Vent: Doubting my abilities as computer tech

[Gutter Ball]

Well, these past 2 days have been a computer nightmare. In my many years of working on computers at work and outside of work for friends, I did wreck my share of motherboards (bad flashes) and parts, but I've learned from my mistakes and learned a lot here from you guys and gals (thanks!). I can honestly say I haven't messed up a single system in years....until yesterday.

My buddy wanted me to build him a budget computer. No prob, I've built many computers for my buddies since I'm the only "computer" guy among them (If I actually charged them the going rate, I'd be pretty rich!!) Anyway, I picked: Asus A7N8X-X mobo, 2500+, MSI Geforce4, Samsung ram etc. pretty decent stuff. The parts arrived, except the Geforce was on backorder, so I put one of my spare ATI's in. Got it all together, double checked all connections and fired it up. No POST...huh?? Then BLAM!!! "BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR" It tried to read from floppy, so I searched around and found a way to fix the BIOS. Nothing worked. Swapped floppy drives, swapped everything. Could not get past that blasted error. Finally got fed up and got an RMA for the mobo. Had a hard time sleeping last night and getting through work today was hard. I'm one of those guys that does not like to mess up or have things go wonky, even though I don't think it's my fault or there's anything I could have done about it.....

Today the Geforce arrived! Hmm, yellow attention sticker was peeled a bit, package was opened, driver CD was also opened, it only came in static wrap and then bubble wrap and it was about 1/2 the size and green. That should have rang some bells since my previous Geforce4 came in a nice box, was bigger and was a different colour. But this was a reputable company, so I thought nothing of it. I decided I'd better test it out in my own system: Soyo mobo, 2500+, all the nice stuff, gotta make sure it works. BIG MISTAKE.

Smelled burning, quickly shut the computer off and pulled the card. Saw that one of the contacts on the new Geforce was burnt off. Bummer, I knew I shouldn't have used the card when I saw it was opened already. Put my old Geforce back in so I can go to the sellers site and get yet another RMA.

Powered up and all I get is beep beep beep beep...my board, RAM, CPU, master HD and all my add on cards were FRIED. Only my 2 burners and slave HD survived. I can still smell the scent of burnt computer parts...I am so not happy.

So now my main machine is dead, the machine I'm building for my friend is dead until the stuff gets RMA'd. I know I'm not going to be sleeping well tonight...ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I'm even doubting my abilities as a computer tech, how did I manage to wreck two systems?!?!?! Maybe I got too comfortable with everything going well. I should have checked that Geforce out thoroughly and caught that bad contact. Maybe I missed something on the mobo that made it mess up.

I'm one of two techs responsible for close to 800 computers and 6 servers at 3 different locations, I shouldn't think that way eh? Sigh, if you've read all this sorry for boring you! I guess it was time for a catastrophe How do you guys deal with setbacks? I thought I was pretty good at rebounding, but these past 2 days have been rather demoralizing. Comments and criticisms welcome.

[Target]

Sorry to hear about your fried computers Gutter..... guess you can chalk it up to experience.

I immediately would have been suspicious of the video card when it arrived.... I mean, it sure sounds to me like you thought you were getting a new unit, but that isn't what arrived. Had it been me, I wouldn't have even attempted to install it if it wasn't what I had paid for. Its terribly unfortunate that in doing so it fried your own (good) machine. For sure I would take that up with the vendor/person you purchased it from and ask that they both replace your original order and make amends for the damage caused by what they sent you.

Good luck man, and try to keep your chin up.

[RedFury]

I agree with Target. If you were supposed to get a new card, and what they sent you was a defective pull, whatever, they should compensate you to some degree, especially if you do a lot of business with them ( especially if they know how many systems you oversee.. )

It's a hard lump to swallow, I know. I convinced my best friend that building a system was cheaper and better than buying prebuilt. Put it all together, and set the jumpers to the wrong settings and fried the mobo. I kicked myself in the butt until the replacement came in the mail ( my cost ). that's how bad I felt. I bought a new board to get it faster than the RMA process because he was so amped about the new system that he did 2 day shipping for extra $$$. Talk about feeling about an inch tall.

[Knothead]

Hahahaha, hey, buddy, it happens all the time.... not just having to RMA some stuff, but more than that...

What you DID was, you set yourself up as a "Computer Expert"...

What Happened (this time) was, you got shot down.

But what happened the last time? You fixed it, right? And the time before that? And the time before that? etc...

My point is, most people don't DARE to stick their noses out, for fear of getting it chpped off...

My favorite type of folks are those that know that they are pretty darn SMART, and who are glad to share their knowledge.

These people have a good deal to offer. Like you. Never fear to give your expertise.

You profit from the experience, and so do the people you help, buddy! Keep your chin up.

[John Prophet]

reminds me of the time I was making a lady a copy of her car key....I put the blank in the wrong side and I actually grinded her car key flat

[lost-and-found]

can you say "oops?"

I doubt my computer skils every day, since almost every day I seem to break something on my computer................so you're not alone

[RedFury]

Originally posted by John Prophet
reminds me of the time I was making a lady a copy of her car key....I put the blank in the wrong side and I actually grinded her car key flat

OOOOO Embarrassing!

[jman01pa]

Dont sweat it. I have been there as well. Not much you can do but fix the pc's and take the loss. Hopefully your vendor will be show a little compassion.

[fortysomething]

Having a bad day depends on how you look at it. The worst part seems to be that it's going to cost you a few extra bucks, and possibly a little embarassment. A poorly packaged device isn't much of a deterrent during the excitement of a new build, especially for a friend.

People aren't perfect, and neither are many of the parts we put in our PCs. If it weren't for people like you, people like me would have a lot of boat anchors and no boat to attach them to.

On the positive side of your crummy day:

1. It didn't happen at work. (big bonus)
2. It's highly unlikely your friends think any less of your abilities.
3. You learned from the experience.
4. You care about the quality of your work. (100 extra points, regardless of the outcome)

Now, before you go back to the daily grind, I want you to take 10 minutes to think about all the problems you've fixed at work, and how many people you've already helped.

[zen]

Dont beat yourself up so much!

I'm a network admin for a medium sized advertising company. Same responsibilities as you. Same day to day duties.
Let me tell you, I can go weeks being a "genious" to just about everyone.

Then one day, BAM! Nothing goes right. I'll have trouble with the easiest task. A pc wont boot, and I cant figure it out. Or I'll do a windows update and a pc will blue screen(nice). Or I'll accidently knock someone off the network...etc.

Its a rollercoaster ride in the IT field. Always will be. Too many variables to be able to consistently be right about everything that can go wrong. Peaks and valleys. As long as you recognize that, you'll be fine.