I'm fairly certain the guy fucked them over...
But some assistance would be appreciated.

About 5 years back my Dad invested some serious money into getting a bloody good PC built for us, about £1000 (Serious for him). Thing ran like a dream for the first 9 months, no worries at all.

One day, it died, with a slight burning smell. Upon investigation, it turned out the graphics card had died, and taken the PSU with it. No biggie, replace both, carry on.

About a month later, we start to have severe problems with Viruses and Spyware. The PC would last about 5 minutes, and then the graphics would go insane. It needed a format and reinstall, no biggie.

I went away for a few days, and my Stepmum couldn't work out how to install windows, so looked up a number for a computer consultant in the paper. He comes out, tells them that 'the virus on here has corrupted the RAM and graphics card, they'll never work again', charges them £80 to take the PC off them (with a genuine copy of XP SP2 in the drive) and then sells them a 'much better PC' (read: Piece of shite ACER).

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but surely Software can't corrupt hardware? I know drivers can go mental, but damage beyond repair? I'm sure that's bollucks.

Ah well, a few months later the guy proved he was an idiot by cancelling a disk format while it was still running, crippling the disk. We ended up having to buy DiskWarrior just to get the cunt working again.

I know this is a boring, rambling, shitty post, but I just wanted to get it off my chest.
( Agnostic Antichrist Baltimora, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 16:46, 7 replies)

No
It Cant
This is all
(morrigan456 made sex wee on, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 16:50, closed)

Potentially
Software can overwrite firmware on the hardware - which could fuck it.
(b3tamax Mate, you're fat and I'll throw you in the river, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 16:54, closed)

Incomplete answer.
Software can damage hardware - in a number of ways.

One of the posters above has mentioned firmware modification - this can render the affected hardware as close to bricked that it is difficult to tell the difference.

Also, since an awful lot of hardware timings these days are controlled by software, it's possible to make changes of clock speeds which will shorten the lifespan of hardware, particularly if it is undercooled.

You can send a set of ATA commands to a hard disc, setting a password on it. Not sure how long that's been in there, but if anyone knows a way to recover that (even just to restore the hardware as a blank) I'd be happy to know.

This aside, it does sound like the original poster was (1) sold a lemon and (2) slit up a treat by the guy that turned up afterwards. Hope you have better luck with your tech gear in the future.
(_(_(_(_(_(_(_(_(_ =o.o=, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 17:04, closed)

Not to mention the possibility of faulty code overwriting hard-coded BIOS routines.
Though I'm not sure how likely that is nowadays.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Fri 25 Sep 2009, 18:05, closed)

Also...
A virus/software could conceivably alter fan settings as well as clock speeds thus melting various parts, overheating RAM etc.

I'm not saying it happened, PC specialists from the paper with zero call out charges have to get their money somehow!
( JebediahSpringfield, Sat 26 Sep 2009, 0:02, closed)

technically possible, in a roundabout sort of way...


but not going to happen. The guy ripped you off, plain and simple.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Sat 26 Sep 2009, 17:25, closed)

correct me if I'm wrong, but surely Software can't corrupt hardware?
Okay, you're wrong. It can corrupt hardware. I've done it.

About 20 years ago, I got bitten by the MASM bug, and figured I could write a better FORMAT program than Microsoft could. I learned all about INT 13 and the various registers to control interrupt behaviour, and set about writing the program.

When I set my creation loose upon a spare floppy diskette (5.25", natch), the drive clunked and whirred and clicked and did its usual thing for a minute or so. Then it started grinding and clicking rapidly, as if something mechanical was being forced against the limits of its movment. It stopped a few seconds later and my program relinquished control back to the beloved C:\> prompt.

I tried to see the contents of the diskette, only to find no file system present. Not only that, I couldn't use the proper FORMAT command on the disk. It refused to recognise that there was a diskette in the drive. I tried the diskette in another computer, with the same result. At least the drive would read other diskettes, so I hadn't broken it as well.

My clumsy attempts at building a better mousetrap ended up damaging a diskette beyond repair. I was lucky they didn't damage the drive too.
( flake has nothing against your right leg, Sun 27 Sep 2009, 16:39, closed)