... customers

GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
edited August 2008 in Hardware
I just had a customer come in work who manged to install a pci card backwards. (This is the first customer ive ever seen do this)

his motherboard is now dead so is his wifi card.

Then he asks if we can replace it under warranty.

-_- (We are sending it to the manufacturer for him but don't expect them to replace it)

Ive also seen at least 30 boards where customers installed there ram backwards. frying both the ram module and motherboard. (Some of them only lost a slot, most lost a slot and voltage regluators)

Countless broken cpu pins.

Countless stand off's in the wrong spot on the backplace shorting the motherboard.

And countless boards installed directly to the motherboard tray without stand-off's.

Sorry I just had to post this, What could have possibly been going though this guys mind....

Comments

  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    How do you manage to do the PCI and RAM backwards, it doesn't fit.
  • SnarkasmSnarkasm Madison, WI Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Everything fits with just the right amount of force.
  • _k_k P-Town, Texas Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Thats why i tell people if it doesn't go in easily it doesn't fit so it doesn't go there, square to a round hole.
  • erichblas2005erichblas2005 Your Native Texan Houston,Texas Member
    edited July 2008
    Can you fix it!
    Sure I'll just like glue it back on.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    Thats why i tell people if it doesn't go in easily it doesn't fit so it doesn't go there, square to a round hole.

    He removed the metal pci bracket part and antenna then proceeded to install it backwards. (This card has the 2 gaps so it can work in both 33mhz and 66mhz pci slots.)
  • edited July 2008
    _k_ wrote:
    Thats why i tell people if it doesn't go in easily it doesn't fit so it doesn't go there, square to a round hole.

    Well, with ram sticks as an exception, they can require a fair bit of force sometimes.

    That's almost funny (rather sad) that people could do such cruel things to their hardware. I never knew it was possible to go as far as installing a PCI card backwards without considering your doing it wrong and stopping. =/
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited July 2008
    Did he not realize there is nowhere to plug the monitor into?
  • HarudathHarudath Great Britain Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    Of course not, it obviously goes into the back of that big bock with lots of cables :tongue:
  • CycloniteCyclonite Tampa, Florida Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    tmh88 wrote:
    Did he not realize there is nowhere to plug the monitor into?

    It was a wireless card. ;)
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited July 2008
    Cyclonite wrote:
    It was a wireless card. ;)

    I was referring purplez statement below and read it quickly. I read PCI as PCI-E so I was thinking of a video card.

    Well, with ram sticks as an exception, they can require a fair bit of force sometimes.

    That's almost funny (rather sad) that people could do such cruel things to their hardware. I never knew it was possible to go as far as installing a PCI card backwards without considering your doing it wrong and stopping. =/
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2008
    The worst part is every customer that breaks the stuff thinks its are products fault -_-.

    edit: Also just another thing regarding improperly installed motherboards that I mentioned before. Every single customer thinks they got a DOA board. Asus tests their motherboards multiple times before they leave the factory DOA boards do not happen at least not from asus. Are system builder has built thousands of machines with asus motherboard over the years and we have never had a DOA board.

    Yet we get about 3 customers a week that think they have a DOA board because they broke it -_-.
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited July 2008
    we had a customer come in complaining about their computer they built overheating. they bought the parts from us, so we checked it under a "possible warranty". after about 10 minutes of troubleshooting, i found its idling at 70c and when doing anything its at like 75c or 80c. once i found that i immediately shut it down, and began looking for answers. we checked voltages, reset cmos (in case he had screwed with cpu vcore) and checked to make sure all fans were properly running.

    after doing all that, i didnt have a clue. so the last step was to check the application of thermal paste. we had hoped it was just a stupid fan not in the right spot. stock heatsinks as everybody knows have a pre-applied pad so its pretty freakin hard to screw up. but this moron left the plastic cover on the bottom of the heatsink on, so the plastic was sandwiched between the cpu and the heatsink. i mean seriously, how freakin stupid do you have to be?? the inscribed lettering on the processor was burned into the plastic because it got so hot. and yet this guy wanted to know if warranty covered the repair... :eek:
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited July 2008
    Dude that guy is a retard. It says "REMOVE THIS BEFORE INSTALLING!" on like all of them.
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    edited July 2008
    I still can't figure out RAM the wrong way. With the plastic notch and all... that would be some serious pressure.

    I read on a tech forum once that a guy tried to install a PCI-E card in a PCI slot, and noticed that extra fin on the end kept it from fitting. So he took a dremmel and cut it off, then it fit. But it didn't work. And he was confused.

    Very well could have been a troll, but it sure made me facepalm.
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited July 2008
    yea some people really make me worry. i mean the whole ram thing, seriously how much common sense does it take to figure "oh hey, that slot doesn't look like it matches? that probably shouldnt go there..."
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited August 2008
    Another popular one is forcing DDR2 into DDR boards.

    On some of the cheeper boards the little ic next to the memory slots will go up in flames.


    Ive only seen the please remove me, plastic left on a heatsink once.

    It was a socket A cooler.
  • bullzisniprbullzisnipr Topeka, KS
    edited August 2008
    yea ive seen the "ddr2 conversion" trick many times :p. the phone call to the customer informing them of what they did is always the best part.
  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    We had a tech who spent a good 1/2 hour wondering why the dat drive's holes would not line up with the cage...

    Tried to fit it in between slots etc...

    Watched him for a while... Then "Dude... you might want to flip that one over."

    Got many miles out of that one.


    He also flashed a board one time with a bad bios image... "Damn Shuttle (SpaceWalker) Garbage" Any one remember those?

    He watched me hot flash bios's before and figured he'd give that recovery method a try... Well 6 boards later (All we had left on the shelf) and all the bios's out on the bench, panic was starting to set in for him as he played too much mix and match with the chips.... Lucky for him I had a board in the car...

    Gotta like Gumby Tech coworkers, better than customers as they should at least know better...

    The list could go on and on... My Boss opened up UPS mail just last week.... :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    What is a "dat" drive?

    I can't work for you until I have this burning question solved.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Digital Audio Tape
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Not a computer-related customer story. We sell metal access doors. Most models are square, with a hinge on one side and a lock on the opposite site. The dimension of each side are the same all around. We have customers who call and say they're returning the door because they need a left-hinged model not a right-hinged one. The CSRs say to the customer, "Well then turn the door 180 degrees and it will be left-hinged."

    Silence...

    "Umm... uhh... oh. *click*"
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    DAT can also be a data backup tape of a certain form factor.
  • trolltroll Windsor, Nova Scotia Icrontian
    edited August 2008
    Yeah, tape backup units... AIT, DAT, DLT... played them all :)

    Here's a link with some info:
    http://www.quantum.com/Products/TapeDrives/DAT-DDS/Index.aspx
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