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The original was posted on /r/talesfromtechsupport by /u/big_aussie_mike on 2025-08-25 11:14:24+00:00.

A post in another sub brought back a core memory. I’ve been out of the game for a few years but I was in various IT roles since the mid 90s.

I’m after stories of the most gobsmacking mods done by a non home user, people who really should know better.

Mine dates back to about 98 when I went to a school to service a desktop that had a fairly terminal sounding problem. I take the CRT screen off the top and go to move the compute in to a more ergonomic position to work on, only it won’t budge…

I lift the lid to work on it and spot the head of a security bolt on the bottom of the case. It turns out the makers of the desks had built in a plate to bolt computers to and there were 2 bolts, one under the motherboard and the original pc installers had to disassemble them, drill 2 holes, bolt the things down and reinstall the internals.

Apparently theft was a big problem at that school but I think that’s taking it a bit far. Luckily it was just faulty RAM and I didn’t have to take it away for major work.