Don’t Do That #2: Computer Carnage

Using Your Desktop to Transport Books

You’re probably thinking to yourself, who in their right mind would possibly transport books in a computer. Well, I would have asked myself a similar question up until about two weeks ago when I met this genius - a self proclaimed computer wizard and Linux guru. Working for the Student Help Desk at my college, I get exposed to tons of computer problems on a weekly basis. Most of the time these problems are virus/malware related, however there is the odd instances where we receive something completely unexpected. This happened a few weeks ago, when a student, who had frequented the help desk returned with a “new” desktop which he claimed to have built. He informed us that his computer would not start and that he was having problems with the bios. Upon further review, we discovered that the two main SATA connectors on the motherboard were broken - explaining why the computer was having a hard time finding a hard drive on startup.

Later, it was revealed to us that the customer, in his infinite wisdom, had used his newly constructed desktop to transport books back and forth between his home and his school apartment. You read correctly. He had actually taken the side panel off the case, placed textbooks inside, and then proceeded to close it back up, and transport it back to school with him….some would say, that’s what boxes are for (and not the big metal one holding $500 worth of electrical components).

Laptop Disassembly 101

When disassembling a computer, it is important to pay close attention to detail. In fact, in my opinion, you should probably never attempt to disassemble a laptop unless you have a very very pressing reason. Unfortunately, I had such a reason last night, when the power adapter port on the back of my laptop broke. Opening the sytem up and soldering it back together was the only option. Two hours and about 40 screws later, this is what I had:

It wasn’t pretty. But I got it working again…and only 3 screws left over. Not too bad, IMHO.