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There's a subreddit called r/techsupportgore, and its name perfectly describes its content: people who fix computers upload photos of the nightmarish scenarios they find themselves in. From melted extension cords to server rooms that look like a jungle, some of these hardware disasters are so bad, you can't help but feel for the folks who have to fix them. So continue scrolling, check out the pics, and don't be surprised if you cringe to the brink of passing out after only a few of them.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Ticket Said "Camera Flickers To Fuzzy Brown Image Often"
One of the moderators of the subreddit, Coffeechipmunk, said the most popular posts there are those that depict situations just moments away from exploding. "[It's] very dangerous, but very cool looking. They probably get so big because people post the pics and you think, 'Wow, that's just a bomb at that point,'" they told Bored Panda.
The subreddit was created on the 29th of February, 2012, and since then it has grown into a 427K member-strong community. They aren't interested in trivial things like cracked screens or anything -- just the filthiest, nastiest gore there is. And it doesn't seem that it's drying out, too. Just think of all the people who acquire a new gadget or an appliance and are so eager to use it, they skip the operation manual (myself included).
RELATED:
#2
“The Printer Isn’t Working”
"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.
They think the reason why r/techsupportgore got so popular is quite a simple one: "Honestly... it's very fun," Coffeechipmunk said. "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" to, "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."
#3
End User Had A Heater Next To The PC Which Was Randomly Shutting Off And She Thought She Had Smelled Burning A Couple Of Times. It Is Literally Screaming
If you are, however, afraid that you're gonna end up on this subreddit, there are things you can do to prevent it. There's plenty of information on the internet that you can utilize to become more tech savvy. There are forums, websites, and YouTube channels dedicated to specific fields where you can find comprehensive information on how to reset your iPhone and how to fix a malfunctioning laptop. Heck, if you're feeling really adventurous, you can even learn how to code.
When it comes to technology, the information is out there and it's available. You don't have to study computer science to know this stuff. Like a blacksmith who has an exact feel for how he needs to beat a piece of metal in order to mold it, knowledge and regular use of it will make you better at technology.
#4
I Can't Even...
#5
Hospital Server Room
#6
First Day On Job; Set Up Those 4 Wireless Speakers For You.
Ola Polowczyk 5 years ago
And here, dear children, you can see speakers resting in their natural habitat
#7
Told A User To Shutdown Their Virus Infected Computer And Ship It Back And To Label It As Infected. They Did Good
#8
Ancient Temple Of Asus
#9
I Need Somewhere To Set This Candle... Oh Here’s A Good Spot!
#10
"My Fan Was Making Too Much Noise!"
#11
I Should Tell Them It's Not A Touch Screen...
#12
"My PC Shut Off Suddenly And Won't Turn Back On"
#13
Quality Repost Here. (I Assume This Has Been Posted Before)
#14
One Of My Co-Workers Was Eager To Unpack Her New Mouse
#15
“My Space Heater Stopped Working”
#16
Professional Cabling At Pepsi
#17
AT&T Has No Idea Why Their DSL Services Is So Poor. It Must Be My Wires In My House. No I Don't Think So
#18
Someone Unplugged Something And Now The Office Internet Doesn't Work...
#19
Customer Came In With His iPhone, His Glass Cracked, He Thought He Could Peel Off The Glass So He Wouldn't Notice The Crack Anymore
#20
Plugging In Your USB Receiver With A Hammer For That Flush Mounted Look
#21
"It Didn't Plug In, So I Bent The Pins To Make It Fit"
#22
Don't Forget To Tip Your Server
#23
My Friend Drilled Holes In His Mouse To Make It Lighter So It Would Give Him An "Advantage"
#24
My Grandpa Thought His Headphone Jack Was A Screw Hole
#25
Work For Local High School, The Disc Drive Wasn’t Working. Probably Been There Since 2012
#26
When The Acid Kicks In
#27
User "Dropped It Walking To The Car." It Came In The Day After The Super Bowl
#28
"But I Like It This Way, It's Convenient." -My Tech Savvy Aunt
#29
Round 2 Of How Students Treat Their Chromebooks In My School, I Have No Words
Sterrinatu 5 years ago
I guess I was raised different. My mom taught me to not destroy other people's property. In fact, you treat it better than your own.
temmie 5 years ago
you don't know how many kids at my school play with a Chromebook like if its a football and some of them say "the schools going to pay for it" um ..... did you read the contract they gave us before we got them and they pays like $500 or more and get mad just for that and saying i an't pay'in. there are so many dumb kids at my school i honestly don't know how they got to high school they think life is a game.
ember avery 5 years ago
my school does the same and last year someone had to pay over $300 and she started crying saying she didn't do anything 😐😩
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Oskar vanZandt 5 years ago
Some people, including ignorant adults, think that when they wreck something they've been given to use, someone else ought to pay to fix/replace it. No respect for others' property or for something that has been given to them without having to work for it.
Elizabeth Molloy 5 years ago
We didn't have a lot of money growing up, so everything we owned was treated with the greatest respect.
Mascha Claessens 5 years ago
Jup. Happend every time. They throw it on their table, they throw it in their bags, they throw their bags around... Seriously not understanding how parents can buy their kids expensive phones... :')
María Hermida 5 years ago
They should be forced to pay for it, plus a fine, plus "you can't get anything else for free for the next ten years because you don't deserve it".
Steven Meyer 5 years ago
That just goes to show if you give someone something, and they don’t work for it, it has no value to them.
Vanta Black 5 years ago
I am currently using a Chromebook. This has given me yet another reason not to have kids.
Scott Lloyd 5 years ago
the keyboard looks good besides the space bar. who the hell takes a space bar out?
jevais 5 years ago
Kids that have no manners, that who does such stupid things.
Load More Replies...
cinderelly 0f sPiRiTlAnD 4 years ago
If anyone did that to my Chromebook I would probably get them back with a prank (sugar vs salt, hot sauce lunch, etc.)
John Baker 5 years ago
If it were up to me, that student wouldn't get a replacement - or a passing grade.
AnnSmithJones 5 years ago
Spoiled brats. Their parents should have to pay for that. When my kids were loaned chromebooks for school, I'm not joking when I say that I bought them foam envelops to keep them in, checked to make sure they were not damaging them, cleaned it, taught them how to care for the cables, etc. But I take care of things, even when they're not mine. ESPECIALLY when they're not mine.
rehabisforquitters 5 years ago
As a teacher, I'm fighting every impulse to rant about respecting the school's property...
David Kichi 5 years ago
When you give it to kids for free, they think it's cheap junk and treat it as so. Next time, have them put a cash deposit for value of laptop. If returned in bad condition, money is used to buy replacement and they get to keep the one they destroyed. Everyone wins!!!
Nerdiqueen 5 years ago
*reads this on a school chromebook* *screams in terror realising i KNOW people who do this*
jevais 5 years ago
Debby totally agree with you. It's up to the parents to provide them instead giving them their own TV for the bedroom, no Mobil phones and less pocket money. This way the parents have no excuses for not buying one.
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*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 5 years ago
A reason some kids may do this, or at least from my experience, is that sometimes when you break your computer and need a replacement, they'll have to give you this silvery-chrome samsung one, but it's the exact same size and everything. Just pretty and sparkly and shiny.
*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 5 years ago
oh hehe I'm working and reading this on one of those chromebooks
cinderelly 0f sPiRiTlAnD 4 years ago
if someone did this to my Chromebook (I am currently using) I would get SO THORNY MAD 😡😡😡😡😡
Bindi Adams 5 years ago
Sadly, not a unique event...some genius at ours decided to stick a pin through the camera......another decided it was a cool event to switch all the keys around.....guess that better than taking every second key......very sad
Clare Amidei 5 years ago
I'm on a chromebook right now and I had to keep scrolling otherwise my chromebook would flip out
Jeff Diamond 5 years ago
Depending on where the school is, kids tend to think the school just buys all new stuff every year. Sad to think that some kids don't respect things that can be provided as a service, but have to be done for years.
Donald Holder 5 years ago
Spoiled millennials. When we attended school. You had to provide your own equipment consisting of a calculator, and a pen and paper.
Drake Pillsbury 5 years ago
Sadly I have one from my classroom that does not look much better.
Becca Gizmo the Squirrel 5 years ago
My kids shift key started sticking and I started panicking thinking I was going to have to replace the whole thing two weeks ago. They were nice about it and replaced it.
ANDREA SERRANO MORALES 5 years ago
my chromebook from the school shuts off randomly during zoom meeting and while doing work. kids forget their pencils or earbuds so then they just close the laptop and well, it breaks, cracking the screen.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
bad - worse - worst, as in 'I have eaten worse wurst :-)'
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Travis Juchter 5 years ago
Maybe they watched porn on it and was too paranoid someone would find out. Might as well smash it!
Albert G. Fernández 5 years ago
This it´s easy to explain: He´s definitely bad at Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
Destiney Torres 5 years ago
same thing happened to me except i didn't screw it up to bad just the screen,but a couple of friends of mine decided to use an umbrella and well u know, and beside my was an accident.
Ann Sterzinger 5 years ago
I hope they didn't give you a replacement till you'd read a paper book or two... clearly you are learning to spell from Reddit. Aren't they teaching you any language skills AT ALL? Or are they just spending the money I pay in taxes for you to break things?
Load More Replies...
#30
“My Flash Drive Won’t Show Up And I’ve Literally Tried Everything!”
#31
My Friend Kept This In His Bedside Table... Literally A Bomb
#32
“WiFi In The Warranty Department Isn’t Working”
#33
Single Cat5 Cable Holding Up A Rack
#34
I Was Wondering Why My Computer Had Bluescreens. Now I Am Wondering Why My Computer Was Able To Boot Up At All
#35
“Why Is There A Pillow Inside My Tablet?”
#36
The Cable Of My Favorite Gaming Mouse Dragged Along 300 Miles Of Road Hanging Out My Car Door By Mistake
#37
Oh, And Can You Check The Speaker? It Sounds A Bit Muffled
#38
Schools Are Goldmines
#39
Customer : Battery Doesn’t Lasts Long
#40
When A Teacher Decides To Buy And Install A Screen Protector On Their Own
#41
Employee Spilled Water On Laptop. Decided To Use Heat Gun To Dry It Out
#42
Dude Smashes His Laptop Screen And Plugs An 11" One In To Replace. Dunno If Its A Macgyver Or Gore. I Think More Gore
#43
Person Mistook LED Polarizing Film For Protective Plastic Film And Peeled It Off
#44
Clients Ex Thought She Could Get The 'Memory Card' Out Through The Screen "To Catch The Cheating Bastard"
#45
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
#46
Immediately Regrets That Decision
#47
Opened Up A Cheap Calculator Today To Find Out The Solar Strip Was Just A Piece Of Plastic That’s Not Connected To Anything
#48
Hmmm
#49
Enjoying My New 2tb USB3 External Hdd
#50
Friends Laptop Was Sent Back Like This From Razer
#51
"My PC Is Low On Space, Can You Help?"
#52
How The Previous It Guy Mounted The Hard Drive
#53
Men, Get The Hazmat Suits
Add New Image
What do you think ?
misteriosa 5 years ago
I have such brainfarts sometimes, it hurts. 2 months ago, cable/net guys came to make a set up for a future tv upstairs, and moved the wireless router up etc. So, bunch of cables going into things. My children played around, and accidentally unplugged everything. Enter me, managing to plug all the cables in, except one- going from the tv receiver into oblivion. Rechecked everything, tried every hole, and after 30 mins of despair, decided to call the tech support for advice, knowing in my heart it would turn out to be something incredibly stupid, and preparing for the embarrasment. So I called, explained the situation, revised every cable I already plugged in, and leading to the one I have no idea about. 'So, it goes from the tv receiver, but I don't know where to plug it in, it says HDMI at the end of it', 'Did you manage to find the HDMI port on the tv?', 'No, I don't have a tv here yet... oh my God I knew the answer would be obvious and stupid sorry about this thank you'...
deanna woods 5 years ago
Some people don't need to be allowed to use technology because they don't know how to use it properly. You don't take a hammer or any other tool to devices unless you want to destroy it.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
That why there is an owners manual. Am I the only one who reads theirs? For everything from my car to my phone?
Load More Replies...
Rose the Cook 5 years ago
Having an IT tech in the family the most common problems he was called to were, infant or pet had disconnected power OR said infant or pet had urinated on computer.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
The younger brother of a friend used to sleepwalk as a kid and he once opened the lid to the record player and, believing he was in the bathroom, proceeded to pee in it.
Load More Replies...
*sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 5 years ago
Well, at least now I know I'm not the worst when it comes to this kind of stuff 😂
Bob Hildebrand 5 years ago
...and then the coffee cup holder on the computer just broke off. They should make them more sturdy.
Micah Pettit 5 years ago
When working tech support for an online RAM and SSD company, one of my coworkers spoke to someone whose SSD stopped working. Instead of, you know, contacting the FREE tech support, they decided to go to the internet at large. They found a post somewhere (god knows what idiotic corner of the web they scoured) that recommended they put their SSD IN THE OVEN. To be fair, they apparently did get it to work again, but it ran very slowly. Gee, can't imagine WHY. Needless to say, replacement was denied.
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
To be fair, there are some computer parts that gentle baking may fix - it softens and repairs micro-fractures in solder. SSD is not one of these things.
Load More Replies...
elia 84631 5 years ago
Most of theme seems that caused by stupid people and didn't have idea how to fix it
Liz-ard 3 years ago (edited)
Well, what does this tell us? It tell us that the tech-people that develops both hard and software do not understand how far behind the rest of the common humans are in catching up, evolving and understanding how the tech-people mean things to work. This generation and social gap is the deepest cut that ever have been between them. It excludes the elder generations: pre-1980, and make life difficult for pre-millenniumers, poor people and most people living in developing countries. I was young when the first PCs came. And scared of by a type recorder teacher that know very little about computers, typing lessons in DOS and a hysterical screaming “DON’t press C-A-T!!!” every time the lesson were (thank God!) over. When Windows new graphic platform came I got mesmerised and hooked. Still a noob at age 56 and still fighting to “get it”.
Megan Stone 5 years ago
I never thought I'd find tech dramas so funny!!! Thanks everyone, Hilarious :)
Jace 5 years ago
Most of the “user error” images are great for story-telling, but the majority of problems with stuff in this industry is the industry itself. Every legitimate criticism of the technology gets blocked by special pleading (a logical fallacy, which, in an industry you’d naively expect to be all about logic, is all too common).
Barbara Baldwin 5 years ago
Most of these left me wondering what I'm looking at..call me clueless
Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago
Some of these are good arguments for keeping stupid people from breeding.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Does no,one read, or at least glance thru the owners manuals for anything? A lot of these never would have happened with a little prophylactic reading
misteriosa 5 years ago
I have such brainfarts sometimes, it hurts. 2 months ago, cable/net guys came to make a set up for a future tv upstairs, and moved the wireless router up etc. So, bunch of cables going into things. My children played around, and accidentally unplugged everything. Enter me, managing to plug all the cables in, except one- going from the tv receiver into oblivion. Rechecked everything, tried every hole, and after 30 mins of despair, decided to call the tech support for advice, knowing in my heart it would turn out to be something incredibly stupid, and preparing for the embarrasment. So I called, explained the situation, revised every cable I already plugged in, and leading to the one I have no idea about. 'So, it goes from the tv receiver, but I don't know where to plug it in, it says HDMI at the end of it', 'Did you manage to find the HDMI port on the tv?', 'No, I don't have a tv here yet... oh my God I knew the answer would be obvious and stupid sorry about this thank you'...
deanna woods 5 years ago
Some people don't need to be allowed to use technology because they don't know how to use it properly. You don't take a hammer or any other tool to devices unless you want to destroy it.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
That why there is an owners manual. Am I the only one who reads theirs? For everything from my car to my phone?
Load More Replies... Rose the Cook 5 years ago
Having an IT tech in the family the most common problems he was called to were, infant or pet had disconnected power OR said infant or pet had urinated on computer.
Monika Soffronow 5 years ago
The younger brother of a friend used to sleepwalk as a kid and he once opened the lid to the record player and, believing he was in the bathroom, proceeded to pee in it.
Load More Replies... *sigh*, The Yellow Teletubby 5 years ago
Well, at least now I know I'm not the worst when it comes to this kind of stuff 😂
Bob Hildebrand 5 years ago
...and then the coffee cup holder on the computer just broke off. They should make them more sturdy.
Micah Pettit 5 years ago
When working tech support for an online RAM and SSD company, one of my coworkers spoke to someone whose SSD stopped working. Instead of, you know, contacting the FREE tech support, they decided to go to the internet at large. They found a post somewhere (god knows what idiotic corner of the web they scoured) that recommended they put their SSD IN THE OVEN. To be fair, they apparently did get it to work again, but it ran very slowly. Gee, can't imagine WHY. Needless to say, replacement was denied.
Evil Little Thing 5 years ago
To be fair, there are some computer parts that gentle baking may fix - it softens and repairs micro-fractures in solder. SSD is not one of these things.
Load More Replies... elia 84631 5 years ago
Most of theme seems that caused by stupid people and didn't have idea how to fix it
Liz-ard 3 years ago (edited)
Well, what does this tell us? It tell us that the tech-people that develops both hard and software do not understand how far behind the rest of the common humans are in catching up, evolving and understanding how the tech-people mean things to work. This generation and social gap is the deepest cut that ever have been between them. It excludes the elder generations: pre-1980, and make life difficult for pre-millenniumers, poor people and most people living in developing countries. I was young when the first PCs came. And scared of by a type recorder teacher that know very little about computers, typing lessons in DOS and a hysterical screaming “DON’t press C-A-T!!!” every time the lesson were (thank God!) over. When Windows new graphic platform came I got mesmerised and hooked. Still a noob at age 56 and still fighting to “get it”.
Megan Stone 5 years ago
I never thought I'd find tech dramas so funny!!! Thanks everyone, Hilarious :)
Jace 5 years ago
Most of the “user error” images are great for story-telling, but the majority of problems with stuff in this industry is the industry itself. Every legitimate criticism of the technology gets blocked by special pleading (a logical fallacy, which, in an industry you’d naively expect to be all about logic, is all too common).
Barbara Baldwin 5 years ago
Most of these left me wondering what I'm looking at..call me clueless
Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago
Some of these are good arguments for keeping stupid people from breeding.
Catlady6000 5 years ago
Does no,one read, or at least glance thru the owners manuals for anything? A lot of these never would have happened with a little prophylactic reading
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