I have two… these are from the old days of computing :)
One: guy said his monitor was showing wavy lines on the screen (old CRT monitor days). Went to his office, looked at his monitor. Sure enough wavy lines. Looked the top of his monitor. Removed the clock sitting on top of said monitor, no more wavy lines. Don’t put electric clocks on CRT monitors folks.
Two: working in a school system. Just before classes started. Get a call “none of the computers turn on”. Go to the classroom. Check a few machines. Machines “turned on” but didn’t boot the OS. Listen to one of the machines… hmmm, no drive noise. Tap it with the back of a screwdriver. Drive spins up, computer boots. Later found out that it was a semi-known problem with Seagate drives. If they sat to long without use, the heads would get stuck.
When I was a kid I had a tv develop a big rainbow circle in one corner underneath where I set a speaker on top of it. I took it off but the circle didn’t go away. A quick google search later and that’s how I learned what degaussing was.
I caused that with a refrigerator magnet, then also fixed it with a refrigerator magnet. Then entertained myself more in the next couple weeks by fucking with my screen with magnets than any actual TV shows or video games.
I have two… these are from the old days of computing :)
One: guy said his monitor was showing wavy lines on the screen (old CRT monitor days). Went to his office, looked at his monitor. Sure enough wavy lines. Looked the top of his monitor. Removed the clock sitting on top of said monitor, no more wavy lines. Don’t put electric clocks on CRT monitors folks.
Two: working in a school system. Just before classes started. Get a call “none of the computers turn on”. Go to the classroom. Check a few machines. Machines “turned on” but didn’t boot the OS. Listen to one of the machines… hmmm, no drive noise. Tap it with the back of a screwdriver. Drive spins up, computer boots. Later found out that it was a semi-known problem with Seagate drives. If they sat to long without use, the heads would get stuck.
When I was a kid I had a tv develop a big rainbow circle in one corner underneath where I set a speaker on top of it. I took it off but the circle didn’t go away. A quick google search later and that’s how I learned what degaussing was.
Sometimes the best teacher is experience :)
I caused that with a refrigerator magnet, then also fixed it with a refrigerator magnet. Then entertained myself more in the next couple weeks by fucking with my screen with magnets than any actual TV shows or video games.