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How Not To Install Computer Hardware

Posted by timothy on from the do-your-worst dept.

ssassen writes "Most computer hardware websites tell you how to get your computer hardware up and running properly and not RMA it after the first boot. Hardware Analysis takes a different approach and tells us exactly how NOT to install computer hardware. They document many of the pitfalls that'll sound familiar to many enthusiasts and have some great pictures of what could go horribly wrong during an upgrade. Very funny, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face!"

8 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Everything is hot swappable... by seanadams.com · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...as long as nobody's looking!

    1. Re:Everything is hot swappable... by questamor · · Score: 4, Funny

      I seem to have the most extraordinary luck (or I only come across tough hardware). I've hotplugged just about everything except a CPU, and the worst I've had is an OS crash. That includes all connectors, ram, graphics cards, vram, drives, psus fans and speakers.

      I tried the RAM and VRAM after realising I'd done some stupid things in the last 20 years and not killed any hardware, so pressed my luck and did those too.

      I think if I do a CPU next I'll be just about complete

  2. Without RTFA, I could tell you how not to do it. by jtnishi · · Score: 5, Funny
    1. Don't install computer hardware while drunk. It'll sure be funny in the morning, but only if you haven't managed to plug things in such a way that they don't blow up.
    2. Don't install computer hardware with all the components plugged in AND on. Yeah, I know that it's good practice to keep the plug in while holding the computer case for installing components so you stay grounded, but when it's all on, I'm sure something's liable to fry. Of course, USB might be an exception, but considering how often hot-plugging USB stuff crashes my comp, it might be best to stay away from that, too. ;)
    3. Don't install components while having sex. Either your SO doesn't care, or he/she is the biggest geek ever, and you're one lucky person.
    4. Don't install components while eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I tried that once. It wasn't pretty.

    5. See, you didn't need to read that article at all. Let's keep up the slashdot tradition!
  3. Way back in the day... by chill · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used to work in a retail computer store specializing in Amiga computers. The A1200 was notorious for being difficult to install expansion boards into the trapdoor slot.

    I had one accelerator try to be returned after the customer tried to install it themselves.

    I looked at the unit and the pins connecting the card connector to the board were bent and there were chips out of the motherboard.

    I told the customer that it looked like they took a screwdriver to the edge and used a hammer to try and pound the card into the slot.

    I kid you not, the reply was "I did. So what? The manual didn't say *NOT* to hit it with a hammer and screwdriver".

    We didn't accept the return. I explained that my supplier would laugh me out of business if I tried to return it with chisel marks.

    $200 down the drain because the cheap bastard didn't want to spend the extra $10 to have us install it.

    --
    Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    1. Re:Way back in the day... by WegianWarrior · · Score: 4, Funny

      Reminds me of the large poster we have hanging in the workshop (I work with pneumatic, hydraulic and mechanical components for military jets, as well as other related items (ECS, EPU and so on)):

      If it jams - force it! If it breaks, it needed repair anyway!


      Seriously thought, there is a reason why the users manuals for comsuber electronics has page up and down with warnings how not to use the product - my new 30" widescreen television (a big thing weighting so much you need two ordinary people or four geeks to lift it) shall not - according to the manual - be used in the shower or bathtub... Obvioulsy some people lack any trace of common sence, and need to be told every little thing.

      --
      Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
    2. Re:Way back in the day... by B747SP · · Score: 4, Funny
      We didn't accept the return. I explained that my supplier would laugh me out of business if I tried to return it with chisel marks.

      I came in at the funny end of a hard disk DSAA (Dead Shortly After Arrival) story a few years back. Cuntstomer bought a new HDD from the computer story where SWMBO worked. Took it home, set stuff up. HDD went unserviceable within a day or so. Just plain bad luck in that respect..

      Unfortunately, aforementioned cuntstomer had a Friend Who Knows About Computers(tm) handy. Somehow or other, the FWKAC managed to convince him that he could recover the data by opening the disk.

      Trouble was, the disk didn't have common-or-garden phillips head screws, it used some new-fangle torx thingamy. No problem, FWKAC simply took to it with a battery powered drill, and drilled out the torx screws to get the case open.

      A bit like a dog chasing a car I suspect - no idea what he was going to do with it when he got it open.

      Anyway, the after all this, the cuntstomer brought the disk back expecting warranty replacement.

      Owner of the shop was an astute, but somewhat unorthodox HK Chinese cum New Zealander cum Australian (and last time anyone checked, living in China). He took one look at it all, and laughed. Right in the cuntstomer's face.

      And laughed. And laughed, and laughed. Funniest effing thing that any of us had ever seen. History doesn't record the cuntstomer's reaction, but it does state that he didn't get his warranty replacement.

      7+ years later, we're all still laughing.

      --
      I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
  4. Upgrading is easy... by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just make sure you have done a full (or preferably 2) full backups first - then it doesnt matter what you do to your PC, nothing will go wrong. Hell, juggle the ram chips, play football with the hard disk, drop bits onto passing pedestrians... whatever the hell you feel like. It'll all work just fine.

    This state of affairs can obviously be implied from the case where you attempt to upgrade without backing up and it takes 0.0000001 seconds for something fatal to happen to your hard disk.

    --
    Beep beep.
  5. Dr. Seuss wouldn't do it, either by plover · · Score: 4, Funny
    Not in the dark, not with a spark.
    Not on a boatse, not with a goatse.
    I won't mod the box, and I won't overclox.
    I will not hot swap it here or there.
    I will not hot swap it anywhere!

    I do not hot plug CPUs, Sam. I will not do it, Sam-I-Am.

    --
    John