Hidden Guns and Vermin: PC Refurbishing Nightmares

[Guest]

Horrific tales from real refurbishers prove there’s much worse that can happen to a computer than spilled coffee.

Hidden Guns and Vermin: PC Refurbishing Nightmares : Read more

 

[shrapnel_indie]

My bigger concern on the find of a gun tucked inside the case... would be why it was there... did this PC cross state lines before I got a hold of it? (handguns bought and sold across state lines legally require a FFL to send and receive the weapon.) Also Happy to know with no safety, or safety off there was none "in the pipe."

As to the guys that can distinguish between bullet calibers... they can really tell the difference between 5.56 and .223, or 7.62 and .308?


As to bugs... unfortunately I've had to fix infested computers before. Not thrilling when you know you don't want them moving in.

 

[Math Geek]

i always open a pc i am fixing outside if i have any concerns at all. better to have whatever run off outside than in my house!!

more annoying to me than the vermin and such is when it is stuffed full of dust. every nook and cranny is crammed full. i've seen fans stuck so they wont' turn from so much dust. no clue how long it takes to get that way but i'm sure it's longer than most folks own a pc!!

 

[faslanetech]

Meh. I always find dead bugs and shit in PC towers. It's actually super.common. most.people leave them on floors easy to get to for the spiders and shit and it's warm inside. Hell I'd get.in one too if I were a spider looking for a warm place.

 

[faslanetech]

I always blow out and dust off all towers I service anyway so the first thing I do is blow them out outside before they are brought in anyways...

 

[The Paladin]

one of the reasons when I recycle computers from people for donations is I open the case both sides and front panel outside the house. I have seen mice, roaches, ants, no gun or dead pet mind you... as for not using the hardware that had any of the previously found items, I am more a take it all apart with gloves and clean it out and "sanfax" everything clean. and rebuild it.

for you too young that never worked a cleaning job in their life, the word sanfax is a brand name for a industrial cleaning products.
https://www.trademarkia.com/sanfax-71679492.html

 

[aardwolfweb]

The oddest thing I every found in a pic case was at a residential client's. I was called to troubleshoot a slow computer. I couldn't find any software reason for it to be slow and checked the CPU speed, sure enough it seemed like it was being throttled. Usually this means the heatsink is clogged with dust. This time, it was because there was a mummified tree frog with it's leg caught in the fan. As strange as that was, what was even weirder was that there were a half dozen of his dried up buddies in there, too.

 

[forrestblade.code]

Aardwolfweb that's insane! Wow what part of the world we're you in?

 

[aardwolfweb]

FORRESTBLADE.CODE Far Northern California near Humboldt Bay. It was a home in a rural area and the PC was in a guest/exercise/game/computer room, downstairs by the garage. It had two doors, one that led to the garage and an exterior door. According to the owner, sometimes the little green tree frogs would squeeze their way under the exterior door and through the weatherstripping and they would find them on the walls. These weren't babies though, they were grown tree frogs. I assume they were looking for the warmth.

 

[forrestblade.code]

Dang that's wild. I actually used to live in that area. State of Jefferson!!

 

[stdragon]

It's quite common to replace PSUs in any computer located in a restaurant (managers office PC for example). ROACH INFESTATION!!! Their little legs bridge solder joints where they shouldn't, and *SNAP* *POP*, goes the magic smoke!

I suppose that a proper establishment inspection would involve cracking open the side case of any PC. Though if that were to occur, I'm sure over 95% of all eating establishments would be shutdown. So, some things are best overlooked I suppose.

 

[quilciri]

Found a leaked bottle of ranch dressing in a PC case once. I say "leaked" instead of leaking, because (thankfully) the pool of ranch in the bottom of the case had long ago hardened into a faintly pungent epoxy.

...this was an actively used PC up until our reclamation brought it around...so someone was using this PC while the inside was coated with ranch being heated and the scent blown around in an office space by the fans.

 

[stdragon]

Found a leaked bottle of ranch dressing in a PC case once.

What I found more interesting is how a bottle of ranch dressing found its way inside the PC in the first place :lol:

 

[zthomas]

Took my machine in for cleaning and upgrading.. ahh ha a roach zipped out as soon as the side was unlocked.. waiting 5 long days for my turn at the tuneup bench I received a call to pick up my infested tower.. In my book cleaning covers a few bugs inside the case, I had spent thousands at this shop and had a service contract for almost 10 years. I am called for one roach and few dead companions, yeah I picked up the computer tower and then opened the yellow pages my machine got cleaned and turned up in less than two days.

 

[Christopher_156]

I used to work at FreeGeek and if I remember right we've also found bags of white powder inside lap-tops that we were re-furbishing.

 

[Whitemorn]

I can't see the validity in this article. Throw the crap in the trash and get on with your life if you have one!

 

[Whitemorn]

I mean, I have had to leave the past behind several times and unless you are a Russian meddling in an election, just say goodbye to your old hardware! That said, I think the comments are quite entertaining!

 

[CountMike]

I found bunch of coins inside one case. Contacted owner and it was his two very young daughters slipping in coins to start games. Shouldn't take young kids to arcades. Bugs and mice nests are not uncommon but one had a lump of coal inside.

 

[jeffh3c]

Like calling bill gates a top detective in Detroit I have to correct a complete mistake in most areas of the gun. First a revolver doesn't have a "clip" it has a cylinder. Second a revolver (the type handgun your describing) doesn't have a safety due to how it is constructed. I have seen locks that require a tool and it locks it until a tool unlocks, but that would be more like saying you removed the entire cd drive and put in another drive to change disks. I am not picking a fight, but knowing what the facts on this would be helpful; even if only in a conversation in the future.

 

[stdragon]

I used to work at FreeGeek and if I remember right we've also found bags of white powder inside lap-tops that we were re-furbishing.

:lol: Probably cocaine, and worth more than that PC

Edit: Disclaimer - Drugs are bad. Don't do drugs

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Like calling bill gates a top detective in Detroit I have to correct a complete mistake in most areas of the gun. First a revolver doesn't have a "clip" it has a cylinder. Second a revolver (the type handgun your describing) doesn't have a safety due to how it is constructed. I have seen locks that require a tool and it locks it until a tool unlocks, but that would be more like saying you removed the entire cd drive and put in another drive to change disks. I am not picking a fight, but knowing what the facts on this would be helpful; even if only in a conversation in the future.

I can't be 100% sure of this: The image is definitely a revolver. (Someone just grab the first royalty-free hand gun image they found?) The description kind of doesn't support it, imho.

“In the slot where the optical drive normally sits was a handgun sitting in the slot,” Amber Schmidt, Free Geek’s Manager of Technology Refurbishment, told Tom’s Hardware. “The safety was off. There wasn’t a bullet in the chamber, but there were six rounds in the clip,” {...} Schmidt said.

It could potentially be a semi-auto. Six rounds in the [misused term] "clip" could be in error and it is a cylinder, as you state OR it could be a maxed out magazine, or a partially filled magazine. No bullet (cartridge) in the chamber... We don't know the caliber, and chances are they guy relating the story had no clue anyway.

It certainly wasn't an M1 Garand found inside the case, which actually does use a clip. Doesn't fit "handgun."

 

[g-unit1111]

Nine out of 10 times the bullet hole’s going to be in the computer screen.

:lol:

 

[thealmightyeyeball]

What's even worse than the stuff you may find in a computer is the people you actually have to deal with.
I once went to a woman's house who was crazy or something. She was telling me she was Jimmy Hoffa's lover and stuff, then when I was leaving, her dog went ape-s*** crazy and started barking and running around in circles into the walls and stuff like he was trying to tell me to save him or something.
Then there was the guys house I went to who answers the door in his dirty yellow whitey tighties. I've actually had two guys answer the door in their underwear.
Another time I went to a guys house (who I thought was a woman from the voice on the phone) and he answers the door wearing nothing but a bathrobe. He has about twenty sticks of incense burning and the stereo up to 11. While I fixed his PC he decides to tell me all about how his boyfriend was supposed to have fixed it and how he gave him "special favors" all for nothing. Lol, the PC was setup to where I had to sit on his bed to fix it. Thank goodness I fixed it. I went home, took a shower, changed my clothes and told my employer I was NEVER going back there again. Sure enough he called about a year later and I said NOPE. Boss man took the call and gave me a lecture when he got back basically saying when we get a call I have to fall in line. I wasn't employed there much longer after that. Sometimes it pays to listen to your help, oh well.
Sadly I have more stories, but I think you get the point.
Needless to say, I do not do on site service anymore. When it gets to the point that you feel you may not walk out of one of these places it loses it's appeal.

 

[stdragon]

Back in 2000, I used to do residential on-site computer work as well. Back then, it was profitable. Anyways, yeah, I've met my share of crazies, creeps, and freaks. Oh, and somehow they all get infested with Bonzi Buddy.

I used to weep for humanity, now I just run from it.

 

[Isaac in Duluth MN]

Worked in computer recycling 4 years in two different companies, best job I ever had. I've seen thousands of computers torn apart only to show up on ebay years afterward for reasonable amounts of money. CRT monitors are finally worth something! Once in all that time I found strong evidence of mouse infestation. whole thing was nest. Years afterward, thinking that was a somehow isolated incident, having been through so many computers, one came out of my own storage with a motherboard that had been lived on. the ram and hard drive were cleaned off and used for other projects, but I liked that motherboard... I can't see usable technology being torn apart and melted for scrap at all unless they're really gone. Video cards and motherboards have been re-awakened from non-working status by using a solder re-work or re-flow station that amounts to putting them into an oven for a time, and they work fine after... This may be splitting heirs for some people, but for the energy conscious of us, we like this stuff, and want to see it get used again.