Can software destroy hardware?

[Keegan]

I'm not talking about viruses, here. I'm talking just the wrong combination of typical, everyday programs. Has anyone ever heard of someone accidentally damaging hardware like this?

[Steve R Jones]

Nope. Never heard this before.

[Szech]

Well, Burn In (available off of www.tweakfiles.com (http://www.tweakfiles.com) ) comes with a warning about extreme CPU testing. I suspect it's because it taxes the CPU possibly to the point of overheating and destroying the processor. But what do I know http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif.

[Long Haired Hippie Phreek]

Hmmm...

1.) SoftFSB is software (as it can be writen, replaced, flashed, etc...), and you can bumb the voltage way up on your proc with that!

2.) SoftFSB is most certainly software, and I once lost a cheap sound card by raising the pci bus too high.

3.) Windows may drive you crazy with a blue screen of death and you would, totaly by impulse, pull a gun and blow holes in your system.

So yes, software can kill parts, or force you to.

[CMonster]

Though not common, the answer is yes, and this particularly applies to monitors.

[Jim9999]

In the case of monitors, I suspect you're referring to refresh rate. In those cases, it is not software damaging hardware. It is software allowing the user to improperly adjust settings. That can hardly be called software damaging hardware. It's letting the user make setting adjustments.

Same for overclocking a chip in the BIOS. The BIOS doesn't overheat the chips... it just lets the user mess things up.

I can't think of a case where software actuslly damages hardware. Especially "every day programs" like Keegan mentioned.

[RenaissanceMan]

let me see, is "Firmware" considered software or hardware?
I suppose improperly flashing your bios would perhaps fall into this catagory.

[Keegan]

I'm asking because my brother and sister installed a program on my computer, called Maxis SimTunes. When I came back, my computer was acting all strange, and giving me Windows Protection Errors. I was wondering if that may have had something to do with it. But what I think may have happened to my Voodoo3 2000 was temperature related, because my main 92mm case fan was making those dying fan noises, and one day I found my computer making that british-police-siren sound because the temperature was over 158 degrees inside. Does this seem plausible?

[tinwindow]

Using software that works your hardware to over heat will melt it down without the proper cooling method....You should have replaced the fan when you suspected a problem.
A case fan will help if you like to overwork your hardware with your software..
Just a thought http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
TW

[Keegan]

I have 3 case fans: 80mm Unknown Brand (most likely cheap **** from the We-Build-Cheap-**** fan company) Smart Fan in my Antec PP-253 power supply, 92mm 44cfm Sunon in my fan/duct assembly, and an 80mm Yate Loon 27cfm fan in my front fan cage. I'm upgrading soon, and I'm thinking of taking a jigsaw and cutting out the front grille (with those tiny holes) while all the stuff's out, to prevent metal shaving damage. Then I'm going to cut a new hole for another Yate Loon 80mm case fan in some extra space on another panel. If any of you are familiar with the Antec Gemstone cases, you know about how they have a whole metal side panel (the one that holds the motherboard) without any vents, and then the plastic panel just past the metal panel has lots of extra vents that right now are simply there for aesthetic value, so that's where I'll put the 4th fan. My system is largely a positive-pressure system, and the power supply fan is the only exhaust fan.

[Joel Kleppinger]

In theory, at least with older drives, it was possible to program the drive head to continuously go beyond its range, eventually wearing it out (or forcing it to stick). This would effectively crash the drive.

That's about the only software killing hardware hack I know of. I don't even know whether it works for sure, but the theory is plausible.

[ablang]

Apparently, software upgrades can make old Webtv classic boxes "blow up".

[mondayz]

I don't know if software can ruin hardware, but relatives who don't know what they are doing can sure cause serious problems with your pc.
That's why they call them "personal computers".