Simple memory upgrade,,,,
I had an old Pentium 120 (years ago) and it needed a memory upgrade so it'd run Windows 95 properly.

I looked in to it and I needed memory. Not a lot, but some - nice and simple.

But, hang on - for an extra few quid, I could get a bigger disk - done. But, wait, a few more quid - a better motherboard. Well, if I'm getting a new board, I'll need a new processor. Hmm, I'll need different memory then.

Hang on, the new board doesn't fit in the case - I'll get a new case then.

So, from memory, I've now got a whole new PC...

I'm a desktop technician (well, I was then) so I know what I'm doing. Of course I do.

Everything's hooked up - connections checked. Power on. Nothing.

Arse....

3 Days later I'm still scratching my head - I **will not** be defeated by this - I reseat everything and suddenly I have lights for pre-on.

Joy!

Sit back, revel in my glory and press the on button.

***Fizz, piff, zzzzz***

Never good sounds really

*****BOOM!!!*****

Oh that's bad....

I realised, I think, that the power supply that I'd transplanted over from the old case was too powerful for the board and blew it up.

Along with ALL the new components.

So, a simple memory upgrade cost me about £800 as I ended up cutting my loss and buying a new PC for about £500 and writing off the rest of the £300.

Fucksocks!
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 13:37, 6 replies)

Sorry to nitpick...
but a power supply cannot be 'too powerful' for a board - the connected load will only draw what it needs.

I doubt it was not powerful enough, either - most PSU's have a cutout to protect against that.

What probably happened is that you plugged the power supply into the board backwards. The old AT supplies would let you do this, as the power connector was in two parts and you could plug them in the wrong way round. From memory it's supposed to be black to black.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 13:42, closed)

Or you had the voltage switch the wrong way.

( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Wed 26 Aug 2009, 14:25, closed)

Well...
I didn't say my analysis was right - I've learnt a LOT since then :)
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 15:14, closed)

more nitpicking...
but a P120 system with even a tiny amount of RAM should have had more than enough juice to run Win95 at a respectable speed. The first time I encountered the new and shiny wonders of Win95 was on a very early 75MHz P1 with 8mb RAM... one of those Packard Bellend things. And it ran fine, getting me incurably addicted to Descent in the process.
(keyboardman, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 15:32, closed)

You're right. Of course.
Well, yes - A P120 would have run things fine. But "fine" isn't good enough for a techy bloke now is it?

Trouble was that my friend had a new P150 and I needed "more power"
(james_tiger_woods is going to start his killing spree on the, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 15:47, closed)

Funny that.
I always thought it was 'powah'

I've only ever blown up a disk drive by shorting something in the back. PC + flames = not good.
(django0909, Wed 26 Aug 2009, 16:27, closed)