[airspirit]

These types of topics are always fun, and I'd like to start it with an experience from the weekend.

A neighbor comes up to me as I'm coming home from the laundromat with a bag from a local PC parts store. I inwardly groaned, and spent the next five minutes listening to his sob story about his computer not wanting to turn on anymore, and how he thinks it's because his PSU fan went out (by this time I discerned that the bag contained only a replacement fan). He asked if it was possible to replace his PSU fan, and I told him it was possible, but he might not like the results. By this time his face had assumed the "I know better than you" look, so I hastily told him that since his PSU fan was the only exhaust fan in the rig, he might have permanently damaged the PSU, and possibly the CPU and motherboard as well, and that is assuming that a power surge from the PSU didn't blow out other components as well.

He thought about it for a second and told me that he was sure that it was just the fan causing his problem and that the computer was only on for a couple of minutes before the fan went out, so he should be okay. He insisted that he was going to replace the fan, and that would take care of the problem. I told him to be careful inside of the PSU, constantly injecting the phrase "IT WILL KILL YOU IF YOU TOUCH THE WRONG THING" for good measure (the guy is NOT a rocket scientist and has never worked on electronics in his life ... I don't know what possessed him to do this), and to let me know how it turns out ... but not before telling him once again that a burnt fan would NOT cause his computer to not power on.

Two hours later he came to my door with his computer so he could prove the computer guru wrong. Not wanting to risk blowing my circuit breakers, I had him plug it into an outside plug, and with a smug look on his face he flipped the switch on the back. No sparks flew, so he pushed the front power button and all hell broke loose.

The computer hadn't even posted before flames started shooting out of the back of the PSU. He screamed "HOLY SHIT WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?" and watched helplessly for about ten seconds as I ran to the plug and pulled the cord (I wasn't getting my hands near that fireball). Since he hadn't bolted the side on his case, I quickly opened it, and upended the case. The fire was out about ten seconds later. After staring at his machine for what seemed like ten minutes, he turns to me and asks if I can fix it.

I choked back laughter and told him that if his system wasn't screwed before, it most certainly was now, and that at the very least he needed a new power supply. Odds were, though, that he was going to be spending over $400 in short order if he wanted his machine to work again. I also found out at this point that he left his computer on and was gone for TWO DAYS before he came back and noticed the fan wasn't working. God knows WHAT happened or WHAT fried during that time.

He thought it over for a second, still shocked from the fire, and then tells me that I should pay for it because I gave him bad advice (I'm thinking: "WHAT THE FSCK?"). I replied with: "Didn't I tell you that a fan wasn't your problem?" I pointed at the now charbroiled fan and continued: "Did you even know what the heck you were doing in there?" Of course he replied in the negative, so I told him that since I told him earlier that a fan wouldn't fix it and he jury rigged a fan into his power supply that I wasn't responsible for his stupid decisions.

Again, he paused and thought about it, all the while staring at his new barbeque kit, and then asked if I could put a new computer together for him if he ordered the parts. I told him that I'd think about it, but that I probably would be busy for a while ... a LONG while, so maybe you should have the folks that sold you a goddam FAN when you told them your system wouldn't TURN ON put it together for you. He was not thrilled with that, and after getting yelled at for a couple of minutes I told him to fsck off, and that he should have listened to me in the first place rather than bringing a firebomb over to my house in order to prove me wrong ... then I went inside and laughed my ass off.

Later that day while I was in the neighborhood I stopped by the computer store that sold him the fan and explained to them that they should expect a very angry person to stop by. I told them what happened and they thought it was hilarious, not realizing it was their ignorance that caused the situation in the first place. I hope he gives them the same crap he tried to give me ... they are the ones that deserve it for dispensing bad advice ....

It amazes me that people will trust their local computer store over people that they know to be competent. Sometimes I hate being the neighborhood tech support guy ... especially when I deal with bungholes like that.