This is how to set someone's computer on fire

[zakizdaman]

Hey guys here's a guide on how to set someone's computer on fire, and fry 3 of their USB components.

For a little bit of back story, my friend asked me to build him a computer. His old case was too small, so I swapped it with my sister's case. No big deal, I've been putting computers together on my own for a few years now and switching everything over to one case will be no problem. 

TL;DR,

READ. THE. FUCKING. MANUAL. 

 

My sister plugged in two of her USB devices; a headset which stopped working instantly, and a webcam which shorted when plugged in, causing the USB port to melt and cause a small match-size fire that burned out when the surge protection kicked in.

Here are some pictures to document what happened.


Veteran eyes, tell me if you see what is wrong here.

I assumed since the audio cable was right next to the line of 3 pins, that the 4pin connector should go inside of it. Sometimes cables aren't used (like when plugging in a 3pin fan into a 4pin connector)


Here's a motherboard document for reference.


This is where I fucked up. The ground was plugged into the 5v+ pin, and the 5v+ slot was plugged into the ground pin, causing a short.




Here are a few pictures of the damage done. I owe my sister a new headset, a new webcam, and a new whatever got ruined by getting plugged into that port.

 

 

[NeCoNLive]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[OriginalPromise]

Whew.

That could've gone wrong in so many ways though.

Be thankful you didn't end up as the next Austin Evans.

[B@ttery]

Be thank full that doesn't have to be something more expensive like an GPU or even PSU. I have burned ones my PSU, in same kind of scenario.. 

[zakizdaman]

Whew.

That could've gone wrong in so many ways though.

Be thankful you didn't end up as the next Austin Evans.

Who's Austin Evans? -googles- 

And i know, i didn't think these little parts could cause a short so bad to start a fire. Lesson learned.

 

Be thank full that doesn't have to be something more expensive like an GPU or even PSU. I have burned ones my PSU, in same kind of scenario.. 

Yeah no kidding. Although, her computer is pretty low budget and each component cost <$100, replacing the entire computer would have sucked balls. Thank the engineers at Asus for surge protect

[Mistersprinkles]

That's never happened to me before. I use two things called the motherboard manual and my eyes. Both of them tell me which ports are USB, which are 1394, which are SPDIF, and so forth. They're labelled right on the PCB FFS lol      :lol:

[B@ttery]

Who's Austin Evans? -googles- 

And i know, i didn't think these little parts could cause a short so bad to start a fire. Lesson learned.

 

Yeah no kidding. Although, her computer is pretty low budget and each component cost <$100, replacing the entire computer would have sucked balls. Thank the engineers at Asus for surge protect

 

Yeah i feel your pain. My friend has terminated her computer ones. Then was a an thunder storm. Story there is that do not never, shut the computer. That way you pull the power cord off, when the computer is idle. And yeah the motherboard was cheap....

[zakizdaman]

That's never happened to me before. I use two things called the motherboard manual and my eyes. Both of them tell me which ports are USB, which are 1394, which are SPDIF, and so forth. They're labelled right on the PCB FFS lol      :lol:

well, yeah, no shit. I didn't take a close enough look at the connectors and I have no idea what SPDIF is. I just saw the two connectors beside each other and thought they went together, like I stated in the OP.

I didn't think that you would be using half of a USB plugin port, didn't even think of it but now that I do it makes a lot of sense. 

[Mistersprinkles]

well, yeah, no shit. I didn't take a close enough look at the connectors and I have no idea what SPDIF is. I just saw the two connectors beside each other and thought they went together, like I stated in the OP.

I didn't think that you would be using half of a USB plugin port, didn't even think of it but now that I do it makes a lot of sense. 

 

You've taken the Sesame Street approach. Characters on Sesame Street share the child-like basic logic that if something is triangular, it fits in any and all triangular holes.  This is not correct. There is really no excuse other than being extremely high or drunk at the time of building for plugging the wrong connector into the wrong hole. The connectors are all labelled. The holes are all labelled. It's a simple matter of lining up the connector that says USB2 with the hole that says USB2. You saw SPDIF next to the hole and you thought USB2 went there? Come on dude. Nah brah. Nah. It was blow, wasn't it? That or 18+ cans of beer...

BTW SPDIF is Sony Phillips Digital InterFace. It's for digitally transporting audio signals. 

[zakizdaman]

You've taken the Sesame Street approach. Characters on Sesame Street share the child-like basic logic that if something is triangular, it fits in any and all triangular holes.  This is not correct. There is really no excuse other than being extremely high or drunk at the time of building for plugging the wrong connector into the wrong hole. The connectors are all labelled. The holes are all labelled. It's a simple matter of lining up the connector that says USB2 with the hole that says USB2. You saw SPDIF next to the hole and you thought USB2 went there? Come on dude. Nah brah. Nah. It was blow, wasn't it? That or 18+ cans of beer...

BTW SPDIF is Sony Phillips Digital InterFace. It's for digitally transporting audio signals. 

There's no reason to be an asshole and shit post. Come on man, people fuck up basic stuff all the time. Grow up. Not everyone can be as perfect as you and make no stupid makes, because you know you're perfect right? 

[DigitalHermit]

oohh... das nasty....

 

I also set fire to one of my mobos... by not using standoffs...

[zakizdaman]

oohh... das nasty....

 

I also set fire to one of my mobos... by not using standoffs...

Damn dude that really sucks. Computer building really isn't noob-friendly without doing some research before hand. I've built many computers in the past and never had a problem until this one. You have to learn from your own mistakes by just doing it yourself, right? 

[DigitalHermit]

Damn dude that really sucks. Computer building really isn't noob-friendly without doing some research before hand. I've built many computers in the past and never had a problem until this one. You have to learn from your own mistakes by just doing it yourself, right? 

 

That's one expensive way to learn...

 

On the bright side, the mobo I managed to set fire to still worked perfectly for a few years... Now, it has some dead PCI slots and a dead AGP slot... (yes, it's an AGP era)

[zakizdaman]

That's one expensive way to learn...

 

On the bright side, the mobo I managed to set fire to still worked perfectly for a few years... Now, it has some dead PCI slots and a dead AGP slot... (yes, it's an AGP era)

It sure as hell is. What part of the board set on fire? I'm assuming it was somewhere where a lane on the motherboard made contact with the case

A good way to kill a motherboard is to try playing WoW on on-board graphics from a computer 4 years ago, then watch the north-bridge heat sink nearly set on fire. Oops. Thermal throttling fail 

[DigitalHermit]

It sure as hell is. What part of the board set on fire? I'm assuming it was somewhere where a lane on the motherboard made contact with the case

A good way to kill a motherboard is to try playing WoW on on-board graphics from a computer 4 years ago, then watch the north-bridge heat sink nearly set on fire. Oops. Thermal throttling fail 

 

5V trace between the two front USB headers... It smelled pretty bad... The funny thing is that the PC still tried its best to boot... I managed to get past the POST screen... while it was on fire...

[theodoro]

Oh my.... For many years i was telling to many people "just plug the thing into the thing. If it fits, it's ok. Don't worry, it's not gonna start a fire"  
Well now i know

[WolfDeville]

Holy crap lol

[zakizdaman]

Oh my.... For many years i was telling to many people "just plug the thing into the thing. If it fits, it's ok. Don't worry, it's not gonna start a fire"  

Well now i know

"it only goes in 1 way, you'll be fine"

[grind]

Thats pretty fucked up..

Well, the prices here are so high that i never thought of doing something without consulting the manual, fearing something would happen.. But i never imagined things would get this bad.

[Pugs501]

Huh...  I thought Micheal Bay was in charge of this, how disappointing.

I expected EXPLOSIONS!