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If it's going to blow up... Tell us...

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  • If it's going to blow up... Tell us...

    I used to be an RMA clerk for a local computer company. Basically, my job involved testing all the hardware that was brought in because it was bad, and send it back to our suppliers. Pretty simple, bland job, but, I learned allot about computers.

    A customer comes in one day with a "dead power supply" (PSU). All the SC said was, "It won't turn on no more". No problem, it happens, probably got zapped by lightning or something. The floor person takes the power supply and hands it to me to test, that is when the following happens:

    I take said power supply, set it on the L-shaped counter with the rear fans pointing towards me, which happens to also be the floor persons back. The two of them continue talking while I grabbed the PSU tester and plugged it in.

    The wonderful thing about this particular test is, when you plug it into the PSU, it closes a loop that allows the PSU to turn on, and it shows a green light if it is supplying power properly. The bad part about these testers is, if a capacitor has blown, it can smell pretty bad, depending on how bad it blew. After a while, you kinda just get used to the smell...

    THIS TIME however, that's not what had happened at all... When I juiced up the PSU with the tester in it, a few feet of sparks and flames shot out of the back of it!!! Which, in turn burnt my arm, and set my sales floor persons shirt on fire. Needless to say, neither of us stood still very long. I ran out the front door with the PSU that is at this point on fire, and my co-worker runs to the bathroom to put his shirt out. Things finally settle a little bit, I get my burn taken care of (very very minor burn btw), and my co-worker strips his work shirt off, and just wears the t-shirt he had on under it.

    It's what happened next that really blew my mind though... The customer looks at us and says "YEAH!!!! That's EXACTLY what happened when I plugged it in!!!!"

    I have never come so close to physically removing someone from my store as I did at that very moment. Common sense would say, if something CATCHES FIRE, you tell the person that is about to test that piece of equipment... I guess that's too much to ask these days though...
    I pirated a copy of Linux and nobody cared

  • #2
    That is amazing. I would never think to take something in for repair, that I had once seen burst into flames, and not tell the person doing the repairs about it. That would probably be my complaint actually. "I tried to turn it on and it shot fire at me."

    Hope you're alright.

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    • #3
      Oh, Taubin, I'm so sorry. I found that hilariously funny.

      I'd have given that guy a verbal beat down, though.
      Now a member of that alien race called Management.

      Yeah, you see that right. Pink. Harness.

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      • #4


        What a friggin jackass!! That should be illegal, like criminal negligence or something. Imagine if for some reason, you'd been bent down looking right at the thing when it blew!

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        • #5
          Quoth RetailWorkhorse View Post
          Oh, Taubin, I'm so sorry. I found that hilariously funny.

          I'd have given that guy a verbal beat down, though.
          He was told, under no terms was he allowed back in my store... Period... (I use the term "my store" very loosely, I was as low on the totem poll as you could go)..


          Quoth Belari View Post


          What a friggin jackass!! That should be illegal, like criminal negligence or something. Imagine if for some reason, you'd been bent down looking right at the thing when it blew!
          I learned my lesson about sticking my face right near anything that is electric, or has moving parts when I got my hair sucked into a processor fan while listening for a hard drive noise
          I pirated a copy of Linux and nobody cared

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          • #6
            Worst thing that happened to me, re. Computer parts going 'kaboom' was another PSU (a new 800-watt unit, too, so it had a kick to it) deciding that it didn't like its confining shell. Shrapnel everywhere, and a bunch of scratches and scrapes, but nothing worse than that.

            I arbitrarily decided, from that point on, that I'd rather let the professionals fix my comp. :P

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            • #7
              Quoth Taubin View Post
              I ran out the front door with the PSU that is at this point on fire, and my co-worker runs to the bathroom to put his shirt out. Things finally settle a little bit, I get my burn taken care of (very very minor burn btw), and my co-worker strips his work shirt off, and just wears the t-shirt he had on under it.
              Please, please, PLEASE forgive me for laughing at this. Had you been hurt severely, it would be a tragedy...or a civil/criminal suit. I hope he never showed his face there again.
              I have a...thing. Wanna see it?

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              • #8
                Heh... a dinky little PC PSU is nothing. I have personally witnessed the PSU for a 3000lb chunk of $M computer equipment shoot a geyser of the magic smoke up to the ceiling. A bazillion watts of three-phase industrial power can make a LOT of smoke.

                Luckily all equipment that large is equipped with a Big Red Switch, meant exactly for this purpose, which I used.

                SirWired

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                • #9
                  Electronics don't work too well after you let out that factory installed smoke, and it's tough to get it back in there.

                  Seriously, that had to be one messed up PSU to literally explode like that. Good thing you guys were ok.
                  A fact of life: After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says W T F.....

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                  • #10
                    Yanno... if my power supply was shooting flames out the back when I plugged it in, I wouldn't be taking it to get fixed. I'd buy a new one.

                    Then use the old one for...erm... teasing my friends. Yeah, that's it. Like when I found a lighter in the washer AFTER doing a load of laundry. Flick it on, 3-foot flame shot out the top. I left it where one of my buddies would likely pick it up to use it. He forgave me a couple years after his eyebrows grew back.
                    What colour is the sky in your world and how high of a dosage do you need before it turns back to blue? --Gravekeeper

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                    • #11
                      Weird coincidence...

                      Is this you, OP?

                      Just went up on failblog!
                      http://failblog.org/2008/12/18/vcr-fail/#comments

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                      • #12
                        I exchanged an electric coffee grinder that smoked when I ran it. I warned the desk supervisor about that before she could fire it up (no lame pun intended). The SM stopped her from testing it anyway. Good thing someone with sense was listening.
                        I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                        Who is John Galt?
                        -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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                        • #13
                          After a while, you kinda just get used to the smell...
                          ooo the smell...
                          "And you didn't think to tell us that BEFORE you watched us plug it in?"

                          or... if you can't say that... just... heh i use to just cock my head at one of my supervisors, the confused dog look... basically my way of saying "are you insane?"

                          hey it works.

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                          • #14
                            I had a CRT monitor do that once. I was working in one room going thru some paper work when the fire alarm goes off. As I ma leaving the building I walk by a open office and smell smoke. I look in and see light Grey smoke and a buzzing sound emanating from said CRT.

                            I pulled the plug and left as thew smoke had a really bad burning plastic/chemicals smell. The FD arrived, removed the monitor and set up rally big fans to ventilate the building.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              My ex was drying her crotch after a shower when the hair-dryer started blowing sparks...

                              No damage, except to her nerves...

                              And my ribs from stiffling the giggles...
                              I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
                              Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
                              Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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