Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 37786
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2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

2005/5/20-23 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:37786 Activity:nil
5/20    Reading tech support stories.  This page is by far the funniest
        I've seen yet.
        http://rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_smoke.shtml
        \_ Heh.
          * Customer: "Hi. I have a Macintosh. I had a disk that I wanted to
            put in the computer, but it wouldn't go, so I pushed harder, and
            it wouldn't go, so I pushed REALLY hard, and now it's making funny
            noises. I think there was a disk in there already."
          * Tech Support: "Unplug the computer, now."
          * Customer: "I don't want to lose my paper!"
          * Tech Support: "Unplug the computer right now. Your paper is lost.
            Your floppy drive is lost. If you're lucky the Mac will be OK.
            Unplug it now."
          * Customer: "But I don't want to lose my paper!"

        After a few more repetitions of this, I heard someone, presumably the
        client's roommate, scream. Then I heard the dorm fire alarm go off in
        the background. Those things are awful loud, but she didn't seem
        interested in unplugging the computer, fleeing the fire in her room,
        or anything else other than arguing with me. Figuring I was doing her
        a favor, I hung up.
2025/07/08 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/8     

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Cache (7456 bytes)
rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_smoke.shtml
Click Here Computer Stupidites Smoke When a computer starts smoking, it's typically an indication of a problem mo re severe than one tech support could remedy. Monitor is working fine b ut has sparks and smoke flying out back. Our Help Desk got a call fr om a customer who was new to mini-computer operations. The call went som ething like this: * Customer: "There is smoke coming from the back of the computer. This sounds apocryphal, but I swear it's true: * Customer: "I've been connected to the Internet for about ten minutes now, and my computer started smoking about five minutes ago. The most shocking call I received came from a student at a local college here. He had received a CD for a n ISP from an American friend. I got this CD from an American, and he says that his ISP is better than mine because the calls are free. Because if so, I don't think it will work with your computer." I know exactly what I'm doing, so don't insult my intelligence!" I couldn't get through to the IS P So, I changed the computer to American power." He'd changed the voltage switch while the computer was on, causing the po wer supply to explode. A user phoned me and complained that her monitor was smoking, smelled of burning, the display had gone wrong, and the monitor was too hot to touc h I suggested that she switch the monitor off until an engineer could l ook at it. I'm the manager of several computer network and desktop technicians. Rece ntly, a user had been rolled out with a new desktop PC a day earlier. Sh e insisted that this new PC was "giving off some kind of electrical rays or something." When a technician and I got to the user's office, she go t a very serious look on her face and brought me over to the offending P C She placed her hand, palm down on the desk, directly in front of the new computer. I ev en heard some kind of static on my phone for a second or two, and I've a lready had the phone guys replace it! 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