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Tech support consists of many things; it's a range of services companies provide to their customers for products such as software, mobile phones, printers, and other electronic, mechanical, or electromechanical products. But I think that its biggest component is frustration; the soul-crushing feeling every IT person feels when they witness or, God forbid, have to clean up after our stupidity. I'm talking about desecrated HDMI ports, spaghetti cabling, laptops covered in concrete... or as the subreddit r/TechSupportGore calls it—content. This online community collects pics that will make us "cringe to the brink of passing out" and if it gets a point across it's this: technical support services usually provide users with help in solving some common problems rather than providing training on how to use the product. We haven't really learned after Bored Panda's earlier articles on the subreddit here and here. The fails look just as bad!

#3

Yea, The Printer Will Not Print If You Leave The Plastic Packaging On The Paper!

Yea, The Printer Will Not Print If You Leave The Plastic Packaging On The Paper!

spazzo246 Report

When Bored Panda contacted Coffeechipmunk for an earlier interview, the moderator of the subreddit said that the most popular posts in the community are usually the ones that show a device a moment away from exploding.

“It’s both dangerous and cool,” they explained. “They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point.'"

"A lot of the content on the subreddit does rather well, except for people coming for actual tech support, they get redirected to the right subreddit. For actual tech support gore, though, it seems like broken screens and slightly messy wires are the current posts that don't hit too hard," Coffeechipmunk explained.

#4

First It Made Burning Smells, Then It Beeped, Then It Died. Colourful Ants!

First It Made Burning Smells, Then It Beeped, Then It Died. Colourful Ants!

Rusty-Hinge Report

#5

Is This The Worst Spaghetti Cabling Ever?

Is This The Worst Spaghetti Cabling Ever?

starsky1357 Report

#6

Ps5 In For Hdmi Replacement. Kid Said “I Pushed The Cable In A Little Too Hard”

Ps5 In For Hdmi Replacement. Kid Said “I Pushed The Cable In A Little Too Hard”

cdq1985 Report

The moderator believes the reason why r/techsupportgore got so popular a simple one: "Honestly... it's very fun," Coffeechipmunk said.

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"In a time where most of the internet can be incredibly serious and most times saddening or angering, r/techsupportgore is fun because you go on it and you can laugh (and/or cringe) at the crazy posts. Where else can you see a post like, 'Wow, these cables really are messy' [or] 'A lizard fried my motherboard' back to back? I love our growing community. They're a bunch of people that just enjoy tech and to some extent, the worst of it."

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#9

I Found This While Scrolling Through My Camera Roll From 2018, Enjoy

I Found This While Scrolling Through My Camera Roll From 2018, Enjoy

Ascaban Report

#10

That Is An Ant Inside The Screen!!!

That Is An Ant Inside The Screen!!!

gwarsh41 Report

#11

Grossest Controller Of The Year Goes To

Grossest Controller Of The Year Goes To

Speedy_Greyhound Report

#12

Just Had A Laptop Returned That Has A Used Bandaid As A Webcam Cover

Just Had A Laptop Returned That Has A Used Bandaid As A Webcam Cover

LEGOjon96 Report

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James016
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had this a few times at work. Laptops should have a built in camera cover. A lot do but a lot don't

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#13

Slpt: Laptop Charger Panini Press

Slpt: Laptop Charger Panini Press

voiping Report

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#16

Laptop Left Turned On In A School Bag Mixed With A Moldy Sandwich In The Same Compartment

Laptop Left Turned On In A School Bag Mixed With A Moldy Sandwich In The Same Compartment

clokeyyy Report

#17

The Forbidden Capri Sun

The Forbidden Capri Sun

Veraciouz Report

#18

One Of Our Clients Couldn't Figure Out Why His Wireless Keyboard And Mouse Weren't Working

One Of Our Clients Couldn't Figure Out Why His Wireless Keyboard And Mouse Weren't Working

sKiLoVa4liFeZzZ Report

#19

It Was A Technological Murder/Suicide Today. Crt TV Landed Directly Onto A Brand New Asus Chromebook

It Was A Technological Murder/Suicide Today. Crt TV Landed Directly Onto A Brand New Asus Chromebook

isawamouseboss Report

#20

Hard Drive Data Recovery

Hard Drive Data Recovery

the123king-reddit Report

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Nagawa (Cofa) Kishiki
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, you need to take the disk out and play it in a vinyl player. Make sure to set the speed to 78 rpm.

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#21

"Why My Keyboard Doesn't Work"

"Why My Keyboard Doesn't Work"

gglebq Report

#22

User Complains About Weird Smell While Using His Laptop

User Complains About Weird Smell While Using His Laptop

1337Kotoko Report

#23

While Many Of Us Are In The Business Of Tech Support, Self Help Is Often Necessary

While Many Of Us Are In The Business Of Tech Support, Self Help Is Often Necessary

TheJoshWS99 Report

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#24

Ps4 Botched Repair Attempt. The Shop That Did This To The Client's Unit, Charged Them $100! Should I Put Them On Blast?

Ps4 Botched Repair Attempt. The Shop That Did This To The Client's Unit, Charged Them $100! Should I Put Them On Blast?

SBL_Games_Inc Report

#25

Behold The Beauty Of Our Office Server

Behold The Beauty Of Our Office Server

H0rizon37 Report

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bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

State of the art airco for a state of the art server room. Budget for PR is $10 million per year, budget for IT is $10 000 for 2 years.

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#26

Free Laptop! Too Bad The Screen And Keyboard Are Ruined With The Spray Paint

Free Laptop! Too Bad The Screen And Keyboard Are Ruined With The Spray Paint

ilovesalome88 Report

#27

Electrician Friend Just Sent Me This, Found During A Portable Appliance Test

Electrician Friend Just Sent Me This, Found During A Portable Appliance Test

kryptopeg Report

#28

Customer Came In With A 512gb Ssd In Their MacBook Pro That Only Had 77gb Of Their Own Data On It, Yet It Was Reading As Full Of "Other" Files. After Some Digging It Turns Out That Apple Mail & Gmail Were Writing A New Encyclopedia Britannica Behind The Scenes. That's A Whole Lot Of Text

Customer Came In With A 512gb Ssd In Their MacBook Pro That Only Had 77gb Of Their Own Data On It, Yet It Was Reading As Full Of "Other" Files. After Some Digging It Turns Out That Apple Mail & Gmail Were Writing A New Encyclopedia Britannica Behind The Scenes. That's A Whole Lot Of Text

Po1eTrain Report

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Ece Cenker
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What does the op mean by "A New Encyclopedia Britannica?" What was all that text?

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#29

Really Great Laptop Performance With A Core I7

Really Great Laptop Performance With A Core I7

ItsJMhere Report

#30

Lent It To A Friend...

Lent It To A Friend...

rivo99 Report

#31

Her: My MacBook Pro Is Running Hot. Inside The Fan: Ant Colony

Her: My MacBook Pro Is Running Hot. Inside The Fan: Ant Colony

giantthreetoedsloth Report

#32

Someone Tried To Print From USB

Someone Tried To Print From USB

Shakatroll Report

#33

Got An Xbox 360 Controller In For Repair. Inside, I Found Multiple Dead Bugs And Everything Was Covered In A Fine, White Powder-Like Dust

Got An Xbox 360 Controller In For Repair. Inside, I Found Multiple Dead Bugs And Everything Was Covered In A Fine, White Powder-Like Dust

JoMa2001 Report

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#34

Friends Computer Has Been Crashing For Like 3 Years

Friends Computer Has Been Crashing For Like 3 Years

marco23p Report

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laurencaswell4 avatar
Lauren Caswell
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ay! I remember when my dad replaced the cooling fan things years back on our home pc (he did 90s computer tech stuff so we had stuff at home for his work etc plus he bought and refurbished old parts from his work), he had them in bout 30 mins them *BOOM* *swearwords*, dad comes out covered in coffee and black soot. Checked the fan seperately, it was a dud, stopped after approx 1 min. Rang the computer place, 'oh no its specialist we aren't reresponsible blah' plus a bunch of condescending jargon. So dad brought it in and politely schooled them on how their faulty fan had toasted his new hard drive. They replaced it all. I think coz he was 'older' (40s at the time but 90s tech was new), they just were so rude and dismissive. TLDR: faulty fan made expensive computer go boom. Tech experts learned not to judge a technician by his cover ^-^

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#36

Why Do We Need To Hire It? Just Plug It All In

Why Do We Need To Hire It? Just Plug It All In

Quigleythegreat Report

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Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What a rubbish extension lead design. You can't use all the sockets if you plug anything ither than straight cables in - the adapters block the adjacent sockets. Having said that, this is probably the only thing that is preventing this lot going up in flames!

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#37

Stupidity Strikes Again. Now I've Got A 'Curved' Keyboard

Stupidity Strikes Again. Now I've Got A 'Curved' Keyboard

Jan_Spontan Report

#39

Criminal Poe Adapter

Criminal Poe Adapter

orefat Report

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robert-thornburrow avatar
Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

PoE is Power-over-Ethernet. It is a way of supplying power to devices using the same cable as is used for networking meaning you only need to run one cable to the device. However PoE runs at 50V or thereabouts and devices need to support it. Devices that don't will likely be fried, and this friendly little cable looks like it will happily plug into any network port you happen to have...

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laurencaswell4 avatar
Lauren Caswell
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait, why does this exist what does it do? Why would you want to connect phone/internet to power? Does this make explosions? I have many questions

danielshadowdrakken avatar
Daniel (ShadowDrakken)
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

POE = Power Over Ethernet, but it generally uses a special DC converter and regulator; not a direct attachment to AC power. _This_ thing is designed to fry anything it gets plugged into.

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dysamoria-accounts avatar
Jace
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So this is a joke post, not a support nightmare. You can’t put mains power into a DC powered electronics device, even if it has Power Over LAN. Someone made this cable as a joke, in a service department.

kimmcd0830 avatar
Kim
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Soooo... You'd use this if you want to f**k s**t up?

tommythebiker avatar
Thomas
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not a PoE, this is a Etherkiller. It's made on purpose, and it's not meant to be actually used (even if you really hate someone that much, there are less riskier ways to fry their computer). It's a running joke among tech support people.

gekka-dojo avatar
Gekka Dojo
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He plugged that into his wifi router and his house melted.

bp_10 avatar
WilvanderHeijden
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How to fry routers, modems and IP-camera's in seconds and live to tell the tale.

allenlavine avatar
Allen Lavine
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is some computer smart people on here any of y'all want to be my friend and teach me everything you know

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#41

Saw The Other Post About Ethernet Rewiring And Reminded Me Of This. It Worked Fine For Almost A Week Until I Replaced It With A Proper Cable

Saw The Other Post About Ethernet Rewiring And Reminded Me Of This. It Worked Fine For Almost A Week Until I Replaced It With A Proper Cable

gunmetaldjs Report

#42

Power Supply Didn’t Fit, I Guess This Works?

Power Supply Didn’t Fit, I Guess This Works?

Kcleary940 Report

#43

Previous Install Company Ran Cat5 Over The Main Junction Box, Decided To Shield The Cable With Aluminum Foil

Previous Install Company Ran Cat5 Over The Main Junction Box, Decided To Shield The Cable With Aluminum Foil

endorphin__dolphin Report

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Bill
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Somebody needs their license pulled. 18" seperation between power and data cables

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#44

How To Make Sure Ideas Hold Water

How To Make Sure Ideas Hold Water

Bixel925 Report

#45

My Little Cousins First Build. I Told Him You Have The Wrong Ram. He Said "How You Know?"

My Little Cousins First Build. I Told Him You Have The Wrong Ram. He Said "How You Know?"

wack0h Report

Note: this post originally had 99 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.