whoops
The first moment that springs to mind was putting together my family's new computer when I was a teenager, my parents dutifully handed it over to me, the resident computer genius - and said go to it. I was overjoyed =)

So, I unplugged everything so nothing would get shocked or messed up then opened up the old computer and the new, and out came the modem and the video card and sound card and the game card and the memory and the hard drive... all of which got transferred over to the new computer. Replacing or adding on as was appropriate.

I was proud of my technical savvy - even if it did basically add up to "pull things out of slot A and put them into slot B" =)

I even had to remove some of those metal plates they used to put in the back of things back then (instead of the screw on ones they have these days) they came off with a scary but satisfying ping that always made my teenage heart go all a flutter, but everything fit (with a little wiggling and jimmying and dancing about sucking one's fingers when necessary) and I closed back up the case afterward - and it was good.

Nice!

Then the peripherals too - disconnected the router, the scanner, the printer, the monitor, the camera, the speakers, the keyboard, the mouse, the videogame flight sim joystick for dad's flying games and the rudder pedals that went with it from them old and then hooked em all up on the new computer in the right place and to the right stuff, even taking a minute to add little quicky scotch tape labels on the cables to make it easier to deal with them "next time" around.

I was so pleased with myself I could have left marks on the ceiling.

At this point my father walked in and asked how things were going.

Containing myself to a professional level I said "Almost done!"

I was so fast and efficient, I was undoubtedly part computer myself.

I gathered all the power cords and plugged everything back into the power strip and then took the power strip plug and triumphantly plugged it into the wall.

And the printer came on!

But nothing else would.

Dad raised an eyebrow.

Ok... minor set back.

Checked each cable from all the non-working stuff and sure enough, every single one lead to the power strip... and the power strip *had* to be working cause when I plugged it in, power *was* going to the printer...

Dad leans against the door frame and watches me scrabble around on hands and knees to figure it all out.

Somehow I had a power strip with just one working port... maybe there was a fault and the printer was plugged into the first socket and from there on every other socket was broken? That would be Weird (especially since it was working a second ago) but...

I could check that... I'd just switch the printer plug with another one and if that thing worked, then I'd just have to replace the power strip (and not the whole new computer) and that wouldn't be too bad...

So I followed the printer's power cord from the printer down a merry wander around and through every other cord we had and then ... under the power strip? and ...

Wait a second.

I'd plugged plugged the printer into the wall. But... if the printer was plugged in there...where was the power strip plug then?

Oh.

Oh... no =(

Yep.

As my father looked on I had to change the plugs around - demonstrating clearly and unmistakably how I had managed to plug the power strip's power cord into itself.

It looped right around and made a nice circle.


In my defense - there were *a lot* of power cords. It could have happened to anyone.

Of course the fact that the power strip and it's plug were beige and every other power cord was black... didn't count in my favor.

When my father saw what his "genius" boy had done he laughed himself silly. He had tears in his eyes he was laughing so hard.

And then went and told my mom and my brother. Loudly. They ran over to see. He may have called the neighbors. It definitely came up in conversation the next time my girlfriend came over.

...

For the record, when I switched the plugs and plugged it in, everything came up perfect. First try.

well, first if you don't count that printer plug in...

Apologies for length, but it was a surprisingly long power cord on that printer...
( Allisade would love to hear from you, Thu 24 Sep 2009, 22:19, 3 replies)

*sniggers*
that gets a sympathy click ;)
( snee held his breath since, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 9:58, closed)

having done this exact thing in front of an audience
I feel for you, sir.
( Mockingbird Practitioner of SCIENCE, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 9:58, closed)

Sympathy click but you
get brownie points for figuring it out without bothering the nice people at tech support ;)
(Obi wanker nobi Its not a bug, its an unexpected feature, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 12:45, closed)