Must’ve gotten a faulty CPU that produces heat when it runs.
this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2026
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Tell them to switch to water cooling. You will get an even more awesome picture.
I used to work as an intern in a PC repair shop and we had a guy come in saying his new self build computer doesn’t work. Turns out he cut a huge part off the mainboard so it fits into the case.
That's significantly worse. Assembling a PC without knowing what a cooler is for is bad enough, but to actually cut pieces off complex electronic components, I don't know what kind of state of mind you have to be in for that.
The kind of state that would have me refund his money and tell him I'm baffled and can't figure it out.
Most programmers I know wouldn't understand what they're looking at here.
This is sysadmin humor maybe?
Yep. This is hardware related. To be fair, many programmers I know are also into self-building and more hardware-related stuff, but that's something I personally just don't know my way around well (instead I like more theoretical computer science more). So I genuinely don't know the problem here, and I think that's fine.
Wisdom is knowing what you don't know.
You get no shade from me. My only beef is with programmers who act like they are experts in all things computer when they aren't.
BTW, the issue in the picture is that the CPU cooler is attached to the wall of the case instead of the CPU. It shuts down because modern hardware will usually turn itself off when it overheats to mitigate the risk of permanent damage.
If you're a programmer and don't see what is wrong....
Then you're a typical programmer, at least in my experience.
So interesting. I'm a programmer, I know a lot of programmers, and I'd hate to think that any of them wouldn't immediately recognise the issue.
Not sure if you're the outlier or I am.
I've taught upper level comp sci at a STEM school and I think a majority of my students wouldn't know what they were looking at in this picture.
People who've written doctoral theses on machine learning and and natural language processing have asked me for help building their gaming rig.
Not to say its universal, but the Venn Diagram of programmers and hardware nerds is far from a circle.
As someone who has done both, programmer most recently, and has respect for both, you're being very judgy. Both are difficult enough jobs without other tech fields bringing each other down.
I'm not judging. Just observing that a lot of programmers I know wouldn't understand what's happening in this picture so maybe it isn't really programmer humor.
We're looking at a hardware issue. What would a programmer care?
Personally I'd just patch it in software by coding up my own CPU cooler.
It’s the irq jumpers for the mca expansion card right?
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As someone who has worked in an IT repair facility, this image hurts my soul.
When I was in IT, had someone who couldn't get their USB printer to be detected by their laptop. They turned everything on/off and it never would show up. Even I was a little confused, so I unplugged it from the laptop, and then went to go plug it back in, but couldn't feel the port. I go to take a look, and find there's no USB ports on that entire side of the laptop. somehow they plugged the USB cable into the Ethernet port.
Must keep the fan cool!
At least the thermal paste isn't too thick..
Fucking ~~magnets~~ heatsinks, why won't they work!?
Eons ago, I had a guy bring me a non functioning Compaq desktop and say, "Wull the fan was makin' a lotta racket so I greased it."
What he actually meant was, "I sprayed the entire motherboard with WD-40 because I don't know shit about computers OR lubricants."
I gave it a bath in electronics cleaner and it actually fired right up after that.
Took me a second, but not more than three. I snorted.
Someone stole the heatpipe!
They're just too advanced for us, they already have "wireless" cooling technology.
There’s the problem, his BTX system is missing its airflow diverter!
It's also backwards
Good catch! I haven’t messed with one of those systems since the P4 era, i had two that were the only systems I scrapped before they died, they were just that mix of indestructible, dog slow, and with absolutely no upgrade path whatsoever
Which is quite a shame, really. I had a BTX Dell, which had amazing potential to be upgraded, since nearly everything was just spring latches, and could be slid open quite easily. You could install and swap most parts without a screwdriver.
The potential to upgrade it was there, and then it just never materialised, so the entire thing ended up basically being useless.
Whoever thought of it first should've been BruTallyXterminated.
I still have a few Dell models in my "weird/old/sentimental" hardware collection.
Just needs to drop the voltage and the clock down to 500Mhz and then no heatsink required.
Wifi cooling!
Ah a mainboard with a dust protection-layer.
If the item fits, it must belong there.
Ignore the heatsink cutting your hand and making it very difficult
Is that a strap with a buckle holding it on?
No that's a regular clip for mounting the cooler onto the cpu, it clips around those black things around the socket. That's been the standard for decades and only recently has it gotten less common. I think the cooler is screwed onto the case with woodscrews directly into the plastic of the fan.
DIWHY does that look like an old AMD socket? (Or lga 775)
AMD socket A had the noses for attaching the cooler directly at the CPU socket. This one has an AM4 socket where the cooler is supposed to be attached to the two black supports above and below the CPU socket.
I am 90% sure this is an Intel system judging by the cooler.
You'd be mistaken, Intel hasn't had a clip mounting system since socket 370 P3 days. Even P4 on 423 had 4 corner mounting systems and all of the Intel systems had them since.
The cheapo aluminum coolers from Intel always had that rotated design to get a little bit more surface area in the same volume. With the age of this system Intel had copper pucks in the middle of their heatsinks. It wasn't till later they went full aluminum. This is very clearly an AM4 motherboard as seen by the mounting.
Like the other commenter pointed out, it's an A320M-C board, it says right on it.
Looks like an ASUS A320M-C based on the very hard to read text and the layout.
https://motherboarddb.com/motherboards/378/
So an early AMD AM4 motherboard.
I agree, the cooler block itself looks very much like the reference cooler that came with my boxed AMD 2600x processor, and the heat spreader of the cpu and the socket look like the ones in the pc i am writing this from, which is an AM4 system.
Is that a normal place to put the cooler on intel systems?
Do I detect the need for a whoosh community?
Ok you guys like to laugh at this but now tell me how else is the fan is supposed to stay cool after absorbing all the heat from the electronics?
Also not a good time to bareback.
Seems gtg to me, no issues
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