Happened once to me. I was invited to a hackathon in Redmond (you can guess the company), and because I was then as much against using Windows for software development as I was now and laptops weren't a thing (this was mid '90s-ish), I carefully put my favorite box - a DEC AlphaStation - in the middle of my suitcase, checked it in, and prayed that the fancy new Alphas were as well bit as the old VAX machines. Arriving at the site, we were helped to an office, I got a loaner keyboard and monitor, an Ethernet connection, and then turned the unit on - nothing.
Slapping my head I turned the power off again, moved the selector switch from 220V to 110V, and everything came to life. Two weeks of hackathoning ensued before the workstation was put - now padded by dirty instead of clean laundry, but just as safe - back in my suitcase and I flew back to Europe.
You know, I'm not even gonna bother with explaining what happened next, y'all are smart enough. Let's just say that DEC replaced the power supply under the repair warranty even after I explained why it sorta exploded :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
