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Had a motherboard short out on a Dell Optiplex 3080 during a simple RAM upgrade yesterday.
It just popped and smoked when I powered it on. Anyone else run into this with the newer small form factor models?
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park.miles5mo ago
That's rough, but it's probably not the RAM itself. Those tiny Optiplex cases are a nightmare for static. A lot of people forget to unplug the power cord and hit the power button to drain the board before touching anything. Even a little leftover charge can fry something when you're working in such a tight space. The pop and smoke points to a capacitor or a voltage regulator going, which a static zap could totally cause. Always worth double-checking you're grounded and the system is fully powered down, not just asleep.
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aaron_adams5mo ago
My buddy Steve lost a whole gaming rig last year trying to swap a GPU. He swore he unplugged it, but the PSU switch was still on. Heard a snap from the motherboard the second the card made contact. Fried the PCIe slot and the new card. He was so mad he didn't touch a computer for a month. That pop and smoke smell is unforgettable, and it happens way faster than you'd think.
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