Your dumbest HPC moment

Plugging in the power adapter...with a nagging feeling something was not quite right. Confirming it 10 seconds later as you hear a popping sound and smell that telltale odor of something burning and then realizing that you used an older higher voltage ac (not dc) transformer that you had been meaning to get rid of for a long time but kept putting it off.

Rich

My old 660LX did this while using the correct adapter. As one of my college math professors once said, "computers won't work, after you let the magic white smoke out." My 660LX lost its magic white smoke. Ironically, the pop, sizzle, smell and smoke only came out of the display. I can actually access the unit via AS from my desktop--not that it does me any good.

That's just what happened to Clint's 720 'Pinkie'

Trying to do the ROM upgrade on the old HP Jornada 680, getting mad because the one screw won't come out from the bottom of the keyboard, and then thinking you can just pry it open a little bit. What you're left with is an upgraded Jornada with a slightly elevated keyboard because it wont snap back in just right. And it annoyed the $##@ out of you.

It's a hardware joke, Cmonex.

It goes like this: The secret to microchips is the magic blue or white smoke they use. (depends on whether it came from Japan or Taiwan, the latter uses cheaper white smoke) It is kept under high pressure and sealed inside the chips. If the magic smoke gets out, the chip stops working.

In the case above, an AC output adapter was used. That is one where the plug puts out a lower voltage, say 12v, but it is AC and not DC. Many newer products use this now, with the rectifier built in and just a 'dumb' transformer for a wall wart. But if you feed alternating current to a device that is expecting direct current.. You fry the onboard electronics. And when electronics fry, smoke comes out.. And the device stops working.

That is the magic smoke.