[chat] Hardware fun

[Peter Hardy <peterhardy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Oct 28, 2001 at 11:51:06PM +1100, Gnuthad wrote:
> On 28 Oct 2001,, Catie Flick <liedra@xxxxxxxxxx> said:
> > On 28 Oct, Gnuthad wrote:
> 
> > > How did you even manage to get the memory into the slot? Last time I 
> > > checked, DIMMs and DDR were both keyed and can only be inserted one 
> > > way without physically brweaking either the slot or the stick.
> > 
> > Well, it was dark, you see, so I pushed it in as hard as I could and
> > thought the little catches were in properly... but they weren't. One
> > powerup and slight burning smell... ooh, what's that? hmm, better power
> > off... put hand in to feel RAM... shit, it burned me! Run to cold water
> > tap, etc.
> 
> Uh huh, the reply of "over-stressed female" appears to be totally 
> correct :P

I recall one time inserting a 72-pin SIMM the wrong way around.  Those
beasties were also keyed, but mine had an indentation at *both* ends,
wih only the tiniest fraction of a difference between them.  I managed
to fully insert it both ways before taking an educated guess, crossing
my fingers and hitting the power.  Luckily the magic smoke stayed put,
and that SIMM is still humming along.

(And you thought I was going to dignify the overstressed female thing
with a reply.  Pah!)

And I must say that Catie's new keyring is *very* funky.  If I didn't
already know it was a dead stick, I would have been amazed. :-)

> > > Oh, and don't do stupid things with hard drive power connectors, they 
> > > are quite easy to break off if you try inserting the plug without 
> > > pushing it directly towards the hard drive and without holding the 
> > > socket, and it's NOT covered by warranty.

And remember that the black wires go on the *inside*!  I've never gotten
this one wrong, but the first PC I built, I guessed. :-)

Cheers,
-- 
Peter
peterhardy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx