techrecovery | Aug. 4th, 2007

User: My computer isn't working. *turns on LCD screen* See? Nothing happens.
Me: *turns on CPU tower*
User: What?!??!?!? That button turned off the hard drive! You mean I have to turn that back on to use the computer?
Me: I turned the computer on, and yes. That button will both turn it on and off if you hold it down.
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(can't remember if I posted this or not)

Computer science graduate student (yes, seriously): I want to connect this serial cable to my laptop, but it doesn't fit in the port. The port is female, and so is my cable. Do you have an adapter or something I can use?
Me: *thinking it odd that a modern laptop would have a serial port* No, that's a video port.
CSE Grad: Are you sure? It's a serial port. See? The connector is the same shape. I just need an adapter.
Me: No, really. It's a 15-pin VGA socket, which has three rows, 15 pins, and is female. It's also colored blue. Your cable has two rows, 9 pins, and also female. Even with a gender-bender, it will not work.
CSE Grad: Are you sure there's not an adapter I can use? I really need this cable to do my assignment.
Me: No, use USB or get an older laptop.

I wasn't sure if I was more disappointed that a computer science graduate could not identify a video port, or that he thought he could use it to communicate with an advanced circuit board.