Ever had a really weird electronics failure?

y_p_w

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You know - something that just felt really strange?

I had a couple of times where my computer (an older MacBook Pro) completely locked up. I just plugged in a USB cable and it just shut down immediately, but with it clearly powered on in one way or another. I could heard it buzzing. I had no way to shut it down (the power button isn't a traditional switch) and all attempts to shut it down were unsuccessful other than going in and disconnecting the battery connector. Then it powered up normally. When it happened again I knew how to handle it. However, according to Apple, the battery isn't user-serviceable and theoretically they could have denied any future repair since I messed with something I shouldn't have. They do consider the memory and drive to be user serviceable though. I tried to take it to an Apple Store, but they said I needed an appointment

My TV just locked up too last night. Sounded like machine-gun fire for about 30 seconds and it didn't respond to any inputs although it was stuck on whatever image was there when it locked up. But I held the remote's power button long enough and it restarted. Mine is a Samsung, and it came up with the power up screen that only shows up when the system has rebooted. I think it even said something about being Ryzen (that's an AMD processor?) equipped. Normal power on is usually much faster without the boot screen. However, I've had a few cases where nothing seemed to work normally, and the only way I could get it working again was to pull the power plug. However, a lot of these newer TVs are basically purpose-built computers with a large display running an operating system and programs.
 
This happens all the time with computers, not just laptops or TV's. I use to work in the Medical Equipment field and this kind of thing would happen way more than anyone would like. Imagine laying on a table with a catheter in you heart tickling all the wrong muscles when the entire imagine system locks up and your Dr. is blind and a reboot will take at least 5 min and thats after the techs realize whats happened and that they cant fix it any other way.
What scares me is the thought of going down the road at 70 when my new totally fly by wire car decides to reboot. And surviving and trying to convince authorities that you were not drunk the car did it all by itself.
 
I basically had to pull over and 'reboot' my Accord about two years ago when it felt like the CVT went to the highest 'gear' and wouldn't downshift at all. It made some odd noises and the dash lit up right before it stalled in a turn lane. It turned it off, gave it a few seconds, started it up and it hasn't done it again since. So that was awesome.
 
I was trying to start a 98 Canadian model Dodge Caravan that had been sitting for a while and had a dead battery. The odometer was totally metric always reporting in KM's. There is no button/switch to toggle from imperial to metric, but with booster cables making an intermittent connection the odometer suddenly reported in miles for a few seconds. Never happened again.
 
In my Accent the car radio has done some weird stuff twice. It will get where you can't change volume or stations or even shut it off. Turn off the car and it is still on. I have to pull a special fuse to completely kill the radio. Then it works OK again.
 
Yes, recently had a computer PSU fail, or so I thought. Took PSU out, found 5VSB capacitor blown, swapped in different PSU, but system still wouldn't POST.

Cleared CMOS w/jumper no luck, figured it might have fried the mobo. Finally decided to try a new battery and found that the old CR2032 cell, had leaked to a shorted state (very rare, they almost never leak in indoor environments) and was fouling up the bios loading till replaced.
 
Every once in a while when I restart my laptop (Lenovo 17" Y70-70) the keyboard doesn't work at all...can't type anything.
It may take several more frustrating restarts to work again or might work on the very next restart. Moody thing recently but I bought it new in 2015.
 
A Ring doorbell that supposedly was able to run off a 30va transformer had intermittent video and internet drop outs. Turned out there was a small battery that served as the “running” power supply. A small capacitor would be been better. Replaced with another Ring - this time, the Doorbell 3 model which has the guts of the previous Pro model, but in the bigger “regular” body with a removable battery pack. Much better.
 
I have a vizio 4K TV from 2015 and in the past few years it's been shutting off ~5-10 minutes after starting 4K movies. It's my only TV but I don't watch TV so it makes the living room feel less empty.
 
Years ago I was working for a lawn service and the Ford van I was assigned had a strange issue with the stereo. It would work like normal about 95% of the time but every once in awhile the volume would shoot clear up high and the knob wouldn't turn it back down and it wouldn't let me just turn off the radio either. The only way to bring it back to normal was to shut the van off and re-start. It was annoying but not as annoying as the broken air conditioner in 100 degree heat.
 
Hit a pothole and dash lit up like a christmas tree on my 07 Ram 1500. Cruise quit and speedo and tach all over the top and no overdrive. Problem was a broken wire to the left rear ABS sensor. Made no sense how it effected so many systems.
 
Weird electronic failures is my life.. Car wise I've seen radio's do some strange things, the Focus factory radio rebooted on every hard bump and it wasn't the removal buttons, Escape's factory radio the volume would shoot up at random scare the tar out of you, I had a Dual headunit blow melt a main fuse in Festiva.. another Dual just locks up at random and requires a reset. I've worked with computers, access control and cameras for so many years now I don't consider anything strange. I have seen some spectacular failures though, smoke flames and all.
 
I once heard a pop from my furnace and lost the blower. A circuit board trace burned up on the blower control board. I repaired the burned trace with a jumper wire, reinstalled the board and all was well. Probably a surge.
 
I basically had to pull over and 'reboot' my Accord about two years ago when it felt like the CVT went to the highest 'gear' and wouldn't downshift at all. It made some odd noises and the dash lit up right before it stalled in a turn lane. It turned it off, gave it a few seconds, started it up and it hasn't done it again since. So that was awesome.
My '11 Focus went 3 or 4 days without starting. It would just crank but wouldn't start up. It was only 2 or 3 months old at the time. I just drove my other vehicle for work. By the time Ford finally sent a tow truck from the dealer (a few days) it fired right up and never did it again.
 
My TV just locked up too last night. Sounded like machine-gun fire for about 30 seconds and it didn't respond to any inputs although it was stuck on whatever image was there when it locked up. But I held the remote's power button long enough and it restarted. Mine is a Samsung, and it came up with the power up screen that only shows up when the system has rebooted. I think it even said something about being Ryzen (that's an AMD processor?) equipped. Normal power on is usually much faster without the boot screen. However, I've had a few cases where nothing seemed to work normally, and the only way I could get it working again was to pull the power plug. However, a lot of these newer TVs are basically purpose-built computers with a large display running an operating system and programs.

I saw it flash quickly again after some reboot. It actually "Tizen", which I looked up as a flavor of Linux mostly used by Samsung.

 
I have an 11-year-old Dynex tv. I once turned it off and then immediately turned it back on. It booted to a desktop looking screen. It's never done it since
 
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