Crazy ways you have made something work again.

Forums › Off topic › Crazy ways you have made something work again.

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Topic # 11147 5-Jan-2007 12:26

In light of this post http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=49&TopicId=11082&page_no=2 I thought it would be a great idea for a thread if people post the crazy ways that they've made something work again. I'll start it

We had a car stereo with very odd wiring once and speakers would randomly cut out and we couldnt figure out any broken contacts/wiring. One day when we were down to just front-left I had enough & thumped the unit. From that day on all four speakers worked great.

TinyTim

892 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 46

Trusted

Reply # 57019 5-Jan-2007 18:25

Sometimes you just can't beat a bit of percussive maintenance.

paradoxsm

3000 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Reply # 57024 5-Jan-2007 18:59

Sounds like almost all the TV's I have ever owned (except my trusty super-reliable 1984 Philips24")

I often smash stuff... only when it's basically stuffed anyway. the lines of work I do I often have to smash or bend the items to retrieve data etc..

The most amazing thing was a Nokia 2280 (bought off a NZ traveller in Australia for $20AU to use roaming after I lost mine) it survived at the bottom of a pool for a week, it was fizzed totally. i dried it for two weeks then it worked again! a week later, it fell of the roof of the car... Fine! two weeks later... it was killed again.... this time mashed under a tyre. the screen cracked, the entire thing was munted/squashed, and IT STILL made a call and works to this day!

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 57033 5-Jan-2007 20:51

Man...go Nokia!

JAMMAN2110

871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 57059 5-Jan-2007 23:13

weblordpepe: Man...go Nokia!

I've always said that! My trusty Nokia 6230 has so far lived through 5 years of torture! *evil laugh* (OT I know sorry)

Also: Congrats on making a new thread for this topic

not many people do

kerkido

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 57064 5-Jan-2007 23:45

rofl Nice work Paradox.
It's a great idea to start a thread like this!
Anyone that managed to start up a totally munted piece of technology again is amazing! Personally, when something of mine breaks, I throw it hard 3 times at my bed, put it in my hot water cylinder for a day and then connect the charger to it and swirl the thing around until there's a signal that it's working and recharging. If it's still broken, I take no more steps and keep the piece of &*#$# junk as a souvenir.

Methesda

11 posts

Geek

Reply # 57081 6-Jan-2007 11:05

I once had a friend with a Nissan Sunny, that failed to start after a particularly good new years eve party. I knew something of cars, so I had a look, and the first thing I checked was the fuse for the starter motor, which was actually held in a box next to the motor. Now... i was looking to see if it looked burnt out, and on inspection it seemed that that was the case, so I kept the fuse in my pocket and went to find my buddy to tell him the same. Meanwhiles, his girlfriend came out the other way, having heard the bad news, and decided to try to start the car herself, not knowing that I had removed the fuse.

The car started.

We put the fuse back.

The car wouldn't start.

We took it out.

It started again.

Still have no idea why this happened to this day. The mechanic that dealt with the car replaced the started motor, and the fuse, and the whole lot worked, but he thought we where just kidding around when we told him, and never tried our special tactic, since i guess he thought we where trying to yank his chain.

Sounds like 'magic'. And for those who don't know the more magic story (a very similar tale) here is the link:

More Magic!

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 57113 6-Jan-2007 17:47

That is absolutely facinating. Reminds me of a cheap electronic game I had as a kid. I dropped it in water or something (I cant remember) and took out the battery.

It didn't work however if you listened closely you could hear a distorted tune being played over and over again. There was no battery in the system, and if it was power left in the capacitors then they must have been pretty good capacitors because it played that tune for months. And months. And months. If only I knew more about electronics now I would have kept it to show people. It's lost now though..Probably in a rubbish dump somewhere playing she'll be coming round the mountain or whatever it was.

kerkido

10 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 57116 6-Jan-2007 18:18

Did you drop it in a lake or a beach..? Maybe an electric eel got inside.. :D

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 57150 7-Jan-2007 12:51

Ooops...you have to feed eels dont you.

Old Grey Geek

140 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 59015 27-Jan-2007 12:14

I had a Compaq Aero Laptop a few years ago, '98 I think, and the backlight for the LCD screen gave up the ghost. Finding that the only remedy at the time was a complete screen replacement, at about the cost of a new Farrari, I decided to hack a repair. Bypassing the inverter that powered the flouro lamp I stepped down the voltage to drive 4 Leds, one at each corner of the screen. The thing still works to this day. I use it to run Skymap when I'm out stargazing. Of course the battery is now totally dead so I just run the thing straight off the ciggy lighter socket in the truck. So I guess I was one of the first to have an Led lit Lcd on a lappie running on a 12 volt system.

Fossie

1240 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Reply # 59023 27-Jan-2007 15:16

My friends iPod was bricked (hdd stuffing up...etcetc). So he chucked it on my floor. Works perfectly now.

JAMMAN2110

871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 59024 27-Jan-2007 16:24

So.. who wants to give Fossie an agreement with apple to fix all the bricked ipods.. ?

Old Grey Geek

140 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 59132 29-Jan-2007 14:01

JAMMAN2110: Caution: I am paid to be awkward, unhelpful and smug. ?

I just do it as a hobby

JAMMAN2110

871 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 59133 29-Jan-2007 14:05

I do it because I can

inane

216 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 2

Trusted

Reply # 59183 29-Jan-2007 21:04

kinda off topic, this is more crazy things that keep working.

I was riding down ngaraunga gorge on the mt bike doing about 60 to 70 when the rear brakes gave out and the front ones got hella efficient, so I went flying over the handlebars, and landed on...

my apache. still on my hip, totally stripped all teh leather off the case but I tell you what it totally took the bullet for me, i would have slid meters and meters down the road on the apache and then it rang.

the screen cracked, _because of teh domes on the case!_
aside from that it still worked perfectly, including teh touch screen part (thank goodness for CE_Remote)