So I almost had a heart attack

[Yoinkerman]

I broke some caps off a mobo by pushing in a cd rom drive too far into a matx case back in the day, it didn't fit right away so I kept pushing until it did!

[Darell3]

So I totally just had one of these moments today.  I was trying to plug back in a case fan while the PC was on.

 

The PC shut off.  I smelled electronics burning...  :blink:

 

Fortunately, I got really freaking lucky and the PC booted back up just fine.  The fan header's toast, but it's not a huge deal, I'll just use a 3-pin to molex on that fan.

 

So this is what it looks like when you short 12V to Ground:

 

Lesson learned: shut off the computer before removing/inserting anything internally.  Shorting exposed pins is bad.

ive always connected/disconnected fans off my computer when it was on, and this never happened to me. Hmmm weird.

[Guest]

forgetting to plug in the cpu fan it survived but i just about jumped on the pc.

[AroundWayOtherThe]

Blackout during BIOS flash... thank god for dual BIOS's

[5tephenm1o5]

i bent pins on my asus maximus V formula a 350 dollar mobo i had to buy a new 1 and i put my 2600k in there to test the mobo thinking i fixed the pins and fried that 2 do i bought a new 1 of those 2 so ya 

[TheRisingMyth]

Several times, just my PC trolling me with random errors, i just unplug and replug everything back in to feel the vibe, cone the rock and moot the boot.

[Barfnargle]

My laptop violently fell off my bed into the wall, and then slammed shut on the floor. I was sure I broke the screen or some internal component, but nothing.

[bosnian_guy]

This didn't happen to me but it happened to my cousin. She has a Fujitsu laptop with a ''water resistant'' keyboard. I was saying to her that no matter what water will find it's way into the laptop. So to prove me wrong she took a 2 liter bottle of water and pored it out on her laptop. For like 30 seconds it was fine after thirty seconds it started smoking. I was laughing so hard. But the laptop is fine (I fixed it :P) .

[SpRaY]

Built my new computer and put everything to the case already. Plugged everything in, turned it on.. screen stayed black. Restarted.. nothing changed. Removed the dedicated video card and plugged DVI straight to motherboard.. still black screen. Was afraid that I gave static to the mobo or something.. finally "restarted" the monitor.. and it worked! :D

[iAsuno]

my pc wont respond and give me all sorts of problems. turns out a bad windows installation. the disk itself was bad.

[MdX MaxX]

ive always connected/disconnected fans off my computer when it was on, and this never happened to me. Hmmm weird.

I have as well, but my finger touched the header pins this time, thus shorting 12V to ground.

It was just me being careless and stupid. But oh well.

[Darell3]

I have as well, but my finger touched the header pins this time, thus shorting 12V to ground.

It was just me being careless and stupid. But oh well.

Oh dang, that sucks.

[Art Vandelay]

When I was pulling my i5 2400 out of my current motherboard, to replace with a more suitable CPU, I felt the edge of the CPU drag against the pins, and when I put the lever downon the new one, my room was really silent, so I could hear the crunch it makes.

 

Scared the hell out of me, but the crunching noise is normal.

[Bleedman0xx]

I was trying to remove a heatsink from an AMD Phenom II X4 CPU but the thermal paste was holding it together.

So I twisted and turned the heatsink to try and get it and and *pop* out comes the CPU with it. This is without the safety latch being pulled up meaning it should've been pretty securely in there.

This almost gave me a heart attack because this was my first computer and I didn't have the money, time, or energy to get a new one then.

Well, I decided "oh well", pried the CPU off the Heatsink and re-seated it after inspecting all the pins. Everything seemed fine.

After re-installing everything along with the new heatsink, the computer worked like a champ and has been to this day. 

My respect for the ruggedness of CPU's grew tenfold that day.

Well now you know to run your computer for 5 minutes or so prior to removing a heat sink.  :P

[Darell3]

Got a new headset for Christmas put it on and started to play, i was drinking water then and someone said a funny joke over the mic and i burst in to laughter forgetting i had my headset on, and water got to my mic. But sure enough the water didn't go in the mic.

[Jake Dalay]

Just this past June, putting my new rig together.

I'm at home now until college starts again in the fall, so I had time for a build.

 

All my parts arrived on time, no problem.

 

I start opening things up, checking things out, and I get to my GTX 780. I rip open the box, take out the card, and marvel at the sheer beauty of the reference cooler.

 

I set it down on my worktable in my room, and leave to go get something, and here is where it gets scary.

 

When I get back, my sister, also home from college, is standing there, glass of water in one hand, fuzzy slippers, pajama pants, and a fuzzy sweater on, having walked across my room (carpeted!) to see what the "big shiny metal thing" was on my table.

 

She was reaching down to pick up the card with one hand, and I freaked out, which startled her, causing her to drop the glass of water.

 

The water basically soaked a few boxes and my floor, but thankfully I had gotten the components out already, and the glass didn't even break.

 

I must have seemed like a madman to her when I made her leave, but that was entirely too much risk for me.

[KneesWeak]

first post

[arodrake]

My newly built computer started to smoke when I first turned it on.
Luckily, it was just an LED light which was short circuiting and only the LED strip was badly damaged; nothing else.