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teck points for good stories

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by spydergst1 2 views

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I'm giving these point away to hear some goo ID10T BSOD stories.

31 replies

by spydergst1

Here is my story. I setup my screensaver from a BSOD screenshot. One of my coworkers asked what happened. I told him it was an ID 10 T error. He jumped on the web and looked up the code ID10T on Microsoft's support site. I'm not putting him down he is a good admin but, it was funny.

by timthetoolman

Hi,

This isn't mine, unfortunately. It is rather amusing, though.

In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve Ballmer revealed that the Redmond-based company will allow computer resellers and end-users to customize the appearance of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system crashes.

The move comes as the result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys done by Microsoft. Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked, "What do you spend the most time doing on your computer?"

A surprising number of respondents said, "Staring at a Blue Screen of Death." At 54 percent, it was the top answer, beating the second place answer "Downloading XXXScans" by an easy 12 points.

"We immediately recognized this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our channel partners, and especially our customers," explained the excited Ballmer to a room full of reporters.

Immense video displays were used to show images of the new customizable BSOD screen side-by-side with the older static version. Users can select from a collection of "BSOD Themes," allowing them to instead have a Mauve Screen of Death or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics and multimedia content can nowbe incorporated into the screen, making the BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and entertainment to Windows users.

(continued...)

by timthetoolman

The BSOD is by far the most recognized feature of the Windows operating system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total control over its look and feel. This recent departure from that policy reflects Microsoft's recognition of the Windows desktop itself as the "ultimate information portal." By default, the new BSOD will be configured to show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system crashes. Microsoft channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to customize the BSOD on systems they ship.

Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, and Dell are already lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD. Ballmer concluded by getting a dig in against the Open Source community. "This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much faster pace than open source. I have yet to see any evidence that Linux even has a BSOD, let alone a customizable one."

Cheers,
Tim.

by joseph moore

This isn't a BSOD story, but it does qualify under the ID 10 T classification, under the subheading "Hardware":
I worked with a admin who did not seem to be too far on the ball when it came to NT/PC administration issues. You all know what I mean!One day, he was asked by our boss to remove a soundcard from a Compaq Deskpro. Ok no problem, you think. You just pop the case open, and remove the card. Easy!
Well, this model of Deskpro had a PCI soundcard in the removable PCI slot tray that someCompaq models have. You just lift a green lever, and the whole PCI slot section comes out. YOu then remove your card, insert the PCI chassis back in, lower the green lever, and there you go. No need for a screwdriver! It was a great design, IMO.
Anyway, I did not see what he did, but I know he removed the soundcard.
A few weeks later, he was fired for "inappropriate behavior" with a female employee. ;-)
I cleaned out his desk, and what did I find in a drawer? The sound card.
I looked at ita second, and realized that the metal band on the back of the card, the band that you stick in the groove and contains the connectors for plugging in speakers and a microphone, was bent up, short, and cut on an angle! Looks like someone took some metal cutters to it!
Well, turns out, that was what he did! I did remember then I saw him struggling with the workstation, trying to get the PCI slot chassis out. I guess he found some scissors or metal cutters and, instead of lifting the green handle, just cut the dang thing right out!
We kept that soundcard tacked to a bulletin board in the lobby as an example of what NOT to do!

PS: I tried the card in another system; it still worked!

by dixon_fe

After one of our end users got a BSOD and proclaimed his love for them aloud, another user in his area called me promptly. She sounded nervous trying to explain it and asked "Is that contageous? Because my computer is about 10 feet from his."

My all time favorite end user story that I have personally seen (non-BSOD) was yesterday. As a matter of fact, it made a 5 star entry in my home journal (yeah, I keep one for our "super" users). A new hire called me asking questions regarding the buttons on the front of her monitor. What are they for? What are the settings that we use? Etcetera, etcetera. After explaining their function and that we use the factory settings, she asked me (I'm dead serious) what the other button on the right hand side of her monitor was for. I inquired to what the emblem on the button was. She said, "You know...the one with the green light on it.". Trying to fight off the laughter I told her it was her power button, which she promptly asked me what that was for. After spending 20 minutes on the phone with her, she appeared to be satisfied with my answers and stated, "I'm just trying to get acclimated to these new style monitors.". Luckily, I had another call coming in on the other line. I, as well as my co-workers, chuckled about this all day long.

by spydergst1

You guys will thinkI am crazy but I am enjoying reading these. I guess I just need some stress relief. So I'm uping the point value just to keep this ball rolling a little longer. Thanks for the laughs.

by nettek

IT Policies and Procedures (As seen through the eyes of end users)
1.Don't write anything down. We can easily play back the error messages you get on your screen.
2.When a tech says he's coming right over, go for coffee. It's nothing for us to remember 481 screen saver passwords.
3.When you call us to have your computer moved or replaced, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of post-its, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers, bowling trophies and Popsicle art. We don't have alife, and we find it deeply moving to get a good look at yours.
4.Send support requests all in uppercase, with a few ASAPs thrown in for good measure. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery, and once we read it we'll drop everything and run to your desk.
5.When you call a tech's direct line, press the number that skips the message that says he's on vacation, record your message, and wait exactly 24 hours before you send a scathing email straight to the director because no one ever returned your call. You're entitled to common courtesy.
6.When the photocopier or fax machine doesn't work, call computer support. After all, there's electronics in it.
7.When you get a message about insufficient disk space, delete everything in the Windows directory. It's nothing but trouble anyway.
8.When you get a message when you boot up your PC about a hard disk controller failure, and then you reboot and it looks okay, don't call tech support. We'd much rather troubleshoot itwhen it's dead as a doornail.

by nettek

9.When a tech tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in a scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by 'shortly'?" That'll get us going.
10.When the printer won't print, re-send the job at least 10 times. Printers frequently fall asleep. If you re-send it enough times, you'll wake up the printer.
11.When the printer still won't print after 10 tries, send the job to all the printers in the printers folder. One of them is bound to work.
12.Don't learn the proper name for anything technical. We know exactly what you mean by, "My thingy's not working."
13.When a tech asks you whether you've installed any new software on your computer, lie. It's nobody's business what you've got on your computer.
14.If the space bar on your keyboard doesn't work, it must have happened the last time a tech worked on your PC. Keyboards are actually very happy with spilled coffee, half a pound of muffin crumbs, paper clips, and nail clippings in them.
15.When you get a messagesaying "Are you sure you want to delete...?" click on that "Yes" button as fast as you can. Hell, if you weren't sure, you wouldn't be doing it, would you?
16.When you find a tech and he’s on the phone, sit uninvited on the corner of his deskand stare at him until he hangs up. We can't possibly be talking to someone else about anything important.
17.Feel perfectly free to say things like "I don't know anything about that computer crap". We don't mind at all hearing our career choice referred to as “crap”.

by nettek

18.When you need to change the toner cartridge, call tech support. Changing a toner cartridge is an extremely complex task, and the manufacturer recommends that it be performed only by a professional computer technician with multiple certifications and at least five years of experience.
19.When you receive a 30-meg movie file, send it to everyone as an e-mail attachment. We got plenty of network bandwidth and lots of disk space on our mail servers.
20.When you bump into a tech at the grocerystore on a Saturday, ask a computer question. We love working weekends.
21.If you curse every morning when you are starting your PC and the annoying Virus Scan screen pops up in your face, disable the Virus Scan. It's just like real life: if you don't like condoms, just don't use them, that's all.
22.If you keep getting the same virus an your computer and a tech asks you if you are bringing floppy disks from home, lie. Once again, it’s nobody's business. Besides, you couldn't possibly have a virus on your home computer.
23.If a tech installed software on your PC and shortly thereafter nobody could print to the printer down the hall, the tech must have caused the printer to stop working. After all, the printer was fine before he worked on your PC.
24.When your computer keeps asking you to change your password because it will expire soon, keep clicking cancel. We enjoy having to rush and change your password on the server when you get locked out.
25.Nah, you don't have to save your files to your personal folder on the server. Go ahead and put them in "My Documents". If your hard drive fails we can get your files back. After all, we back up the files on all 481 desktop computers in the company.

by mike (from canada)

a guy walks into his office and as soon as his PC is turned on, he receives a BSOD which states:

A Fatal Exception 012345678 has occurred at BIOS NUTS AnD BolTz. This was called from .

Press Any key to continue.

by shanghai sam

Here's my stories... but not BSOD, I'm a VMS administrator -
#1) I get a call from an anxious user telling me the building is on fire. I asked, have you called the fire department? The user replied, "No, my manager told me that any time we have a problem we're supposed to call computer support!" - I said, "Ok, you called me, now call your fire department, and then you can call me when the fire is out and I'll help you get things back together"
#2) user: I need some help unplugging this computer and plugging it in somewhere else.
me: Ok, just unplug it, move it where you want it and then plug it back in.
user: That's what I'm trying to do.
me:well, since I couldn't visualize the problem I went to the user's desk, and he literally was telling me he couldn't unplug it. I just got on my back, unplugged it and then plugged it back in. I guess the user was either scared of spiders or they just wanted someone to do it for them..
#3 The user left a 2 year old in the computer room alone! all of a sudden there is a >>> on the console (The VMS boot prompt). I told the user that someone halted the cpu. The user told me that there was noone in the computer room, just my 2 year old son. I said "He did it!". Apparently, the 2 year old figured out how to halt the machine. (pushed the right button)

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