Idiot customer: Need Suggestions

K

-K-Crypt

Veteran XX
Background: Build a pc for a customer a few years ago, no warranty anymore.

Recently he had some spyware problems so I picked it up, cleaned it out, and returned it. Video wasn't coming up so I reset the bios, worked fine afterwards. The pc is full of dust and smells like the cats piss on it so I wasn't really in the mood to go further with it. He calls me up a few days later and says it's doing the same thing. I decide I'm going to put a vid card in it the next day assuming the onboard video is the only issue.

He says he has the panel off and wants to reset the bios himself. He's taking online pc repair classes so he thinks he knows what hes doing. I explain to him to unplug the power, and pop the battery out. I would have him just use the reset pins but I had no way to explain where that is.

He does that, no idea if it worked or not but I assumed it did since I didn't get a call back.

THE NEXT DAY: I go to install the card, turn the pc around and try to turn it on. The power button on the case does not work, so I look inside and he had pulled the power cable off the front panel, CUT THE POWER BUTTON OFF THE WIRES, and TAPED THE 2 WIRES TOGETHER.

At this point I can't even begin to explain why he would do this...Well the pc would not start up at all now, I replaced that power wire with the reset button, still nothing. Dead besides a split second of a led light in the front.

Took it home, not even the light comes on now.
TESTED: Power supply is good, tried several others just to be sure. Nothing.


So I'm assuming he killed the motherboard by constantly completing the circuit or reset the cmos while the pc was powered on. I'm wanting some information I can take to him showing one or both of these is possible to keep any thoughts out of his head that I somehow caused this (when I brought it back the vid didn't work and he seemed to think I broke something)

I looked around but can't seem to find any resources that describe what he did would do to a motherboard. I picture in my mind something like turning on your car ignition the turning the key again but doing it until your starter burns out.
 
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That's what you get for walking some dumb shit through fixing their own machine, that's a cardinal rule, never ever ever ever ever.... EVER fucking do that.

The guy's fucked. Let him be fucked. Why are you bending over backwards for this person? They broke their fucking machine, fuck em'.
 
Agreed, the only reason I even allowed it to do on was the fact that he knows more or less how to reset the the bios from watching me and already had the case open. The cutting the power button and "hotwiring" it is what I am trying to find information on so I can take it to him and explain it to him in technical sense rather than flat out telling him hes a moron.

I'm doing this only because where he lives is a small town in which I get almost 90% of my business there from word of mouth and he knows a large portion of my other clients.

As far as it being a cardinal rule, it depends on what and who it is. Most large companies do that shit all the time.
 
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Why the fuck would you cut any cable in a computer? There's absolutely no reason to sever a cable in a computer EVER. He's just lucky he cut the one for the power switch instead of something connected to the power supply.

On the other hand I don't know why constantly completing the circuit for the power button would cause a problem since it should be the same thing as holding down the button constantly. It sounds like he fried the mobo somehow though.
 
FalseMyrmidon said:
Why the fuck would you cut any cable in a computer? There's absolutely no reason to sever a cable in a computer EVER. He's just lucky he cut the one for the power switch instead of something connected to the power supply.

On the other hand I don't know why constantly completing the circuit for the power button would cause a problem since it should be the same thing as holding down the button constantly. It sounds like he fried the mobo somehow though.
Click to expand...

I talked to him about it and he admitted it worked before he started fucking around. My guess is he cut the wire, taped them together, and then tried to reset the cmos while the pc was either trying to turn on. He said he thought the problem might be the power button was broken because it wouldn't turn on lol.
 
Power switches are momentary. So he fried the IC that handles the voltage which tells the mobo on or off or suspend etc.
 
did he pull any usb connectors off?

If the wires are swapped on a front-panel usb port it will cause the computer to act like you are describing.
 
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