How did you get so stupid?

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

I'm all for people learning how to build their own computers. But people, please. That's what manuals are for. When you bring your system in complaining that it won't POST and I find you've jammed the RAM in so hard you broke the slot getting the clips up, I'm going to put the memory in the spare slot and charge you the maximum amount I can. Bad! No!

Comments

[gholam.livejournal.com]

"I'm an electronics engineer! There is nothing I did wrong! You sold me bad hardware that fried itself!" - yells a customer who screwed a montherboard directly to chassis without mounting it on spacers.

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

I can't even begin to count the number of times I've seen that. *shudder* And they always seem to have that attitude, don't they?

[kalidor.livejournal.com]

I prefer the guys who say they can build a computer from scratch to full OS, office, and utilities install in under an hour (without imaging and with updates) ... then the computer won't post by the time you move it off the bench ...

[gholam.livejournal.com]

It happened a few years ago. Coincidentally, it was the last time we sold a motherboard to someone whose technical ability we didn't know. After that, the boss decided that mounting the board for customer free of charge is easier than sorting through all this crap.

Yesterday, I return a system to a customer after cleaning out several metric tons of spyware (about 30000 extra files between c:\windows and c:\windows\system, several hundreds of entries in HKLM\..\RunService, multiple BHOs, etc); and hour later I get an angry call that he can't get on the internet. The following exchange proceeded, loosely translated from hebrew:

Me: Are LEDs on your modem on?
Him: What's a modem?
Me: Uh, is there a small flat grey box with "ALE 130" and "WoW" written on it?
Him: Yeah
Me: There are three LEDs on it - are any of them on?
Him: No
Me: Check connection between it and the computer please - should be a cable going to a small flat rectangular opening
Him: Everything is connected fine, it's all your fault, it happened after you worked on the computer
(like he was able to surf before I took several dump trucks worth of crap out of his system, Control Panel wouldn't open due to lack of system resources, much less IE)
Me: Could you please check connections again?
Him: It's all fine!
Me: Well, I'm afraid there might be a problem with your modem, you'll need to bring it in - both the computer and the modem - so that I can test them.
Him: (grumbles, then agrees)

20 minutes later, our receptionist who handles incoming calls (I'm not phone support, just the lab tech) informs me that the guy called again and cancelled the ticket - turns out modem wasn't plugged in after all.

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Under an hour? Ain't happening anyway, Office update takes a good 15-20 minutes all by itself on a typical DSL connection, integrating service packs works on enterprise edition only, and pre-downloading them screws up the automatic update.

It takes me between 30 minutes and an hour to build a typical system, depending on how much hardware goes in, this includes filling out all the paperwork, but not the software installation.

[jacobine.livejournal.com]

*whistles*

I spent 4 hours trying to get my computer to post this weekend, after installing a new cpu and motherboard. It took about 20 minutes tops to dismantle everything and install then new board and replug everything back in. It wouldn't work, at all. As I desperately searched the internet and glared at my totally unhelpful manuals, I finally found a mention of the ATX2 connector while checking that the power supply was strong enough. Funny how that makes things work...

In my defense, this is the first pentium processor I've had in almost 10 years. I didn't know P4s had two power plugs!

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Heh, I haven't witnessed this personally, but my boss told me - back when they just started the company, they hired this tech who... well... wasn't very knowledgeable. Among other things, he connected two 4-pin Molex power plugs to the AT power header on the motherboard. It's a wonder nothing was burned out.

[kalidor.livejournal.com]

Indeed, I know how it can be. All the different processors and makes are starting to get just different enough to be confusing. You wanna really start scratching your head, grab an LGA 775 board. Lack of pins on the CPU really toss ya for a loop. ^_^x

[kalidor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no kidding. But of course the fun part is when you get the guilt trip from the boss. What do you mean you can't do it in under an hour. Roy builds them in under an hour all the time!
(Yeah, and we always rebuild them on-site)

[gholam.livejournal.com]

Ah, the perks of working for a small company - there is no Roy, I'm the only lab tech, responsible both for assembling new systems and fixing stuff that the two field techs can't handle on-site. Of course there's a downside to that as well - one time I got sick, I came back to find a dozen non-working systems waiting, plus orders. Was a long day...

[geekgrrl-ca.livejournal.com]

If i had a dollar for every msce/a+/yadda yadda "tech" that's called me... scary thing is they were pulling in more $ then me as consultants. Guess they were good salesmen cause they were shitty techs.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Top that. Had an onsite tech call in on a laptop we service the other day.

Couldn't replace motherboard we had shipped. Why? Someone, unknown who, had SUPERGLUED the last motherboard in place. That one was return-to-depot.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

Those who can't, teach.

Those who can't teach, sell.

[dmsalem00.livejournal.com]

That's how my new system is. Pins on the board, none on the chip. Actually makes reseating/replacing chips much easier. Not that I have to do that often with P4s. Those things seem to be getting much better at handling heat issues.