How to nearly kill your brother....

So I was sat in the tree house this morning waiting for a chimpet to take me out for a day walking in the hills. All of a sudden the phone pings with a message from my Brother. The day before I'd been round to borrow his laptop so that I could still get on-line while I'm away training with work. I'd thrown my old rig at him when I upgraded last year, but he's been on the lappy as the old Athlon XP rig does make quite a racket and he doesn't need the extra horsepower. I plugged it all in for him and left it updating to the latest Ubuntu patch level.

He'd left the rig on whilst he went out last night, turning it off about 1am when he got in. This morning he boots the PC and heads down to the kitchen to make a coffee. As he comes back up the stairs to his room he sees some light coming from under his desk... strange there are no lights on the PC.... ooohhhhh FCUK! There are flames shooting out the side of the case, the front grill is starting to melt - this thing is properly on fire!!

Fortunately he managed to get the thing out of the house, carrying it whilst on fire down the stairs and out the front door. I've yet to have a proper look at it but from what he's saying it seems to have started around the front fascia. Maybe it sparked and got some fluff but it's all a bit strange. Yes, the MB is 5 years old but none of the caps went. The PSU was an Enermax 420W and nothing seems to have gone there.

As much of a pain that he is I'm really rather glad it wasn't the disaster it could have been...

You should do. I've got quite a bit of my kit stored at his house and forgot to get him insured before I gave him the rig last year...

Yes, but on Windows I'd have to install nosmoke.exe

And all would have been well.

MIcrosoft have a massive advert up in Liverpool at the moment. A huge billboard featuring the 'Windows, life without walls' slogan. I'm very tempted to add the words adequate and fire to it.

hahaha

Simple, high powered laser and etch it on.

Well that rules out AV at many levels.

Now that would work, I still need to get a ladder out and back into the van though, so twenty seconds is a little unrealistic.

Sounds like I'd be relying on a skill I don't have.

Alternative idea - get a van with a sun roof

That would definitely entail some Mancs.

Why waste a bullet when you can avail of my voucher scheme at a very reasonable rate.

I am known for my business acumen and entrepreneurial skills.

Why would a Mick want to copy an innately inferior Scouse git?

Well it ain't penis envy, let me tell you right now.

** Enters sporting a half of shandy and a pile of expenses receipts taller than the Empire States building **

Sturth guv'nor. It's been a bit on the cold side dawn Lun-dan way..

Ouch.

AV, I think that just shows Germany's love of co....rooster.



Anywho, you sure it was the light? Do you have a fan in the front? It could have been an overheated fan starting a fire with the buildup of fluff and bother at the front grill....

And don't be surprised it was the cheap part that went. It usually is the lights, mechanical parts or switches that cause the most damage.

Everything else just melts and stops working! (guilty of the 3 second "OMG I forgot the heat sink!" F-up.)

Its already being shipped to RC.

Hey AV, You should really post it here and see if you get any hits... lol

Thread title: Super Hot Machine... Its on FIRE!!!
Edit: Added thread title.

Someone recently handed me the chestnut of an overclock gone wrong that ignited an aluminium heatsink.

If that was true, must've been bloody spectacular.

It would take a very special condition for Aluminum to ignite mind you. So with what OC'ers get up to I'd venture to say they managed that rare feat.

Al melts at 660C/1228F - so it's quite robust.