HAY GUYS

Relic · Local time: May 10, 2006, 09:28 PM

You're not going to destroy your computer without making it fairly obvious to any half-competent tech.

Even if you did jam the fans on your system, the heatsink alone would provide enough cooling to keep the processor from dying. The system would eventually crash, and then it would just sit there and do very little. Removing the heatsink outright would do the trick if you have an AMD processor, but it'd be pretty obvious. Hard drives have sensors that detect impacts and falls, and a serious impact will invalidate your warranty, and it's not hard to spot damage from water or user-created electrical shorts, since CPU and drive pins don't magically bend theirselves.

Feel free to try to defraud your dealer, but all you're going to do is wind up at least a few hundred dollars poorer.

How ya doing, buddy?

Relic · Local time: May 10, 2006, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by NYRSkate

He could always buy a surge protector that insures up to a certain amount against damage, then zap the shit out of his system.

I don't think that would work, either.

You'd have to zap the surge protector to the point that it fails and sends the surge through to the computer. If the UPS isn't damaged along with the system, than the surge protector's guarantor isn't going to believe that the UPS's failure was at fault for the damage.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Relic · Local time: May 10, 2006, 11:49 PM

Originally Posted by NYRSkate

Who says it has to be a UPS? I've seen regular 6-plug strips with $1,500 in insurance against power surges.

True, but that doesn't change the fact that you would need some way to feed a really nasty voltage through the surge protector...enough power to blow it and the computer up.

Plus, I can't say that I have much faith in the insurance on a $10 power strip. Even if they do give you money, they'll probably only pay you for the current market value of the computer, which isn't going to be a whole lot.

And Kaiten, a smoked Athlon is pretty easy to spot and would never come about unintentionally, and Pentium 4s can't be fried to death without some serious effort. A pattern of ESD damage is going to set off warning bells, too.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.