Let them eat cake(d on thermal compound)

[brutalentropy.livejournal.com]

So I was working on this guys computer... it sounded like a small child getting sucked in to a jet engine every time you turned it on. Woot, time for new heatsink/fan and case fans. So I pop off the old bugger, and lookee what I found:



Kind of amazing that he managed to get the thermal compound everywhere EXCEPT the die. He's lucky the thing didn't fry.

Another one that comes to mind... we popped the case off the front of a PC, and the fan holes in the front were COVERED in cat hair. I mean, you couldn't tell holes were supposed to be there. It looked like someone had shaved a cat and then shoved its hair in the front of the case. I'm not kidding when I say there was enough in there to make a small sweater. Thank god we have an air compressor here.

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen inside a computer case?

(x-posted)

Comments

[dukesnorre.livejournal.com]

Hah, I thought this was a post by someone on my friends list, with a Donnie Darko theme. (Someone has same icon and likes DD.)

[alysania.livejournal.com]

How about what's coming out of a laptop case?
http://www.alysania.com/junk/laptopfire.jpg (http://www.alysania.com/junk/laptopfire.jpg)

[caerleon.livejournal.com]

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen inside a computer case?

Don't even ask..

Oh.. you did..

Coins in the floppy drive.. lots of coins to be honest.. we sold him a new drive for a tenner and got £6.80 back from his old one..

A dead (and well mummified) mouse..

About a can's worth of expanding foam.. (the draughts from the fan were blowing the papers about on his desk, so he blocked the holes up and then his machine "went funny")

Three used condoms in a CD drive (wrapped around the drive mech in a way that is hard to describe)..

A very old toasted cheese sandwich in a Colorado tape drive (there's been a funny smell from the machine!)

There are probably more, but those spring immediately to mind..

[coyoteden.livejournal.com]

that's normal. After heat and pressure is applied, there should only be a very thin (as in nearly transparent) layer of thermal compound between the die and HSF. In a lot of cases, the compound in the die area will stick to the HSF when removed because the die is too smooth for adhesion.

[solradia.livejournal.com]

I did not see this myself, but a friend of mine found an ant colony in one that was in a warehouse.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

The guts of a second computer - but that's because I was Frankensteining them together to perform emergency data retrieval when some cheap-ass assembler had decided to use the world's shortest drive cables in the cases, with no spare sockets on the power supplies, and I had no spare cables to hand.

[caerleon.livejournal.com]

Indeed.. that just looks like "we've got to smear this stuff on, so smear on plenty and use the whole sachet" effect to me, which is *great* because it gets hot, runs like a very runny thing and then starts coating the pins of the processor.. fine while it's still in place, but if the processor *does* blow and you have to replace it...

[fusepark.livejournal.com]

My sister was living in Hawaii, and one day as she's working on her PowerBook, cockroach antennae come out of the vents behind the keyboard. They wave around a bit in front of the screen and then vanish back inside. The computer never had a problem. Don't ask, don't tell.

[taqaisenu.livejournal.com]

A mouse nest. Mouse pee everywhere (no wonder the box was acting freaky), dead baby mice, dust and straw.

It started as your typical lightning-strike electrical damage call. I had him pop the box and look inside, reseat the cards, sniff around and let me know if he smelled anything electrical. He said "nope, nothing out of the ordinary," so I had him send his box in for repairs.

"Nothing out of the ordinary" my great Aunt Sally. I'm sorry - mouse nest, mouse pee, dead mice - I'd hate to be in a place where THAT is "nothing out of the ordinary" to be found in a computer!

[blossomingfire.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of the nastiest faculty member we have (the chair, mind you): Roaches. About a hundred of them.

It took me 10 minutes to stop screaming.

[nem0.livejournal.com]

Not inside a computer, but one time I opened a glitchy Sega Genesis to do some repairs.

The inside was full of weevils.

That would explain a lot, now, wouldn't it?

[brutalentropy.livejournal.com]

no no, there was NO compound on the die... they got it everywhere on the chip EXCEPT the die...

it was almost like someone was trying to do the worst possible job of installing it. Well, OK, I guess they could have not put ANY on there...

[pantherchild.livejournal.com]

~Friend of mine inherited a computer from the daycare he worked at. The computer contained three crayons, two stickers, and one of those little suncatcher things kids like to make.~

[silveryrose.livejournal.com]

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen inside a computer case?

In my own computers, a remote that had been missing for 3 months (I don't watch much tv as you can probably tell :p)

I did some work on a PC for a friend's mother a few months back and found two vials of insulin and a bottle of Starlix.

[azzy23.livejournal.com]

A Kenny G cd.

*shudder*

I still have nightmares...

[caerleon.livejournal.com]

were you able to determine the lesser of two weevils?..

[sheryls.livejournal.com]

well. you know how some cases are a greyish beige, and some are a more beige-beige?

we had one in that was "running slowly and making grinding noises" - it was a beige-beige case. or so we thought. when we picked it up we realized it was *sticky*. and there was sticky, brown dust in every single hole and fan in the damn thing, just coated in it.

out of morbid curiosity, a coworker sprayed the side with Fantastik...

and the beige-beige ran down the side..the case was grey, and the owner was a heavy smoker, who coated his entire computer with smoke residue, to the point of making the dust into sticky dust and clogging up all the fans.

the smell was horrific. and i think i smoked at the time.

[kalium.livejournal.com]

The weevils, it would seem.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

Never really gotten anything unusual inside a computer, just some machines that were REALLY dusty.

I was working on this one machine that looked pretty bad, but looks were deceiving, it was really much, much worse than I ever imagined.

I stuck the end of the air compressor hose into the 5-1/4" floppy drive (that kinda dates me, doesn't it?) and hit the button. The drive exploded in a massive cloud of dust.

But what really struck me as funny was watching everyone else in the shop suddenly scramble for cover.

From then on, whenever I blow out a machine, I always wear a surgical mask.

[alanademonkitty.livejournal.com]

An empty coke can.

[ke4peo.livejournal.com]

What's the weirdest thing I've seen in a computer case?

Hmmm...let's see. I had a friend...a really 'grooooovy' friend. A 'mellow' 'laid back' friend, if you catch my drift.

And apparently, his 'stash' was 'stashed' inside his computer case. Except, he neglected to retrieve it before he gave it to me to work on. Needless to say, I played the 'best friend' and didn't rat him out. Though I did suggest he might want to take that out next time it needs service. Other techs might not be so nice. :)

[kallell.livejournal.com]

i used to love making thise things . . wait the coloring ones, or the bakeing ones?

[compwizrd.livejournal.com]

Hydraulic oil in a laptop.

hrmm

[lepermime.livejournal.com]

If I only count the last year I would have to say the craziest thing would be opening up a 1600SC and seeing an inch of floor wax on the inside. It had been sitting on the floor and the cleaning crew just sloshed water and everything else against the case. You could even clearly see where the mop had rubbed up against the chassis the last time the floor was cleaned.

If I count the past 10-15 years of time. It would have to be all the cigarette butts in an onsite support and training I had to do for a customer. I opened the case. Slapped the side back on and left. Got a call when I got back to the office asking where I was. Told her I worked for an internet provider not an ashtray repair company, and hung up.

[aylinn.livejournal.com]

my first PC was purchased second hand from a local Domino's chain.

FLOUR was everywhere. Also, the keyboard had a distinct lack of springback in the F9 key.

"Hey Kevin? What's F9 do in the Domino's software?"

"That's the driver checkout key, why?"

"That explains it. Never mind."

Yes, it was a busy store.