We have all been there at sometime

edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
edited January 2007 in Hardware
pm20070117.png

Well, I was trying to post an image, but it isn't working for me right now.
Try this link
http://churchof.poisonedminds.com/

Comments

  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    ROFLOL!!! Love it, edcentric! :D

    Set a computer on fire once myself. Couldn't stop laughing... Looking back, I think it was hysteria. I'd been in a knock down drag out over some (long since forgotten) problem. Plugged in a cable that wasn't idiot proof w/ respect to ground vs power and viola! Fire! (well, smoke anyway) It really was like a cartoon. Smoke billowing out the back and everything... Fortunately it was one of mine and a junker at that... :crazy:Ahhh, the good ol' days, huh.....? :aol:
  • urdurd
    edited January 2007
    lol neat

    i remember putting my facial machine on the same line as my PC.. *fsssss* the extension started burning :p
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    urd wrote:
    lol neat...i remember putting my facial machine on the same line as my PC.. *fsssss* the extension started burning :p
    lol It'd be fun to just dedicate a thread to folks' horror stories or humorous anectdotes re: their life w/ computers....

    Your cartoon is a gas, edcentric! Are you the cartoonist??

    EDIT://
    Woops.... not unless you're Alan Foreman I suppose... :dunce:
  • urdurd
    edited January 2007
    lol no i m not Alan Foreman :p
  • neogeo0823neogeo0823 Deep within the bowels of a sperm whale
    edited January 2007
    well, i never had anything like that happen to me, cause, you know, im a budding tech-geek, but back when i attended alfred state my roomate had no concept of power limits with regards to a single outlet recepticle.

    he plugged big ass, juice chugging, half steam driven, old clunker of a pc into the wall, which made the lights dim a bit as it was, then into the second, lower outlet, he added three really old tri-outlet plugs.

    he then plugged in his playstation2, guitar amp, lamp, cell phone charger, electric blanket, mini-fridge, gi-normous stereo that he must have gotten back around the time they discovered electricity is conductive through wire AND his vacuum cleaner! :wow2: :eek:

    now, at that particular point, the only items that were actually on and consuming power were the ps2 and the computer, but i knew what was coming and immediately vacated the building and called my RA from a payphone to warn him. i could see my room from the phone, and right about the same time i hung the phone, i hear a blast of some kind of distorted rap music coming from my window. i look up just in time to hear the music distort and fade into silence as the lights flicker and literally blow out!

    apparently the plug he was using was the main line into the room.

    after a stern warning from the RA and a replacement of the bulbs, i thought he wouldnt be stupid enough to try it again. you ever hear that quote from albert einstien that goes "only two things are infinite: the universe, and human stupidity. and im not sure about the universe."? well, i think he was talking about my roomy that day.

    about a week later, i come back from some classes to see my roomate playing his ps2 and listening to some other music that i couldnt hear so much as feel because of all the tremors coming from the stereo. at least the light show was nice... if only it were not fromt the lights fading in and out of this mortal plane. i try to yell at him to turn the stereo down but i have to clasp my hands over my ears to be able to bear the music, so i just grab my latop and leave.

    and thats where everything went wrong.

    i couldve probably stopped him from using the computer. i may have even seen him reach for it out of the corner of my eye, but its too late for that now. no sooner had i sat down in the lounge outside our hallway did i see smoke billowing from our room!

    my reactions were as follows:
    :type: :scratch: :confused2 :wow: :hair: *thinking "were :screwed:"*

    after losing much of my stuff, but nothing too horribly valuable, i had to go home. the room held up fairly well, all things considered, but it had to be gutted and rewired because all of that had burned out. no one was hurt, but it sure scared the hell out of everyone, especially my roomate, who said "i just reached over and turned on my pc and it was like hell exploded from its old, rusty soul!"

    :doh:
  • urdurd
    edited January 2007
    heh.. i used to have these lightouts when my PC was on the wall socket. That's one of the reason i din't used the 700W PSU sent to me by my brother. Now i am using 15A line. It's all good now :p

    It turned out that due to my incident above my circuit breaker or something melted at the main switch, that had to be replaced a day after.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    neogeo0823 wrote:
    ...well, i never had anything like that happen to me, cause, you know, im a budding tech-geek, but back when i attended alfred state my roomate had no concept of power limits with regards to a single outlet recepticle...
    Hey, neo'. Fun read - your anecdote. I enjoyed it. You have a nice writing style that makes it fun to read. Sounds like the poor guy could've stood w/ a little education re: electricity, load, etc! :doh:

    As for nothing happening to you 'cause you're a "budding tech-geek" - think in terms of yet! Stick around this field long enough, and you'll have your own stories to tell in time. I promise you. :D (It's our war injuries afterall that makes us veterans, right?!)
    urd wrote:
    heh.. i used to have these lightouts when my PC was on the wall socket. That's one of the reason i din't used the 700W PSU sent to me by my brother. Now i am using 15A line. It's all good now :p
    It turned out that due to my incident above my circuit breaker or something melted at the main switch, that had to be replaced a day after.
    Hey ya urd. Just some info. that might help clear some things up for you. (Neo', this might prove informative for you, too since you're still learning 'n all.) The PSU that your brother gave you has a 700 watts load capacity. It isn't going to draw 700 watts power unless the devices connected to it (inside your computer) have a combined load of 700 watts. Please, see below for references re: properly protecting the power coming INto your computer's PSU and re: choosing a PSU appropriate for your computer.

    A quality, properly rated, stable & cool power supply and UPS are integral components of your overall system composition. Please, visit [URL="General Hardware Thread: http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53524"]THIS THREAD[/URL] for information re: power protection.

    Following are a few links re: how to choose a power supply as well:
  • neogeo0823neogeo0823 Deep within the bowels of a sperm whale
    edited January 2007
    actually, that was a helpful :) i was wondering if the 600W PSU suggested to me in my thread was good enough for the computer im building.

    i have my own shares of battle scars from my experience thus far. that story took place about 2 years ago. it was my first semester in any college. ive been attending a different college continuously since then and ive had some interesting things happen to me. ive never burned out a computer, but....

    *flash-back transitional effect*
    *que horrible, upbeat "planets funniest videos" music montage*

    ive charged a rather large capacitor and forgot about it, only to grab it with both hands the next day. knocked me back into a wall.

    was assured by a lab partner that the tv i was working on had a fully discharged CRT anode. if i wasnt wearing a conductive anti-static wrist strap i would be dead now. lab partner failed the course.

    incorrectly wired my share of LEDs, light bulbs, resistors, and capacitors into circuits *que sequence of exploding/melting components*

    had a different lab partner who was a serious jackass and liked to stick small capacitors into the power outlet to see them explode. got a steam burn from one, and still have a scar from a burning hot metal endcap hitting me in the lip. he also failed the course.

    nearly found out the hard way why they nicknamed it the "suicide cord". (this was on my first week, so sue me!)

    during the october 2006 blizzard that hit buffalo, my house was one of the many thousands without power. i thought it'd be a great idea to sneak over and jack into a neighbors generator. if i didnt, my iguana would die from the cold(yes, i own an iguana). i successfully got the line plugged and over to my house, but in a stroke of extended brain-freeze induced genious, i incorrectly wired it to my furnace, thus hooking the generator into the main power line for the neighborhood. if they had tried to bring the power back on in that bit of time, the feedback couldve killed several workers, myself, set my house on fire and set progress on restoring power back by a good, long time.

    is that enough scars for ya? :p
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    ROFLOL!!! ;D;D Yeah! I think so. You got ME beat and I've been at this longer than you've been alive I think... ;D;D Ahhhh, thanx. I needed the laugh...

    BTW, glad the info. helped re: explaing PSUs. Be sure to get a high quality one. It pays off in the long run. (and don't forget the UPS!)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited January 2007
    Thanks edcentric! I also went to Poisoned Minds where you got the strip and it is a very interesting site on its own merits. :)
  • urdurd
    edited January 2007
    thanks for the info.. that was around a year ago when one of those first Quad 12V and Dual PCIe hit the market so i sorta kinda din't knew. :):D
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