Sometimes I love my work.

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Overheard at work:

I don't care what people say. I trust Dell. My computer was actually on fire - not jsut smouldering but flaming, and it kept its connection to the internet until we powered it off.

Comments

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

Oh dear.

Still, not quite as bad as the Dell engineer we had once who succeeded in actually blowing up the computer he was working on. This was in the UK. The PSU was stuffed, and part of our service contract was that they installed them, for some arcane reason. Fine. The PSU was shipped to us from the States, then Mr Cocky Engineer showed up the next day to install it.

He carefully unwrapped it from the air-freight wrapping, and then the Dell packing. He screwed it in, found the right cable, plugged it in and it went KA-BOOM, smoke and everything. He forgot the wee voltage selector switch on the PSU, and nasty person I am, I "forgot" to remind him. UK electricity is the same voltage as ours, twice that of the US. *snigger*

We got a new PSU, new RAM, new processor AND new motherboard out of that little escapade. The HDD was ok, amazingly.

So, yeah, I really trust Dell too... but not exactly to have things working the way they're supposed to.

[phrogg.livejournal.com]

I'm a tech in Kuwait right now, normally in the US.
Every few DAYS (we've been here for 6 months now, and these geniuses have NOT learned), I have someone come in with their computer, printer, fax machine, or other device that's been plugged into the 220V power.
We set up a brand-new Dell printer (i just work on the stuff, i don't buy it) yesterday, and i walked away for a few minutes for a smoke.
In the 5 minutes it took me to smoke, someone had decided to plug the damned printer in (despite the fact that it wasn't even connected to ANYTHING and still had the stickers, and it decided to have a smoke, too.
Strangely enough, as far as i know, that printer's still working. 0.o

[lillyflowers.livejournal.com]

They're probably a fanboy of the Ford Pinto, too.

[phrogg.livejournal.com]

Wonderful name for a car!
Name it after a bean, then wonder why the back end explodes!

[anivair.livejournal.com]

In all fairness to the crap that is Dell . . . that IS pretty impressive.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

OMGZ, that person totally called me while their computer was ON FIRE.

[toxico.livejournal.com]

Did you tell them a reboot might solve the problem?

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

No, but I'll file that one for the next such call. This lady, I told her to turn off her computer, but she refused because she "had work to do."

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

She .. uh .. *what* again? Computer was on fire (i.e. visible flames) and the customer was still working with it as it burned? And refused to turn it off?

Nobody pays me enough for that kind of dedication. :S

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what happened. Although she didn't say visible flames, there was smoke "billowing." I am not sure I believe her though because she refused to turn the computer off and suggested I "fix it" by phone instead.

When I explained that she either needed to turn it off and call the fire department or that there wasn't actually a fire and therefore no reason to call me, she chose not to turn off the computer.

[shirenomad]

You'd be amazed...

"Ok, now the drive's on fire. Is that normal?"

[toxico.livejournal.com]

Did they attribute its resilience to Windows Firewall?

*ba dum bum*

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

In fairness to Dell, a lot of the "OMG my computer is on Fire" is teh result of battery's made by Sony... and not just laptops too... the desktop MoBo's have backup batteries that exhibit the same spontaneous combustion problems.

Still, can't resist saying: Dude, you're getting a BBQ!

[kerberos.livejournal.com]

I was programming on a comp at my highschool when this muppet of a classmate started messing around, flipping switches on the monitor and so on and off course it progressed down to him flipping the 110/220 V switch.

Instant shutdown due to the magic smoke disappearing.

Oddly enough the whole class went on break. ;-)

[canray.livejournal.com]

Well, even Gay computers need love too.

*Rereads* Oh, the other kind of flaming. ;-)

(Yes, I know I'm going straight to hell for that one.).