Murphy's Law strikes again!

[Snoopy]

Welp, I REALLY did it THIS time. :'( I decided Sat. to upgrade the vid card on my newer comp., boost the RAM and switch my SWG over to it. Sooooo, I pick up a Sapphire 9600XT 128MB vid card, take it home, and go to work converting the towers. I switch a stick of RAM from each so that I'd have 768 in each(in theory anyway- a 512 and a 256) and put in the vid card in the new tower, no big deal I figure, after watching how to do it at the dealer. While at it, I pick up my den's monitor and elevate it a bit for a better view, in preperation for going into the space flight expansion more seriously.
Patting myself on the back , I start rehooking everything up and turning them on. That's when Murphy's Law started kicking in. Long story short...NEITHER tower now works(1 has a RAM slot that REFUSES to lock a RAM stick and no longer will connect to the monitor, the other won't even TURN ON when the power is put on, yet alone let me install the new vid card!!) To TOP it off, apparently I BLEW 1 of my monitors(no picture or test pattern when turned on) in the process of moving everything around!!! :'( :'( :'(
I tried everything I could think of...INCLUDING reversing everything I'd done........NO DICE!! :'( :'( :'( :'( Suffice it to say, I'm a little frustrated at this point. Looks like I'll be taking some equipment BACK to the dealers Monday and have a PROFESSIONAL handle it...heh, at least the monitor is under warranty, but I CAN'T believe my luck.(I've lost count how many times I've been told by the dealers I can do this stuff myself at home.  BOY were THEY wrong!!
At least I DID get the bright idea to hookup the OLD system tonight(works fine...as far as it goes(figures)) so at least I can give ya a heads up. With luck, I'll be back fully tomorrow night.

[M1A2Tanker]

Good lord man...having a terrible time of it.  How odd though....RAM goes in without a problem unless the motherboard does not like the RAM from a specific manufacturer.  Not all RAM is the same after all. 

The video card...I dunno. Never installed a new one myself, I've always had someone else do it because I don't trust myself. 

Did you ground yourself first before you began to work?

[Simon]

Thats what you get when you try to teach a dog some tricks.

The Computer Dealers should have known that this is an impossible task for someone with two left pawns.

Anyway I feel with you.

PS: Did you remove the power cable? ATX motherboards still have some circuits powered, even in off mode.

[Man53]

The videocard should install by installing the drivers before you take out the old one, go into your computer options and disable the current video card, turn the system off, replaced the video card (IT matters if its PCI or AGP) and then when it boots up, it will automatically go into a horrible resolution as a default setting, from there you run the driver information, it sets itself up usually after a few clicks in the right place, and vuahlaw. Azis I believe works on computers all the time, try  contacting him if you plan on trying again.

[Fireyone233]

Hat to say it man but you just  screwed yourself. it kinda reminds me of this one guy in my Star Trek Armada 2 clan (yes I like star trek ) He put in his A1 cd In and then heard a small Boom pushed th cd drive it was all shatered.

[Snoopy]

Welp, latest word is good news and bad news. Good news is the monitor is going to be replaced by the maker(I actually was talking to someone in Texas concerning it today- talk about crosscountry), bad news, it's coming by snail mail...welp, not a BIG problem, as I still have 1 working monitor...lol. The REAL pain is the backlog of towers at the repair shop....3-5 day wait :'( :'( :'(  DOH!!

[Snoopy]

The new monitor showed up today (yay!), Thought I'd have the towers back too, but no luck. Good news is, I DIDN'T break anything in either 1. Bad news is HE couldn't get either tower to initialize EITHER!!lol (i was told it took REAL talent to knock out BOTH towers like this at same time.......not sure that was a compliment ) At any rate, he was gonna have to take INDIVIDUAL components out of each and analyze them individually(oh joy). Hopefully, better luck tomorrow.

[M1A2Tanker]

LOL, well I guess you should take pride in it.  Might as well right? 

Still, that's a nasty mess if there ever was.

[Snoopy]

Welp, causualty list continues to mount. Besides the aformentioned monitor, I apparently managed to kill 1 stick of RAM, dunno what size yet though...I DO have a spare 256 if it's that size...another 512 is a different story....and BOTH mother boards!!  :'( :'( :'((UHOH) Of course I don't catch him still in the shop, only 1 of the hired help, heh. Up until I heard mother boards, this wasn't sounding TOO expensive(crosses paws),not so sure now.
One of my fellow couriers has a plausible theory as to what I did. He figures I zapped them with static electricity while I worked on them. It certainly sounds possible, I WAS on carpet when I did it. (DOH!!!)

[M1A2Tanker]

Oooh...that's very plausible.  Have to be very careful with that stuff.  Always have to ground yourself first. 

Course you're furry...and on carpet....you have to know this would end bad...

[Man53]

luckily the only thing i've zapped from static is a vid. card and a 256 ram stick, however thats a very possible possibility? *Wow that sounds funny*

Static sucks, so yeah snoop as tank said, gotta ground yourself, you can get a pretty cheap wire that you attatch to your wrist that keeps you connected to a grounded object to prevent static problems.

[Snoopy]

Got 1 tower home now...now REAL fun begins....reinstalling the game AND the upgrades....eeeesh!

[M1A2Tanker]

Make sure you're grounded before you do that.

[Snoopy]

I had BOTH hind paws on the carpet the whole time..............................oops.