Re: Blame the Cable
Once had a guy bring a floppy/HDD drive controller card back as faulty. The IDE cable was keyed so couldn't be plugged in the wrong way (unless you pushed really hard) but the floppy drive connector had no keyed shroud so could be connected the wrong way.
I asked him if he was sure he had plugged the cable in the right way and he insisted he had swapped it and tried both ways with no joy. Took one look, could see it was on wrong. Flipped it 180, plugged it back in and it worked.
"Ah, when I swapped it round, I swapped both ends!"