Have you ever blown up a computer?

[aimeeandbeatles]

You know, blow up the power supply. Accidentally.

My mom did once. This was a Windows 95. It was faulty. She turned it on, there was a bang, a flash, and puff of smoke, and wouldn't turn on again. I remember this because our smoke alarm (which went off at the slightest thing) went off.

 

[Mise]

In 2nd year of uni, my computer wouldn't turn on. I didn't know what caused it. I figured it was either the power supply, or the mobo, so I asked my flatmate if I could stick the PSU into his PC and see if it still worked.

Turns out it was the power supply. His computer started smoking, so we pulled the plug and opened it up.

Result: Two dead mobos, both fried. £25 to replace them both. I gave my friend a free upgrade though. Two uni students addicted to World of Warcraft, neither of us having computers... We had to make our own fun

I feel the whole situation brought us closer.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

My dad's old Laptop blew up. The batteries caught on fire and made a nice loud pop. Luckily, he put it down and was getting a drink at the moment that happened. This was way before any of the battery recalls ( 2002 I think). Since then, he tends to keep something between the laptop and his lap. Good idea I would say.

 

[TheLastOne36]

i saw a mac laptop overheat and blow up ounce.

 

[Padma]

I let the magic smoke* out of one when I was stationed in Italy back in the 90s. We got a new batch of computers in, and as I was setting them up, I forgot to check the voltage switch on the back of one of them. I plugged a 110V power supply into a 220V circuit, and there went the smoke.



*You do understand that "magic smoke" is what makes computers work, right? If you let the smoke out, it stops working.

 

[Fadan80]

A few years ago, when I got a new computer, I did some "experimental changes" in the old one... and puuuffffff

 

[Mirc]

No, but I blew up a motherboard, because I wasn't careful enough when I was building my computer from pieces. I know what I did wrong but it's way too long to explain.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Reminds me of a friend who had a motherboard start shooting capacitors. I guess it overheated very badly and the pressure made them explode.

"pop, pop, pop....fizz"

 

[Lord_Zath]

My PSU blew a few years back. Luckily, I was there when it happened. Loud noise, a couple bright flashes of light, and then that familiar smell of burned electronics. Sparks had flown, but luckily they were just in the box and didn't travel down to the carpeting.

I've also blown up a computer using other means.

In college, a buddy's computer was damaged during a t-storm. The computer company refused to exchange it - claiming it wasn't damaged enough. So we set about finding ways to damage it enough. We tried pouring water on it. It still ran. We tried pouring sand into it. It still ran. So we eventually took an extension cable, cut off the female terminal, plugged it into the wall, and touched it to the motherboard. All the dorm lights went out, as we had blown a circuit breaker. Again, more smell of electrical fire. When the lights came back on, we saw a big black burn mark on the motherboard. The computer was now quite dead, and the company finally exchanged it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

My PSU blew a few years back. Luckily, I was there when it happened. Loud noise, a couple bright flashes of light, and then that familiar smell of burned electronics. Sparks had flown, but luckily they were just in the box and didn't travel down to the carpeting.

I've also blown up a computer using other means.

In college, a buddy's computer was damaged during a t-storm. The computer company refused to exchange it - claiming it wasn't damaged enough. So we set about finding ways to damage it enough. We tried pouring water on it. It still ran. We tried pouring sand into it. It still ran. So we eventually took an extension cable, cut off the female terminal, plugged it into the wall, and touched it to the motherboard. All the dorm lights went out, as we had blown a circuit breaker. Again, more smell of electrical fire. When the lights came back on, we saw a big black burn mark on the motherboard. The computer was now quite dead, and the company finally exchanged it.

And they didnt complain that you did it on purpose? Or did it look like accidental damage?

And what do they even mean 'not damaged enough' If any component is faulty, they should have sent you a new component or exchanged your pc.

 

[Cutlass]

I had a monitor go snap crackle pop. but there was no external explosion

 

[Quintillus]

My PSU blew a few years back. Luckily, I was there when it happened. Loud noise, a couple bright flashes of light, and then that familiar smell of burned electronics. Sparks had flown, but luckily they were just in the box and didn't travel down to the carpeting.

I've also blown up a computer using other means.

In college, a buddy's computer was damaged during a t-storm. The computer company refused to exchange it - claiming it wasn't damaged enough. So we set about finding ways to damage it enough. We tried pouring water on it. It still ran. We tried pouring sand into it. It still ran. So we eventually took an extension cable, cut off the female terminal, plugged it into the wall, and touched it to the motherboard. All the dorm lights went out, as we had blown a circuit breaker. Again, more smell of electrical fire. When the lights came back on, we saw a big black burn mark on the motherboard. The computer was now quite dead, and the company finally exchanged it.

Well you certainly gave proving that it wasn't working the old college try. Never would've though of that as a way to turn off all the lights in the dorm . I don't think I'd try that though - doesn't sound like an electrical experiment that would end well for me.

I know someone who had a graphics card blow up - good ol' engineering samples. Never actually had any computers blow up though - just a few unfortunate vacuum cleaners.

 

[Perfection]

I've never set fire to any personal computer. However, I have definitely blown power supplies, and have overheated parts to breaking point.


If you widen computers to include microcontrollers, then yes, in a number of fairly interesting ways.

And if we're talking about electronics in general, well, I've smoked dozens of componants.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I once read about this person from Europe, trying to connect to a U.S. ISP. But it didn't work, so he switched the voltage to American power with the computer on.

 

[Meteor Man]

I was reading this thread when my other laptop went poof. (I had both on) Talk about ironic...