Don't Backchat Me, I Know Boats
A few days after I'd bought my shiny new gaming computer, just when I'd got everything set up and really starting to enjoy playing with it, the video card stopped working. It wasn't an huge event heralded by a clap of thunder or flash of lightning, it just came to pass that one morning my screen didn't turn on, and my case let forth a rather outraged beeeeeeeep. I checked everything over, and when I couldn't find anything wrong, I did the last conceivable thing before breaking down into tears and setting the room on fire - I read the manual. It turned out that there were a series of LEDs at the back of the system, that displayed patterns to explain possible hardware problems. 0010 means the processor is at fault, 0100 means it's the memory, and 110110101101 means there's something wrong with your father. I got 0001, which means there's a problem with the video card. Considering the obvious symptoms, this wasn't much of a surprise.
I called the company where I'd bought the system from, NCIX, and told them I had a bum video card. They told me that they have a 30 day refund or return policy, which is good, but they thought it would be a better idea if I brought the entire system in, not just the card. I thought this was pretty silly, but there conceivably could've been something else wrong with the system, even though the problem was pretty bloody obvious. So I picked up the entire main box, called a taxi (it was raining at the time) and dropped it off at the store.
Two days later, I was cursing the NCIX guys' maternal heritages several times an hour. They were obviously lazy, since I'd practically done their job for them by diagnosing the problem in the first place, so keeping my entire machine in a dusty back room with greasy posters of Xena and Seven of Nine adorning the walls was entirely unnecessary. I grumbled and cursed some more, and tried to lose myself in the dull frustration of work. Then my phone rang, and lo and behold, it was the NCIX technician. I sucked in a fat breath, ready to lecture him creatively on PC hardware and time management, but I stopped myself cold as he quickly and quietly explained that my system problems were not caused by the video card, but by a faulty motherboard.
Ah. Well, I'm glad I brought the entire system in then, I said. Good idea, well played. Hmm.