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the worst way you saw a computer die

linuxlove

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well, what's the worst way you saw a computer die? for me it would have to be watching them get shredded.

also, this is my 100th post :D
 
well, what's the worst way you saw a computer die? for me it would have to be watching them get shredded.

also, this is my 100th post :D

I think I once saw a pentium II that was shot at, shot at some more, and blown up at a military practice... At least if YouTube counts.

But honnestly, that thing looked like a burned swizz cheese afterwards.

*Edit*
Sorry for any misspellings there. It was absolutely an accident. Next time, I'll read my post three times loud before posting it. I'm using a stupid little laptop with horrible keys to write this (difficult to know if I catually pressed that key or not).
 
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*counts*.. he means if youtube *counts*..

Hm.. first hand? ergh.. ok couple flashbacks that I'm not proud of. We got ahold of an old printer before and friends + highschool IQ = idiots so something that my friends liked to do was open the car doors while driving and do stupid stuff. One of those events included dragging things on the road (usually ends up sparking or getting dropped once it's too hot like an old hard drive). Anyway they did that to an old Tandy dot-matrix printer. Fortunately we didn't kill any computers back then, just some peripherals. Similar project after some drinks was samurai sword and mac keyboard. (Anyone else know they had a metal plate through the back of them?) much louder than we expected to be at the apartment at 2am.

Computer I think the worst thing I saw in person (not pictures/net) was new not old. LAN party with friends and a friend is upgrading his system or trouble shooting it or something (one of us always ends up spending the weekend repair the formerly working computer instead of gaming). In friends room his computer isn't turning on anymore and he starts to say it smells like maple syrup. Other friend goes in there, and both of them are trying to pinpoint smell but agree in description. I think their FOS and walk in there but to my surprise it smells like it so I ask "ooh ... who's making waffles?". We figure out of course it's coming from his computer. Heat sync was loose on his new AMD processor. Processor died from overheating, but apparently processors smell like waffles when they burn now.

- John
 
Nothing jumps out, computer-wise, but my most memorable e-death was a TV that burst into flames. I had set a cup of coffee on top of the set, and a little slopped over into the vent holes on top of the TV. Spontaneous combustion! It was all I could do to grab up the 25-inch desktop, burning the hell out of myself while carrying it outside (heavy lil' devil, too). Never had a PC go out in such a spectacular way.

Toughest machine I recall was a 1960s model RCA B&W console TV, which took six rounds to the face, point blank, from a .22-caliber zip gun before I became so frustrated that I took a sledgehammer to it. They made 'em pretty good back then, the damn bullets just kept bouncing right off the glass.

--T
 
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nextcube.jpg


Farewell great cube. ;_;

Also, remember that NeXT cubes are made out of magnesium.
 
coffee

coffee

Terry Yager said...I had set a cup of coffee on top of the set, and a little slopped over into the vent holes on top of the TV. Spontaneous combustion!
Man, what do you put in your coffee ?
patscc

Golly Mr. Keasy...this Kool-Aid sure is swell!

--T
 
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A friend took a sledghammer to an apollo, pretty spectacular. The also threw it out from the fifth floor.

Another friend dropped a refrigerator sized VAX from a the end of a truck. (No harm done, it was going to the dump anyway)
 
Nothing jumps out, computer-wise, but my most memorable e-death was a TV that burst into flames. I had set a cup of coffee on top of the set, and a little slopped over into the vent holes on top of the TV. Spontaneous combustion! It was all I could do to grab up the 25-inch desktop, burning the hell out of myself while carrying it outside (heavy lil' devil, too). Never had a PC go out in such a spectacular way.

Toughest machine I recall was a 1960s model RCA B&W console TV, which took six rounds to the face, point blank, from a .22-caliber zip gun before I became so frustrated that I took a sledgehammer to it. They made 'em pretty good back then, the damn bullets just kept bouncing right off the glass.

--T

.22s?? Dude! Those thinks won't to anything! Get yourself a .45 DE or sumtin'!

Seriously, though. I wish my coffee was that strong.
 
Toughest machine I recall was a 1960s model RCA B&W console TV, which took six rounds to the face, point blank, from a .22-caliber zip gun before I became so frustrated that I took a sledgehammer to it. They made 'em pretty good back then, the damn bullets just kept bouncing right off the glass.

--T

Lucky you didn't win a Darwin award. :D
 
This reminded me of when I was in the 8th grade in South Africa.

The power there is 220V (not 110V like in the us) and in our computer lab the computer were setup on desks that were in rows paralleled to the front of the classroom. Well some wonderfully well behaved students (not I, I assure you) decided to flip the voltage switches on back of the PSU from the 220v to the 110v position.

So we all got into class ready to use the computers and when we were given the go ahead by the teacher we proceed to turn the machines on. Must have been about 6 of the computer in there that went "pop" right after each other and the smoke poured out of them. The smell was horrid, and the teacher was pissed!
 
I have seen people in their 20's that cannot deal with anything slower then a 2 year old machines, but I have also seen teens who love DOS gaming on old rigs too.

Funny thing is those 20 years olds don't do anything besides lite gaming, playing movies and audio, and the internet. The days that most people purchased computers to create content seem long dead.
 
I've seen a row of ~50 ASR-33s after a steamroller was driven over them and just before I managed to get scrap buying sorted out at BT. They actually hired a steamroller for the job. I never got a bite at any more of them again though.
 
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