What was your biggest Technician Oopsie?

**Niclo Iste** · February 11th, 2008, 08:49 AM

I'm just waking up from a 4 hour night time nap since I was working too much to get any sleep and I thought of an interesting topic. So what was everybodies biggest oopsie/mess up as a technician for a client? Just give the details of the event in all its horror

My personal biggest oopsie I ever did was in my first weeks of training as an apprentice in a computer shop. We had a client who just needed the jammed screws removed from the mounting plate for their printer port. My boss/mentor decides he has to leave for a few hours and the computer was taken apart to see if we could get a better angle on it. He suggests I put the computer together, test the machine and call the client up. Should be easy for anyone right? Well not for me. I start the PC up and the modem won't dial out. I call my boss up and he tells me check the drivers. I check the drivers and everything is fine. So I reseat the modem still nothing. I call him and he won't answer. I try changing the IRQs as he had shown me. Still no luck. He still won't answer his phone. I stress a bit and try anything and everything that comes to mind. Then I notice something. (Dramatic pause) I see that the modem has this interesting looking port on the side of it inside the case. Interesting I say. I wonder if I forgot to plug the modem into something. I do a quick scan inside the case and low and behold I find a plug that is shaped just like the odd configuration on the modem. JACK POT! So I plug the cord into the modem and power the computer on. Now when you watch movies and you hear the sounds of electronics blowing up say for example in Star Wars. Those sounds DO HAPPEN. I also want to say when sparks fly from a computer in a movie that HAPPENS TOO. So here I am watching the most fantastic micro-thermonuclear event in all of the small town of Okmulgee! Mind you this is also burning streaks of light into my retinas that I couldn't get rid of for a full hour. I freak out I don't know what to do! I'm in shock! Suddenly I realize quit watching and do something! I quickly yank the power from the computer and watch the acrid little black stream of smoke come up from what used to be the capacitors on the poor modem. I pace around the store worried, scared and resigned. Not only did I fry a clients computer but I'm sure I'll get yelled at, docked pay, and fired. I quickly go back to the computer in hopes that my lacking skill will miracle it not to be a dead computer. While looking at the inside of the computer I notice the plug that I put into the modem leads directly to the power supply. Being a rookie this doesn't click to me that this shouldn't be a marriage allowed even in the most depraved parts of the world. I do unplug the cord out of knowing by deductive reasoning that I should have things where I started and see if I can salvage it. I turn the computer on and nothing. Amazing really I mean it only worked 10 minutes ago. So I regretfully call my boss and "OH LOOKIE HERE!" He answeres so I freak out and ramble on at a million miles a minute about the whole thing. I even promise to pay for the replacement of the unit. He amazingly is understanding and says to me hey you're learning don't worry about it and to make a very long story short we replaced their unit and I got an interesting story to remind myself of every so often when I need a giggle.

**NooNoo** · February 11th, 2008, 09:08 AM

Two computers side by side.... I need to put a nic in one and run updates on the other. I set the updates going, pull the plug from the surge protector and push the nic in.... to find I pulled the wrong plug.

Fortunately it was an intel nic and and intel board and I had pushed the nic straight in so arcing was kept to a minimum.... no harm done at all. It rebooted when the nic went in, on starting up it took the driver. Whooops I thought, then carried on!

**Guts3d** · February 11th, 2008, 12:26 PM

Biggest mistake, I'd say was a few times when ghosting data from a smaller drive to a new bigger drive, I had not paid attention to which was master and which was slave, so... I figured out that I messed up when the ghosting session lasted 3 seconds. The only other biggie was plugging in a floppy drive while the machine was still running, but I was sure that I had turned off. Nice fat spark, and 1 new $40 floppy drive later I learned to be sure by checking, not going by memory. I guess experience is the best teacher. Interesting topic, Niclo! I look forward to reading everyone else's replies.

**Ferrit** · February 11th, 2008, 12:47 PM

When I began computers, I was a volunteer in a computer store for quite some time.
I was building 2 or 3 units a day, complete with software and doing pretty well at it. Thats just when you get cocky. I think, I bet I can do 4. So off I go one morning and I get my 3rd built and done and buttoned up by after lunch and decide to go at the 4th rather then repair work. I plug all the pieces in and hit the power button and "BANG" just like a gunshot.
Yes Niclo just like in the movies. Hehehe i look around and all the customers are down on the floor of the showroom.
I didn't get to see any sparks but the bang was like a gunshot. I unplugged the computer right away and my boss came in the back. We looked inside the computer and everything looked ok. Except the sound card. The main chip was blown right off the card completely and lying in pieces on the bottom. I then noticed in my hurry I had not pushed the sound card any where near all the way down. I did get very lucky as the sound card was the only thing damaged . A new one and the computer booted and I managed to finish the 4th computer before the end of the day.
The really funny part was all the customers on the ground after the bang.

Oh and Guts I have done a couple of those 3 sec ghost jobs LOLOLOL

**CeeBee** · February 11th, 2008, 02:55 PM

I was the administrator for the ERP (enterprise resource planning) system... Last day before going on vacation, around 3PM I get a request to pass a (l)user some vendor data to be bulk updated and re-uploaded into the system. I dump the data, create the upload script in the test environment, test it... all good. I receive the updated data back around 5PM, and upload in production (the script had been tested...). I get no error...
Next day as I am doing the final preparation to go to the airport I get a call from work... all vendor reports are screwed

This is roughly 2hrs before I have to leave to the airport... Took deep troubleshooting to find out that in her infinite wisdom (yes it was a "SHE"), she performed left alignment in a cross-reference field that was supposed to be right-aligned because "it was looking better"... though the instructions were not to touch anything but few specific columns. Ended up dumping and restoring the whole table from the test environment, fixing her boo-boo, correcting the data and getting to the airport just in time...
The moral: don't trust anybody but yourself for critical stuff...

**gazzak** · February 11th, 2008, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Guts3d

Biggest mistake, I'd say was a few times when ghosting data from a smaller drive to a new bigger drive, I had not paid attention to which was master and which was slave, so... I figured out that I messed up when the ghosting session lasted 3 seconds.

Ditto, but after spending 2 days setting up a very old unix system. Wiped in seconds

**Matridom** · February 11th, 2008, 06:40 PM

Originally Posted by Guts3d

Biggest mistake, I'd say was a few times when ghosting data from a smaller drive to a new bigger drive, I had not paid attention to which was master and which was slave, so... I figured out that I messed up when the ghosting session lasted 3 seconds.

That looks familiar, I think most of us are guilty of that one.

**Guts3d** · February 11th, 2008, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by Matridom

That looks familiar, I think most of us are guilty of that one.

Pshaw! You people are just saying that so I don't look foolish! What is really fun is when you do it in front of the customer and you can't blame it on bad capacitors or your dog...

**NooNoo** · February 12th, 2008, 04:35 AM

I have never ghosted the wrong drive! There, feel better Guts?
I have however, fdisked the wrong drive.... ooops!

**Ferrit** · February 12th, 2008, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by NooNoo

I have never ghosted the wrong drive! There, feel better Guts?
I have however, fdisked the wrong drive.... ooops!

Man its good to be human

**Guts3d** · February 12th, 2008, 02:53 PM

Me golden idols are now tarnished...

**Mags** · February 13th, 2008, 06:23 AM

I was once a Computer Consultant, any problems with printers, software, network, call me, I'm in the same building ....

One day, I spilt coffee onto my own keyboard ... what to do? Most of computer work is 'pretend you know what you're doing anyway....and hope it works' ... so I had to call ME in to sort it out. I'd never mended a keyboard before..

It did work afterwards...

**Guts3d** · February 14th, 2008, 02:33 PM

Another big mistake, doing any computer work for free for any relative, word gets around and you wind up fixing dozens of them for free. (Some I suspect were relatives' neighbors' computers )

**slgrieb** · February 14th, 2008, 02:44 PM

I guess I've done all the usual from drive copy errors to installing/removing a card from a machine that was powered up, but my most humiliating moment had to be delivering a computer to a retired couple who had bought their very first computer from me. I assured them that everything was simple to use, I could answer any questions, etc. And I showed up without a power cord for the computer.