Computer Hell Thread

[HotGore]

Since I work at a computer store I see computers in all sorts of sorry states. Crazy problems you would never think could go wrong, so I thought I would share some of pictures. I know I only have a few(kicking myself for not taking photos of all the other :banana::banana::banana::banana:) but I will be updating the thread when I see more. Sorry about the :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty photos but I can't really bring a point and shot into work.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0036.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0037.jpg
Dusty! Customer was wondering why it kept restarting all the time. Turns out the vid card fan was seized.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0039.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0040.jpg

The guy dropped off a computer saying it didn't work and he didn't want to bother with it. We kindly take donations, and I am the lucky guy who gets to go over them and see if we can save anything. I opened up the rig and there was brown/black stuff all in the interior. Cracked open the PSU and saw that. Mystery solved, but that stuff blew all the way to the CD drives.

Good news is the rest of the rig worked once I replaced the PSU. :shocked:

Anyways if you have photos or stories of computers in (scary voice) computer hell (/scary voice) feel free to tell them here.

[RAW-Raptor22]

Since I work at a computer store I see computers in all sorts of sorry states. Crazy problems you would never think could go wrong, so I thought I would share some of pictures. I know I only have a few(kicking myself for not taking photos of all the other :banana::banana::banana::banana:) but I will be updating the thread when I see more. Sorry about the :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty photos but I can't really bring a point and shot into work.

The guy dropped off a computer saying it didn't work and he didn't want to bother with it. We kindly take donations, and I am the lucky guy who gets to go over them and see if we can save anything. I opened up the rig and there was brown/black stuff all in the interior. Cracked open the PSU and saw that. Mystery solved, but that stuff blew all the way to the CD drives.

Good news is the rest of the rig worked once I replaced the PSU. :shocked:

Anyways if you have photos or stories of computers in (scary voice) computer hell (/scary voice) feel free to tell them here.

Eww... thats gross. Do people never open their computers, even to blow dust out? Geez.... :cord:

[HotGore]

Raptor22;2963887']Eww... thats gross. Do people never open their computers, even to blow dust out? Geez.... :cord:

Opened up one rigged before and the bottom of the case was covered in hair, and another one had dead bugs all inside of it.

[RAW-Raptor22]

Opened up one rigged before and the bottom of the case was covered in hair, and another one had dead bugs all inside of it.

God damned people... :shakes:

Im getting a job at a computer shop this summer, you're downright scaring me....

[HotGore]

Raptor22;2963969']God damned people... :shakes:

Im getting a job at a computer shop this summer, you're downright scaring me....

It is decent work for what it is. I would rather have another job, but you can't get much better for working in high school and managing computer repairs at your store.

[RAW-Raptor22]

It is decent work for what it is. I would rather have another job, but you can't get much better for working in high school and managing computer repairs at your store.

Thats where I hope to achieve. I am in 10th grade next year so I have plenty of time to "build" something good. :)

[Zytek_Fan]

I would work at a computer shop, but
a) Population of the area is too little (~50,000 total people)
b) There are 10ish computer shops
c) Idaho minimum wage is piss poor.

I wash dishes instead :cool: :rofl:

[tiro_uspsss]

words fail me..

[l33t p1mp]

I dont have pics, but I have a sony vaio that I ran for about 3.5 years without opening it to clean it. Load temps went from 105 (right before bsod and crash) to 45. :D

[CadESin]

The worst I have seen is one of my friends parents Dell. His dad was a smoker and when I opened up the case there was a thick layer of brown tar buildup on everything.

[twilyth]

The worst I have seen is one of my friends parents Dell. His dad was a smoker and when I opened up the case there was a thick layer of brown tar buildup on everything.
that some scary sh*t. And it's almost impossible to get off without a solvent. Makes you think twice about smoking. I never smoked much but I still switched over nicotine substitutes.

[HotGore]

The worst I have seen is one of my friends parents Dell. His dad was a smoker and when I opened up the case there was a thick layer of brown tar buildup on everything.

Ya those are always nasty. One system had the fan grill completely clogged with dust. The fan was just spinning in a layer of goopy brown dust.

But the worst thing I every found in a system was a Black Widow spider. Scared the crap out of me at first, until I froze its ass with a can of compressed air. :flame:

[Th3MadScientist]

ah reminds me of my days working for firedog. Here is one that was pretty disgusting...guess what that is. I would show you guys what was in the DVD-Drive but i think its againt forum rules haha

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l244/DaNiceOne87/Pic4-2.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l244/DaNiceOne87/Pic5-2.jpg

[fyshawk]

I built this rig for a friend of mine and he brung it over one day said it kept shutting off on him so i took a look inside and here is what i founsd

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1606/jasoncomputer003xb0.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8392/jasoncomputer006ee8.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4611/jasoncomputer004zz5.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4041/jasoncomputer005pb7.jpg

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7782/jasoncomputer002zi3.jpg

Needles to say he never cleaned it out no wonder it was over heating I asked him after i cleaned it up to take care of it and guess what he has

[l33t p1mp]

OH MY GOD! *faints*

[dafeeessh]

i had one and every time it ran it made the whole shop smell like cat pee. the lady left it at the shop and came back 14 months later to pick it up.

[Th3MadScientist]

i think the longest time we had a computer dropped off at circuit city was 2 1/2 years...it was ridiculous.

[HotGore]

i think the longest time we had a computer dropped off at circuit city was 2 1/2 years...it was ridiculous.

They picked it up?

Longest one is at my shop right now. Counting on 10 months!!!

[Zytek_Fan]

ah reminds me of my days working for firedog. Here is one that was pretty disgusting...guess what that is. I would show you guys what was in the DVD-Drive but i think its againt forum rules haha

Looks like someone had a little "accident" :rofl:

[Sparky]

I don't have pics but there was one that I was literally peeling the dust off the vents. The heatsink had no airspace, it was totally jam-packed with dust. Those old AMD thunderbirds don't die easily though, cleaned it out (yes even the CPU fan still worked somehow!) and it ran fine. Aside from windows ME giving the BSOD randomly because it felt like it :brick:

[RAW-Raptor22]

Aside from windows ME giving the BSOD randomly because it felt like it :brick:

That darn ME, it sure likes to do that... :rolleyes::p:

[malkiewicz]

I built this rig for a friend of mine and he brung it over one day said it kept shutting off on him so i took a look inside and here is what i founsd

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1606/jasoncomputer003xb0.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/8392/jasoncomputer006ee8.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4611/jasoncomputer004zz5.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4041/jasoncomputer005pb7.jpg

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7782/jasoncomputer002zi3.jpg

Needles to say he never cleaned it out no wonder it was over heating I asked him after i cleaned it up to take care of it and guess what he has

wow now thats dirty

[Th3MadScientist]

They picked it up?

Longest one is at my shop right now. Counting on 10 months!!!

we took it apart after the first 2 months it was left there, cause after two months it is considered abandoned, i mean we called this lady like everyday :rolleyes: and then two year later she comes in and asks us where is her computer...i told her in computer heaven.

[RAW-Raptor22]

we took it apart after the first 2 months it was left there, cause after two months it is considered abandoned, i mean we called this lady like everyday :rolleyes: and then two year later she comes in and asks us where is her computer...i told her in computer heaven.

:rofl: Nice.

[t800]

very much of dust :)

[Chipmonk]

Makes you wonder wether some of these folks have a hoover inthe house. jeez i wouldn't like to go round their place to often i'm getting itchy looking at this crap.

[HotGore]

Well here is the story of this system. The lady bought a new sound card, and figured she could install it herself. So she brings in the system saying she tried to install the sound card but things got all screwed up. I get the system with all cables unplugged, no RAM, no video card, or sound card. Upon closer inspection a bunch of caps on the motherboard were bent, or broken off, heatsink fell right off when I picked up the system, and the silver thermal paste she must have put on at one time was all over the CPU. Turns out the system is dead. She has not come to pick it up, or get a new system in 4 weeks now. Wonder why :P

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0041.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0042.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0043.jpg

She even managed to chip part of the mounting bit. Now the CPU cooler will not stay on when moved.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A00440.jpg

[RAW-Raptor22]

Well here is the story of this system. The lady bought a new sound card, and figured she could install it herself. So she brings in the system saying she tried to install the sound card but things got all screwed up. I get the system with all cables unplugged, no RAM, no video card, or sound card. Upon closer inspection a bunch of caps on the motherboard were bent, or broken off, heatsink fell right off when I picked up the system, and the silver thermal paste she must have put on at one time was all over the CPU. Turns out the system is dead. She has not come to pick it up, or get a new system in 4 weeks now. Wonder why :P



She even managed to chip part of the mounting bit. Now the CPU cooler will not stay on when moved.


After installing a sound card... holy crap. :down:

[Grafton]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=159923
enjoy for the most part it was clean on the inside but...

[Th3MadScientist]

i have a lot of funny stories from times I worked at circuit city, we had this one lady come in looking for a wireless power cord. :rolleyes: We had this other young kid come in with a Vaio saying it turns on and screen stays black, first thing i do is check the PSU and RAM, all check out, take off the heatsink, take out the CPU, kid must of played with it and put the CPU back in wrong, it was the P4 still with the pins, all the pins were bent and i mean ALL of them bent. Another time, this one guy came in with a newish dell and he had a bad motherboard, so he got one from warranty and we offered to put it in, but he said no he would do it himself, next week he comes in and tells me he put the new board in, he transfered everything over and he said still gets no video, took it apart, noob thought that the motherboard came with a processor, so i took the heatsink off and it still had the cpu socket guard on. :rofl:

[[XC] riptide]

I've never sene dust like that before. Do you guys with dusty machine live in a really dry climate where the earth is really dusty?

[Serpentarius]

Well here is the story of this system. The lady bought a new sound card, and figured she could install it herself. So she brings in the system saying she tried to install the sound card but things got all screwed up. I get the system with all cables unplugged, no RAM, no video card, or sound card. Upon closer inspection a bunch of caps on the motherboard were bent, or broken off, heatsink fell right off when I picked up the system, and the silver thermal paste she must have put on at one time was all over the CPU. Turns out the system is dead. She has not come to pick it up, or get a new system in 4 weeks now. Wonder why :P



careful bout this 'lady' u mentioned of ... in my country ppl like these kind likes to rip off technicians ... they'll come back claiming their pc is like this and that ... then place the blame on u for tearing it apart ...

my fren's shop tends to take digital images of the pc before and after and wrote a short worklog for the customers as evidence to avoid this difficulty ..

they tends to place blame that technicians pry some out of their gold .. this applys to mechanics in my area as well ...

just becareful bout ur customers ...


oh btw .. those images r too hideous to be placed on xtremesystems u know! my eyes go sore from looking time ... :shocked:

[[EvQ]RheA]

Yup...I encountered most of the "you're too stupid to own a computer" situations working in retail stores - I guess it was one of the few joys of working in retail environment - I almost miss those good ol' days. :)

[HotGore]

careful bout this 'lady' u mentioned of ... in my country ppl like these kind likes to rip off technicians ... they'll come back claiming their pc is like this and that ... then place the blame on u for tearing it apart ...

my fren's shop tends to take digital images of the pc before and after and wrote a short worklog for the customers as evidence to avoid this difficulty ..

they tends to place blame that technicians pry some out of their gold .. this applys to mechanics in my area as well ...

just becareful bout ur customers ...


oh btw .. those images r too hideous to be placed on xtremesystems u know! my eyes go sore from looking time ... :shocked:

It is a small store so we can easily tell people to :banana::banana::banana::banana: off :up: Ya I know the images suck but there is no way I can bring a point and shot into work.

[Th3MadScientist]

i wish i worked in a private owned store, i would tell so many people to f*** off and take their garbage somewhere else...reminds me of this one time we had some dirtbag guy bring in his laptop and it was so filthy i had to work on it with two layers of surgical gloves cause i was scared of contracting some unknown disease.

[HotGore]

Ok I have a small update.


Guess some people just hate their PCs.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A0049.jpg

No idea what happened here. My guess is that a big resistor in there burnt off its rubber coating.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c123/HotGore/SP_A00510.jpg

[littleowl]

I have seen most of what you guys have shown and said you have seen. I used to work in a pc shop but now I am just a factory worker because there is no money in it around here.
I Do how ever repair them for people at work. I did one not to long ago that had just about that much dust in it! All I can say is wow on some of them.

[Particle]

I just avoid PC repair work completely. I think that's something people learn as they get older--only work on YOUR OWN computers if you like your sanity.

---

Not all computer repair places are created equal. I had a friend who took his machine to "Parsons Computers/Radio Shack" one time against my adament protesting. When he got it back, the only thing they had managed to "fix" was to steal his CD-ROM audio cable (back before it could be done digitally). I ended up having to fix the thing myself.

[HotGore]

I just avoid PC repair work completely. I think that's something people learn as they get older--only work on YOUR OWN computers if you like your sanity.

---

Not all computer repair places are created equal. I had a friend who took his machine to "Parsons Computers/Radio Shack" one time against my adament protesting. When he got it back, the only thing they had managed to "fix" was to steal his CD-ROM audio cable (back before it could be done digitally). I ended up having to fix the thing myself.

Ya I have heard some horror stories. Personally I will go beyond the regular service time to help a customer, and try to give them brakes on service charges as well. Sadly many times computers will need more work then you first think so that bill can jump quiet a lot at times, so I try to ease the pain. One guy spent $600 on getting his PC upgraded, and getting his Windows Genuine. I threw in a higher end processor that I had laying around in there for free, and even went to his house to show him how to set everything up the way he wanted free of charge. So when people say all computer techs are shady, and only care about money it just doesn't seem fair to myself.

On the other hand I always shiver when I hear that a customer had someone's friend come over and fix up their PC for $20. Once we sold this lady a brand new system, a fairly basic setup but not slow by any means. We still do custom PCs, and I go through every step from building, software, drivers, updates, and whatever else. I have it down to a science where I can have a system built, updated, and burning in within 3 hours. Now this lady gets her friend's friend help her install Corel Word Perfect. Some how when we get it back 2 weeks later it is going at turtles pace, all the updates are reversed, the software she got the guy to put in isn't even on. Sucks seeing all your work reversed by some idiot who thought he had computer knowledge.

Later the same lady comes in after another two weeks after I reinstalled Windows, and all. IE was super slow, she didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on the thing (wiping the system is $165 flat rate). So I tried some basic stuff like reinstalling IE7, system restore, etc. Finally the clock was ticking down on money so I put FireFox on there and even phoned her to see if it was alright, explaining that it was a quick option considering how little time and money we had to put into it. She OKs it and I put it on the out shelf. She phones complaining that it wasn't what she wanted at all, and she was done dealing with us. I of course get handed the phone and I explain my position, and she is just too dense to understand. Finally she says she will take her PC somewhere else. To be very honest that was one customer I was happy to lose.

Now here is the kicker. Last week the "friend" guy comes in looking for ink, and he mentions that he should really not come her considering that we screw people, and that we have told the peoples whose computers he has fixed that he doesn't know anything. The guy is a total fat loser, as we look for his ink he says he will be back in an hour since he wants to go to the bar for a few beer. It is 3pm. :banana::banana::banana::banana:ing douche bag.

[l33t p1mp]

Dont worry, everyone that is not one of us is too thick to understand anything...subconsciously, we laugh at the poor 'tards that call us 'tards...

[Serpentarius]

funny, yesterday i was chatting with an old fren whom we work together in a computer repair shop. we recalled a time when we were called out to service a computer at a neighbourhood resident ... and you'll never seen any grosssier than this ..

he actually sneezed and dung his nose droppings and allow them to settle on the keyboard, and mouse and when the dungs, he would wipe in on the casing itself ...
i could remember the common white keyboard was so dirty, till it looks like having a gradient or texture itself, by pressing it, the mouse was slippery and icky as well ..
seeing such filth we draw the coin to see how gets that sh|t .. well you who got it

that desk was horrendeous as well .. it was sticky, it felt like someone has spilt the cola and left it dry ... the seat smelled like those sweaty workout t-shirts (for those with gim lockers u know what i meant)
an hour there was sure an hour in hell, we didnt have any gloves ... so i've to bear with tissues ..

there's nothing wrong with his computer, just a few minor glinches, we quickly wrap it up, took the payment and left

after that issue ... the next time ... we requested a set of keyboard and mouse and a latex glove just in case
that was one hell of experience

[l33t p1mp]

Lol, I hope you washed your hand good after that!
Btw guys, I am gonna take my sony vaio apart again and post some pics of the mysteries I will find inside. Ill try opening my dust sucker *cough* laptop later and post pics of that too. Maybe my gts too.

[Serpentarius]

Lol, I hope you washed your hand good after that!
Btw guys, I am gonna take my sony vaio apart again and post some pics of the mysteries I will find inside. Ill try opening my dust sucker *cough* laptop later and post pics of that too. Maybe my gts too.

wash? i already developed a phobia of stained keyboards .. occasionally i would stare at any keyboard to watch for any statins ... arggg

[l33t p1mp]

Lol, that is pretty bad...make the guy pay you for moral damages.

[gundamit]

The worse thing I've seen was the PC owned by a smoker with cats. Seen bugs taking residence in a PC too.

The strangest was a dead laptop that found its way to me from a lady who wanted me to recover information off the hard drive. While I was opening it, I notice some a lot of corrosion. I figured the laptop had died due to immersion in water and she had let it sit around for months. After getting the drive contents back to her I find out the laptop had died after her little kid had intentionally taken a piss on it. :shakes:

[l33t p1mp]

Hahahahaha, that must really suck to have your kid peeing on your lappy...I would beat my child if he were to pee into my 780i pc lol.

[MentholMoose]

wash? i already developed a phobia of stained keyboards .. occasionally i would stare at any keyboard to watch for any statins ... arggg
I'm the same way. I sometimes work on people's computers at my office. Some of the keyboards (and/or mice) are just disgusting. I hate it when the keys are covered with brown filth, except the spot where they hit the key for typing. I have a cabinet full of new keyboards and mice so I just trash (well, recycle) the old ones if they are too horrible.

But I thank my lucky stars that I only work on office PCs. I mean, at least there is a janitor to clean the place regularly. Even so, some of the PCs somehow manage to get filled with dust/filth. I don't think I could handle trying to work on computers at people homes.

[s1nykuL]

I wish I had some images of the PC's I had to maintain on a factory floor. The company was heavy engineering, used to make ATM enclosures. 12- 16mm thick sheet steel would arrive at one and leave as a box at the other. Several pentium 133 machines were used to drive the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machinery, milling machines, lathes etc., and the Messer plate cutting machines. They all ran DOS based CNC software. The atmosphere in the machine shop was heavy with metal particulates and very dusty. You wouldn't think these computers would run. The mainboard components were buried in a thick layer of dust, several mm thick. I lie not! A new floppy drive would fail within 2 months. All fans on all machines seized within a couple of months use also. How they managed to not overheat or fail because of the metallic content in the dust amazed me. They hadn't been cleaned ever when I arrived on the job.

Quote Gundamit: "The worse thing I've seen was the PC owned by a smoker with cats."
That's me :) I have to clean cat fur from PC filters and CPU cooler once a month, the cleaning results in a 6-8 Deg C temp drop on CPU. I have a server in my garage that has been running more or less 24x7 for around 5 years, I should have taken some pics of that when I cleaned it several months ago. Thick with muck it was, but nowhere near as bad as those CNC PC's.