How Not To Install Computer Hardware

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!"

Comments

Repost! But improved!

[eaglebtc]

See this article Much improved, though, with pictures to boot!

Without RTFA, I could tell you how not to do it.

[jtnishi]

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!

Way back in the day...

[chill]

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.

Mounting the heatsink

[ctrl-alt-elite]

The scariest part of upgrading I've found is the daunting process of mounting the heatsink on the processor. Most newer heatsinks have a little latch that helps with ease of installation, but there're always those renegade heatsinks without latches that just give me the jibblies to install.

It wouldn't be so much of a problem if the heatsinks didn't require so much force to fit over the nubs on the processor housing that you have to press on them with a screwdriver, risking the integrity of the printed circuitry around the processor and your sanity as you press down on them in hope that they'll fit. But no... they still make you press like there's no tomorrow.

Re:PS2 Mice

[jeti]

The one that really kills me is when someone plugs in a PS2 mouse while the system is running

The one that really kills me is that there are people who design a system that can be destroyed by reattaching a mouse.

Re:Repost! But improved!

[a.koepke]

Yes, and they reproduced it from Australian Personal Computer Magazine, January 1998... of which I have copy.