ITT: First time building a PC stories

>buy parts
>assemble
>works because i'm not a retard

>Return guy slaps on reduced price stickers on all the burnt parts.
Fucking lost

>I work in a Service desk and i have unironically seen pc's that had a power supply which was insufficient for the rest of the pc.
>So it seems frogposters aren't the biggest retards

honestly dont remember my first time cuz i was like single digits in age and my dad helped me do it, we already had a family computer too, was like 1995 or something. first one i built on my own was probably 2002ish? amd athlon x64 probably. i forgot to wire the front panel. lol.

>a dozen years ago
>want new PC
>go to store
>get expensive pre-assembled because don't know better than the marketing mumbo jumbo
>a few years later realize my GPU sucks
>start upgrading it piece by piece
>still upgrade what's needed progressively to this day
Offsetting costs through time is a great thing, and allows to make the most out of PC's modularity. The biggest upgrade I made was when I changed the cpu-ram-mobo block, I was sweating like hell when I placed the CPU in the socket for the first time.

>Built everything in under 50 minutes
>Spent 2 hours trying to get cooler in place because hands too big and tools too short
>I'm not even fat
I'm glad I switched to AIOs after that and got an actual screwdriver.

Additionally:

>Helping over-paranoid friend to build his PC for the first time, over video call
>Feels like he spends hours on every small step because he is too scared to fuck anything up
>Showed him where to plug each cable, confirm ram orientation over 4 times and even in which direction the PSU should go
>He is also watching youtube tutorials at the same time and still has problems with putting the PSU in, somehow
>After many hours, we're done
>PC doesn't turns on
>I tell him everything was in the correct place and he probably just didn't put enough force on a power connector, so it's probably not plugged in properly
>He just panics and starts saying how trying to build it himself was a terrible idea
>Keeps going on about how he should have gone pre-built
>I try to calm him down and insist on him checking if the power cables are properly plugged
>He says he already checked and they are
>He just goes to bed after that
>Next day
>He is online
>On PC
>Ask him what happened
>Tells me he went to a store and the guy just plugged one of the power connectors that was a bit loose properly
>"Pc building is retarded"

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OP here

>Why not just go over to his house and build it for him if he's such a retard?

it might just be that i've been studying computer science for 4 years now but i cant imagine fucking up something as easy as building a pc

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We live in different countries. Else I would have done that, yeah.
Some people just see computer parts and simply lose the nerve, they think it's something crazy complex and don't realize it is just like Lego.

>mfw i used to laugh at this meme several years ago
>mfw i realised it was actually correct

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die

kek, that's pretty much it.
I'm still baffled when I ask a family member to do something stupidly easy like closing the browser and they don't know how to do it. Then I say "the big X on top right" and they just act amazed I know "that much".
This non ironically happened yesterday with my grandma, it's crazy.
It comes to the point we think an UI can't become any more intuitive but I guess there is no such thing for many users.

>I am currently at an internship and have to prepare a lesson teach old people how to work computers/tablets/phones etc

end my suffering please

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>friends gives me an old ASUS motherboard
>put a machine together with it and turn it on
>wouldn't POST, "USB overcurrent detected" or some BS
>phone friend
>"Oh yeah, it doesn't work lol"

>buy new Gigabyte motherboard
>swap it into the machine and turn it on
>RAM errors, generally running like shit, and bluescreens
>kills about 6GB worth of DDR2 modules
>turns out the northbridge wasn't soldered on properly at the factory
>send it in for RMA
>they actually want me to pay to fix their broken shit
>in disgust tell them they can keep it

>buy a used Dell
>still working now

>Why would he even give you a broken motherboard lmao?

also

>unironically beliving costumer support wont scam your ass

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Shit, user. Problem is you never know how ignorant these people will be. I don't say this in a pejorative way, but rather that some people have never sat in front of a PC in their lives and/or always avoided it because they simply "don't want to learn". So you never know how braindead you should make these kinds of presentations. Took me over 5 minutes to teach my grandma to double click and the different between left and right mouse buttons. She kept forgetting. And she uses a PC daily (for facebook only, of course).
Best of luck.

This except RuneScape.
>Using old small Walmart case, new parts too big so case now lays on its side without a top.
>Dropped a taco in it once, graphics card fans fling cheese and hotsauce on wall.
Also I forgot to open up the CPU holder thing so I just tried jamming the CPU into the slot. Lucky I didn't break any pins.

He forgot it was broken. For free I couldn't complain.

I actually build my first PC about a week ago

>put everything together
>CPU cooler was too confusing and documentation was not clear enough
>turned on the power supply, computer didn't come on
>I finally figured out the CPU header stuff with my cooler (Kraken x62)
>Turned on power supply, PC still didnt start
>Reading online about my mobo
>Something about power connectors
>My mobo didnt have these power connectors at all except for "powerSW"
>WTF is this?
>Thought my parts were fucked or something, I read online a good way test this
>Get a screw driver and place it where the power switch would go in the motherboard
>Everything powered on, RGB up the ass
>plugged in the "PowerSW" connector

So in hindsight, I thought the power supply would turn on the PC itself and my mobo doesnt have internal connectors, the internal connectors are "compiled" into one sata connection, pretty sweet.

Yes I'm retarded

I think its because computer parts are generally expensive so normal people are afraid to break them if doing something wrong (using too much force or shorted something) and they hide behind "It's too hard, I can't do it" mentality.

It is exactly because of that. Also mix in with the anxiety of wanting to get that over with asap. That's why I went out of my way to give some real examples on how durable parts can be. But even then an inexperienced person just thinks they are putting "too much" force already when they are really not. People tend view any computer parts as extremely fragile. If a connector didn't *click*, that is because they are doing everything wrong, so if they try using any more force it is going to break.

>Literally two days ago
>My first time building a PC
>Takes me 5 hours because I have no idea what I'm doing.
>Boot up, fans spins, lights on, everything seems to be working fine but I can't get to the bios
>Spend another 2 hours troubleshooting
>Finally give up. Disassemble everything and put it all back in their boxes.
>Try again yesterday. Do everything exactly the same.
>Realize that I had my monitor set to HDMI in instead of DP.
>Switch input
>Bios comes up.

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>Me as i read this

sorry user but that is such a basic fuckup i can't help but laugh

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>Put together i5 2500k, z68 board, ati radeon 4870, 2x2gb ram, 500gb hard drive, 500w power supply back in 2011
>Build process went smoothly following text and video guides
>Turn it on for first time
>Computer turns on but nothing on screen, no beeps, shuts down automatically after 30 seconds
>Tried every troubleshooting trick in the book and followed Jow Forums's advice: reseated RAM, checked all the cables, tried different RAM slots, used different RAM sticks, reset motherboard CMOS, etc
>Try reseating the CPU thinking I didn't do something right
>Turns out that the motherboard had a few bent CPU socket pins
>Hear that bent pins can cause boot problems
>Try to bend them back into shape with a needle and magnifying glass, one of the most sweat inducing procedures I have ever did, it felt like doing surgery
>Hook everything back together
>It now POSTs properly and I can get into the BIOS.

>bought components
>put them together, this is simple and straightforward
>Installed GNU/Linux
This is all you have to do, it isn't hard.

>buy used parts around 4 years back with some new parts like cooler
>3570k, z78 mobo and 4x4gb ram
>start putting everything together
>ram heatsink interfering with the cooler
>shit.exe
>start removing heatsink with a hairdryer
>bendy_ram.gif
>finally put everything together after a grand total of 2 hours
>it works

In hindsight I did pretty well. Although I ended up with a funny situation a year back.

>built Ryzen system with R5 1600 last year with a GTX 1080 ti
>1800X crazy cheap on black friday
>buy it along with a better PSU (Corsair RMx 650W -> 850W) since I started using my old R9 Nano for compute.
>Change PSU and CPU
>pc wont post
>figure it is the PSU
>swap all the cables from old PSU with the ones from the new
>still wont work
>start swapping CPU thinking it's DOA
>while after taking CPU off decide to try one more time
>it works
>mfw
>test overclocking and segfault
>overclocks for 200mhz less and has the segfault problem (1800X did not sell very well here,manufacturing date was around week 7)
>decide to just return 1800X and wait for zen2

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I had to go and buy SATA cables partway through because the guide I was using didn't mention them and the PSU only came with one

>the PSU only came with one
Why did the PSU come with a SATA cable at all?

Not that user, but what do you mean? Mine came with like 4

>friend is stupid
>we build pc
>cpu fan works but can't be attached because broken
>make it stay there with legos
>works perfectly

sata cables come with motherboards, fucking dumb reddit scum

>It comes to the point we think an UI can't become any more intuitive but I guess there is no such thing for many users.
A lot of UI conventions are intuitive because they're conventions. But they don't necessarily have real-world equivalents. And with age people become less adaptible, so things that you could figure out in a few seconds are a mystery to them (especially if they're too afraid to use trial and error).

You might remember me from a few years ago, had a "drunk Slavs assembling a PC" thread running for several weekends straight. Too bad I lost the pictures.

Were you in the tech illiterate stories thread from yesterday? That shits still hilarious

Mine's a classic
>take entire day building it because it was a lot of money for me back then
>it's ready, plug in the power and keyboard etc.
>press the power button
>screen remains black
>plug in monitor
>bios comes up
Nearly had a heart attack because I was like 15 and had spent all my limited early-teen money on a pretty decent build with a 680 and everything

What do you mean that she forgot how to left and right click? Does she not know her left from her right? Boomers are mentally ill holy shit

Most iconic scene was my friends trying to fit a PSU where the CD drive should go. Took us a couple of weeks to figure it out

what motherboard? never heard of a sata connection for the IO headers (HDD, reset, power, led, if that's what you're talking about)

also learning how to "jump" a pc is good to know, specifically for testing PCs without a case.

aorus z730 gaming 5

>tfw saved up all summer for epic gayman rig
>get a Q6600 and 8600GTS
>first time building, going well
>trying to figure out power options for my GPU
>was confused since they included a PCIe to Molex and I figured they wanted me to use that
>PSU has PCIe power connectors but w/e, why would they include the adapter if they didn't want me to use it
>spend a week with it plugged into molex before someone told me to never use those things

Felt really dumb. Rest of the build went well.

>put everything together, real easy because this is like 2001 and there's plenty of spare room in a case
>everything works except for the cpu fan
>fiddle with it, no dice
>fiddle some more
>give up and go buy a second fan
>install
>while twirling screwdriver in smug moment of success as I withdraw from the case, accidently stick it into the back of the hdd
>computer is now dead
>except the new fan, that's cooling the dead computer just fine
My friend had just bought a prebuilt, so I took the drive out, put mine in, and we sent it back.

Simply touching ram stix can break them, and most are a retarded and painful nightmare to seat properly, especially when you're doing it for the first time. It's very easy once you know what you're doing, but it's pretty arcane if you don't.

It's funny how fast you can enter a state of panic when you build a PC without checking the most basic things.

here's my story into tech
>Q1 2015
>highschool
>don't know shit about computers
>normie
>family doesn't know shit about computers
>friends don't know shit about computers
>Xbox one and PS4 are prevalent

>everyone knows alienware is a meme b/c >$$$
>we joke about it at lunch one day
>"but why is it?"
>all of us don't know
>what the fuck is the difference between i5/i7 anyways
>google
>discover Linus Tech Tips
>get redpilled about tech from fucking Linus Tech Tips
>autistically research what's the best gaming xyz, start learning about computer components
>get job at wendy's
>literally all I did was autistically research about computer components
>wccf tech says gtx980ti is literally a titanx for $600
>coming out in June
>time to blow my highschool bux

Q3 2015
>order my shit on prime day #1
>i5 4690k w/ Hyper212
>gtx980ti
>16gb 1866mhz
>2tb Toshiba
>240gb Sandisk
>1000w (lol) EVGA supernova (in case I SLI later)
>Enthoo motherfucking Pro w/o window
>MOTHERFUCKING BOUGHT windows 8.1 hahahaha
>144hz 1440p Acer
>g502 + k70 rgb MX brown

>plug everything in
>mfw idk why monitor doesn't show up
>oh dp wrong hole wrong hole
>put into 980ti
>success!

>...still interested in all this tech
>wtf was all that IO on my motherboard anyways?
>what's a spdif anyways?
>discover tek syndicate
>pick up focusrite 2i4, sm57, and at m50x
>keep watching tek syndicate, man I sure do like these guys they're edgy and deep like me

Q1 2016
>Windows 10 released
>wait what is telemetry
>discover r/privacy
>start reading
>oh fuck what the shit what the fuck
>watch an episode of the tek same day
>Wendell is talking about that Linux thing again
>google Linux
>open source software
>r/privacy is talking a lot about this
>slowly disintegrate all social media
>slowly start replacing all software with open source software

Q3 2016
>brain clicks
>I hate vidya and I hate closed source
>tek syndicate breaks up
>use Jow Forums to follow drama

Q4 2018
>sold PC
>T550
>we devuan now
here forever...

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>be me, 14 yo in 1992
>save pocket money for the best part of a year
>slowly collect up parts
>FINALLY get the part that will make it actually useful
>130MB SEAGATE HARD DISK from mate
>(he was rich, had upgraded to 250MB)
>dig out second-hand case and 200w psu
>($40 from arc computers in penrith)
>mount second-hand ISA-only 486 motherboard
>(about $60 four months beforehand at swapmeet)
>stick qfp-soldered-to-a-board-with-pins 486SX-"33" into it
>(later found out it was a remarked 25, but it worked, so what)
>insert 4mb ram made up of 1mb 30 pin simms
>($190 from some mob in ryde)
>grab brother's old Trident TVGA9000 WITH 512KB VRAM AND SVGA! card and insert
>grab $15 super I/o card from outdoor computer games in emerton
>run $10 ide cable to 130MB SEAGATE HARD DISK!
>attach at power connector to motherboard (two black wires sit next to each other)
>attach four wires to on switch at front
>check everything over
>attach 15" multisync svga monitor
>($430 at forgot-the-name computer shop in chester hill)
>attach keyboard (gift from dad)
>press power switch
>house lights go out
>wtf.mod
>go to electrical panel
>power 2 breaker thrown
>flick up
>won't stay up
>morewtf.pcx
>go back to build zone
>SMOKE RISING FROM COMPUTER
>omgwtfbbq-PLSSENDHELP.mpg
>unplug from wall and blow smoke away
>power breaker 2 now stays up
>find out I plugged the on switch in SIDEWAYS (not even upside down)
>fix this, power up
>install dos, but machine keeps hanging
>within a few days massive hard disk corruption
>figured out the smoke was me frying the motherboard
>but thank god it was only the motherboard
>replace board (mum was nice enough to loan me three months of pocket money)
>used that machine happily until going to a 5x86-133 in 1996

is the color thing the compiled sata connector? if so that's the front panel header, and they're always a nightmare. some motherboards came with easy connector pieces, but they're non standard (which is why they suck)

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It's where the internal connectors would go normally, yeah, but the only internal connect I had was the power switch.

The sata connector that was for the board was on the back

It does some with this plastic block in which you put in the internal connectors then you can easily push it in that colored area.

All my stuff works, lights, fans, everything because it was a sata connection

>tfw you think this shit all has microscopic technology you can't even see
>it's literally just a piece of metal

that's strange!

>pc not booting
>doesnt work for like 3 days
>eventually check the ram
>its not seated properly
>seat it properly
>it boots

Parents once ordered a new laptop because their old one stopped “getting internet” and neither my brother or father could figure out why.

The WiFi was turned off.

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