machines.

 

[Jhill]

<< Worked in a call center that took laptop calls. Turns out a guy was sitting on his bed and somehow caught a testie in the CD-ROM. The eject button wouldn't work so we had to talk him thorough using the emergency eject hole with a paper clip. I have the tape to prove it! >>



Where can I hear that tape?

If this is true then it's the all time pooch screw.

 

[mee987]

on my old system (p3 700 fcpga on tyan s1854) the system would NEVER get past the bios screen unless the FSB was at least 112mhz. the system just would not run at factory speed, it HAD to be overclocked.

 

[astroview]

Overheating Mouse!!!


The mouse plugged into the system would be warm to the touch after 15 minutes being plugged in. No moving parts in the mouse, it was a regular intellimouse. Dell RMA people didn't believe me, but I got them to send me a new mouse. How weird is that?

 

[aka1nas]

<< lol currently trying to fix a friends system that spontaneously will or will not detect all the drives attached to it if all 4 ide connections are used... >>




I have that problem with my system too.

 

[jim64477]

Gateway had the same issue. It was actually a motherboard issue but a new (different revision) mouse usually solved the issue.

Overheating Mouse!!!


The mouse plugged into the system would be warm to the touch after 15 minutes being plugged in. No moving parts in the mouse, it was a regular intellimouse. Dell RMA people didn't believe me, but I got them to send me a new mouse. How weird is that?

 

[Goi]

Well, it might not be the weirdest, but I always get this problem when I fix up a new computer for the first time. I plug in everything properly and correctly, and when the moment of truth arrives and I turn on the system, I hear the familiar whining of the fans, and stare at the monitor...which is blank. No, nothing. I wait a little longer and I get the "Your monitor is working correctly, please check your video cable/connection" routine, and if I wait long enough it'll go to standby mode.

The worst thing is, the problem is never the same. It could be memory that's not plugged in properly, a heatsink that's not installed with just the right pressure, a video card that needs to be removed and plugged in again, or even as obscure as a grounding problem. Eventually after a few hours it will magically work with a few minor adjustments, but it just frustrates the hell out of me.

Anyone had any similar experiences?

 

[Jeff H]

I've been building/fixing/tweaking computers since 1992 and just last weekend was the weirdest issue I've encountered. Last week I built a new box for myself (EPoX 4SDA+, P4-1.6A, 512MB DDR, Leaktek GF3 Ti200 128MB DDR, Seagate Barracuda4 40BG, LiteOn DVD, Yamaha CD-RW, Enlight 7237 w/ Enermax 430w FMA p.s.). The build went well, and I loaded Win98SE on it, and all seemed OK.

The only game I spend any time w/ these days is Links2001, golf game. I loaded Links2001 and when I got into the graphics setting mode it told me my vid card did not meet the minimums for the game. Really? Got on the phone w/ Microsoft, who btw were great. We tried a lot of things (different DirectX, different vid drivers, 256MB RAM, among others), and nothing helped. In fact the system got to the point it wouldn't even boot into Windows. A small reddish box would appear in the upper left hand corner. In that box was a small green dash, which I've seen from Leadtek video cards before.

The MS wouldn't flat out recommend WinXP, but pretty much suggested I go there. He said they've received reports of Athlon XP's in higher clocks giving Win98 fits, as well as P4's. So, I blew the drive, installed XP Pro, and off we went to the races <g>. IMO MS is missing a market niche, as XP is simply too much OS for the majority of people (please, no flame wars here <g>). I was very dissapointed w/ the visual quality of the game in XP, as well as the complexity of the OS.

Tuesday morning I got mad and decided to give 98 one more chance. This time I did the updates from the MS Updates site, instead of the cummulative updates (I've saved for a while now) from my CD. I'm typing this on said machine, running Win98SE and it flys. And, visually it blows XP out of the water, re games. I didn't realize how easy and simple 98 was until I spent a couple days w/ XP.

 

[mee987]

<< And, visually it blows XP out of the water, re games >>


winxp isnt the greatest OS out there, but I think you must be doing something wrong.

 

[gama]

Me: Helpdesk, this is Steve.

Secretary: I can't get my PC to turn off right. It always comes right back on the same page. It doesn't warm up or anything. It doesn't ask me for my password.

Me (after a few questions that establish nothing -- I am totally bewildered): Chris, what kind of PC do you have? Do you know whether it's a 486 or a Pentium?

Sec: I don't know what it is.

Me: Is there a name on the front of the PC, Chris?

Sec: Yes. It says "Samsung Syncmaster."

Me: (pause) You have a Samsung Syncmaster PC, Chris?

Sec: Yes, that's right.

Me: Oh, I see. (pause) Um, Chris, um, do you have a big white plastic box anywhere around your desk close to the PC?

Sec: Why, yes. (pause) Is that part of the PC?

Me: Uh-huh.

(pause)

Sec: I thought that was part of the printer.

Me: Uh-huh.

(pause)

Sec: Well, there's this big wire that comes out of it that goes to the printer. I thought it was part of the printer.

Me: Uh-huh. (pause) Uh, Chris, is there a button with a green light beside it somewhere on the box?

[I walk her though logging out of windows and booting down the PC).

Me: Chris, why didn't you call the Helpdesk about this before? How did you log off the PC before now?

Sec: I never turned it off before.

Me: Oh. Chris, how long have you had your PC?

Sec: Three years.

Me: Uh-huh.

 

[IRISH4LIFE]

The one I'm having right now. Anything 3D I run causes my computer to freeze. It's like a slide show, around every 10-20 seconds it studders to a new image. Plus the sound studders too. I can run it all day but once I play a 3D game for about 3 min. it's starts doing this.
I've pulled the SB audigy, still does it. replaced the 300watt Powersupply with a 400watt PS. Got a new Hard drive, nothing. I've reinstalled WinXP about 3 times and still a no go. Installed diffrent drivers this is driving me crazy!

 

[Gog]

About two months ago I was putting my computer together, and my dog defecated into my case which at the time only had a mobo (An Abit btw).

This wouldn't have been a big probelm had my dog not been a german shepard. I ended up spending about two days cleaning the board and selling it on Ebay. Apparently it wasn't damaged, as I haven't had any complaints from the buyer.

I think my dog was jealous that I was spending so much time with the computer.

 

[grrl]

Just what is the cup of coffee on the monitor story?

 

[spanky]

i dont have anything really wierd, but i heard a really wierd one once. it was prolly from reading ATOT some guy's computer kept crashing and freezing. he busted open the case and there was a mauled mouse in there. :Q

 

[BFG10K]

A tech support guy for a local computer store took a service call - the problem? The computer would reboot every time the toilet flushed.

ROTFL! That's the best one I've ever seen.

 

[Bleep]

I cannot beat the toilet flusher story. I am working on the darndest one right now. It is a older dell confuser and when it boots up it takes forever to draw the icons on the desktop. 5 to 6 minutes I could draw them on with a crayon faster.
Bleep

 

[Adul]

toilet flsuh pc reboots. wtf.