I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry when I saw this. The text at the top reads:
i bought one of these and tried putting in my dell dimension 2350. my friend said that the shiny metal part on the bottom looks like it has lines because you cut at the lines if it doesnt fit. so i carefully cut off the bottom so that it fit into 1 of the slot things in my computer. now it doesnt work. did i cut it wrong? id post pics, but no camera. is there anyway i can fix this? thanks for any help.
For those who have never seen one of these before, it’s a graphics card. A very EXPENSIVE graphics card. One of these will set you back over $100.
Here’s a clue – you should NEVER, EVER have to take a hacksaw or other cutting implement to a piece of hardware. They’re built the way they are for a reason, and that reason is that if it doesn’t fit then it’s not meant to fit. Either it’s not compatible or you’re trying to fit a right bit but in the wrong place. Either way, if you try and force it, you’ll either wreck it, or the rest of your PC or both. Probably both. Voltage going where voltage isn’t supposed to go owing to short circuits is not good.
Unfortunately I see a lot of penny pinching. “Oh, don’t bother paying that guy a fee, I can tell you how to do it for free.” Problem is, if that advise is flawed – like this was – then you’ve not only thrown away the expensive upgrade but you might have wrecked your PC too, and your friend isn’t going to stump up the money for a new one. After all, if you take a friends advise, there’s no liability there. No way you can prove it. And no chance of a refund, you’d get laughed out of the store if you tried to take that back.
Ultimately, it’s your choice. Take a gamble or get a professional. All or nothing. But if you lose – don’t expect even the best of tech professionals to be able to bail you out of THIS kind of mistake. It ain’t happening.