How do I handle breaking a friend's rig.

[matt12046]

So a buddy of mine finally decided to build his first computer, and I was more than glad to help. He got all of his parts in and we sat down tonight to get it all up and running. The problem is that at some point, either through lack of attention or just plain stupidity on my part, I must have installed one of the DIMMs backwards. Either way, when we fired it up, it let out that burning electronics smell and a puff of white smoke. Needless to say I'm pretty sure the mobo is fried and the memory sure as hell is. 

 

My question is, how do you handle the embarrassment of being the go to guy just to screw it up? I've already porpoised to make good on whatever it costs but I still feel kind of shitty. 

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, matt12046 said:

I must have installed one of the DIMMs backwards.

How the heck did you manage that?  That's like accidently putting a shoe on backwards, it's hard to imagine you NOT noticing.

[matt12046]

Just now, AshleyAshes said:

How the heck did you manage that?  That's like accidently putting a shoe on backwards, it's hard to imagine you NOT noticing.

See, I thought they were keyed and I spent about 30 minutes wondering that myself. I was an asrock board and only one of the arms that hold in the dimm moved, the other was fixed so I thought for sure there was no way in hell I could screw it up. Guess I was wrong. 

[tomoki]

Wow... how the heck... RIP. A big issue I can't solve. 

[AshleyAshes]

5 minutes ago, matt12046 said:

See, I thought they were keyed and I spent about 30 minutes wondering that myself. I was an asrock board and only one of the arms that hold in the dimm moved, the other was fixed so I thought for sure there was no way in hell I could screw it up. Guess I was wrong. 

Exactly what is the model of this motherboard that has unkeyed DIMM slots...?

[Praesi]

Never heard someone managed that. The RAM was not installed correct, ok,  but roast the mobo because of that? Weird.

[Herman Mcpootis]

hope to god the RMA/exchange works somehow. since you broke it, you should also replace it out of your own pocket if the rma doesn't work.

[matt12046]

7 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

Exactly what is the model of this motherboard that has unkeyed DIMM slots...?

It was an asrock H170A-X1. And I don't know that there were unkeyed, but I could have sworn up and down that they seated into the slot. 

7 hours ago, herman mcpootis said:

hope to god the RMA/exchange works somehow. since you broke it, you should also replace it out of your own pocket if the rma doesn't work.

Oh, it's a given that I'll replace it, and then some.

[Suika]

People make mistakes, we learn from those mistakes. Accept what happened, learn from the situation, and improve from it.

 

Also I don't like working with ASRock boards, I've not worked with one that didn't have an issue, so maybe the board was also at fault?

[AshleyAshes]

While this is the type of DIMM slot where one side of the retainer is fixed, the slot is most certainly keyed and I'm at a total loss as to how you'd get that wrong and somehow force it in till the retainer locked without using a hammer.

 

 

[comicsansms]

Did this really need a thread?

Step 1: Check to see if you did anything wrong: - Yes - You fucked up - You pay

                                                                           - No - You didn't fuck up - You RMA

[matt12046]

Just now, AshleyAshes said:

While this is the type of DIMM slot where one side of the retainer is fixed, the slot is most certainly keyed and I'm at a total loss as to how you'd get that wrong and somehow force it in till the retainer locked without using a hammer.

 

 

 

That's the thing man, I didn't force it. I've built before and I know (or thought I knew) not to force something. It seated and that was it.

[TheBestUserName]

1 minute ago, matt12046 said:

That's the thing man, I didn't force it. I've built before and I know (or thought I knew) not to force something. It seated and that was it.

Ya -- that's the thing -- you can't put RAM in backwards or upside down.  If assembly was the cause of the failure, it wasn't the RAM. 

[matt12046]

6 minutes ago, TheBestUserName said:

Ya -- that's the thing -- you can't put RAM in backwards or upside down.  If assembly was the cause of the failure, it wasn't the RAM. 

Maybe I didn't kill it... Where it scorched the dimm and melted the slot a little bit, maybe it was just a bad board. 

[Velvet Revolver]

you pushed down on that ram stick hard why did not you realize something was amiss?

[Mooshi]

Uh...I recall putting, er, attempting to put ram in backwards without paying attention before--but you kinda feel that. You don't order a pizza and somehow end up with a salad. 

[SCHISCHKA]

you fight till first blood

[Megah3rtz]

29 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

you fight till first blood

the only real answer here 

[Velvet Revolver]

The first rule of Fight Club is:You do not talk about Fight Club.

The second rule of Fight Club is:You do not talk about Fight Club

[richardmajor86]

Just return the board to the retailer saying it doesn't work? Places don't check. There COULD have been a fault on the board which you didn't notice, but you're assuming it's your fault. 

 

I guess it depends where you got the board from, like if it's an actual person maybe you want to be more sure it's the board's fault. But if it's a big company, just return it to them. It can be like a tax for every time they've sold Grandma a $75 gold HDMI cable

[GiltBrick]

3 hours ago, matt12046 said:

See, I thought they were keyed and I spent about 30 minutes wondering that myself. I was an asrock board and only one of the arms that hold in the dimm moved, the other was fixed so I thought for sure there was no way in hell I could screw it up. Guess I was wrong. 

Still not sure how you put in the RAM backwards. When I was helping a friend out I almost did a similar thing but it didn't work. I was looking at the notches to see what way to fit it but it just wasn't going in. I flipped it around and tried it and it didn't work again. I did that back and forth a few times and put as much pressure as I possibly could the last time. It still didn't go in so I flipped it once more, put a ton of pressure and it fit like it should and it worked just fine.

 

What I'm trying to say is I put as much pressure as I could while trying to fit it the wrong way and nothing happened. The stick didn't break, it didn't go in the slot, nothing.

[Satisfoxy]

Cry then pay for it.

[BuckGup]

It wasn't the RAM as you would have had to break off pins and pushing from the top you are going to need serious force to break it. Most likely you plugged something in wrong or it is a bad PSU.

[Kenoxabe]

I'm having a hard time believing that you managed to f**k up your ram sticks by placing it backwards.

 

I'm betting it's your outlet, or your PSU. 

 

Not buying into wrong ram placement. Lol. 

 

Even though if you have good physical conditioning, you'll notice it right away if there's something wrong with the ram fitting snugly on each ram slots.

[Boxing Kitten]

23 hours ago, matt12046 said:

So a buddy of mine finally decided to build his first computer, and I was more than glad to help. He got all of his parts in and we sat down tonight to get it all up and running. The problem is that at some point, either through lack of attention or just plain stupidity on my part, I must have installed one of the DIMMs backwards. Either way, when we fired it up, it let out that burning electronics smell and a puff of white smoke. Needless to say I'm pretty sure the mobo is fried and the memory sure as hell is. 

 

My question is, how do you handle the embarrassment of being the go to guy just to screw it up? I've already porpoised to make good on whatever it costs but I still feel kind of shitty. 

That ASRock H170A-X1 Motherboard has a clear key in dimm so we are all speculating your logic here but regardless its 70+ bucks call Asrock see if they can send a new one NOTE: don't say a word about DIMMS because they wont believe you and just let them replace it. If that doesn't work its time to be a man and say hey dude here *hand him the money or better yet buy him a new identical board* with a $10 peripheral/beer just as a considerate measure and get back to building it with him to end on a good note lol.