(no subject)

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

And this kids, is why you never let your end-users have anything more involved than pen and paper. That's a standard MicroSoft USB mouse, with a piece of cat5e.

All taped together with packing tape. I haven't taken it apart yet to see if they crimped the wires, or just stuck them together.

+1 points for inventiveness.. -200 points for shorting out the USB controllers on their motherboard, along with other unknown damage, so I'll be swapping out about a year old motherboard for a new one now Oh, and the end users complaint? His mouse stopped working and he tried someone elses mouse on the system.. never mentioned the extension.

Comments

[aethwolf.livejournal.com]

Why was the extension added in the first place?

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

They moved their desk, (not telling me, of course), and then found out the cable wouldn't be long enough.. so they stuck that all together.. rather than asking me for the $2 extension cable.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

I have not words.

[bdinger.livejournal.com]

I dare say, if that happened here, the user would have a bill on their desk for the new part.

8shakes head*

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

I should do that, it'd be billed to the Quality department at that plant.

[bdinger.livejournal.com]

Kill 'em all, let HR sort it out...

:)

[azzy23.livejournal.com]

My god... that is fantastic!

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

*blink*

*twitch*

I would have ended up beating him to death with the dead motherboard.

[toxico.livejournal.com]

flemco once fixed the shifter in his Saturn using Cat5e cable. I believe he peruses these halls; mayhaps if the document still exists he'll share.

[valiskeogh.livejournal.com]

wow...

[darkrosetiger.livejournal.com]

...Wow. Just...wow.

[jjjiii]

Well how do you think the other guy's mouse was able to reach the problem workstation? Gotta rig an extension like that if you really want to test the mouse port.

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

Aaaaugh!

[jecook]

While I've used cat 5e for extention and other stuff that violated the spec in ways they never intended, I've never done *that* with it...

[lovemonster.livejournal.com]

*twitch*

*twitchtwitch*

ookkaaayyyyy....

[110billion.livejournal.com]

hahaha... I passed this on to just about everyone I could think of.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

First reaction: "Oh, that's not right."

Second reaction: "It's a device for getting rid of 'problem' motherboards. Should be a part of every tech's kit."

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

my brother suggests upgrading it to a 220v 3phase system, plug and receptacle.. we've got ground, and 3 wires, which is the 4 i need for usb.

too bad there's no power bars at 220v, or we could make a usb hub.

You've invented..

[(Anonymous)]

...the Etherkiller (http://www.fiftythree.org/etherkiller/)!

Re: You've invented..

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've seen those around :)

it'd be slightly funny to have a usb extension that used real extension cords. And 220/3phase is probably good enough to electrocute the first user try plugging it into a real outlet :)

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Heh.

I find iron filings work nicely. Sprinkle a few in the box, turn it on, pretty sparks, run around with a weak magnet to tidy up, new machine within the day.

I'm not speaking from personal experience, oh noes.

[major-error.livejournal.com]

Looks like that particular user already had a lobotomy...
All that's left now is to take away all the tools.

...and fingers, for good measure!

[ximinez]

My first though was, "Yeah, but did it work?"

[spooforbrains.livejournal.com]

Mine too!

[glenniebun.livejournal.com]

I have a phone line running halfway across my house and up a flight of stairs on an ethernet cable...but at least that's using female-female extenders, not packing-tape splicing. Sweet Jesus.

[spooforbrains.livejournal.com]

That is award winning!