The Great Adapter Fiasco of February 2024

At MysteryByte Computers, every day brings its share of challenges, but February delivered one for the books. Imagine the scene: the shop buzzing with the hum of freshly built PCs, surrounded by towering components and the occasional blink of LEDs. This story is about one small adapter that nearly brought everything to a halt.

It started when a business client reported failures on a couple PNY 4090 graphics cards in the field. The culprit? CableMod’s 90-degree power adapters, used to squeeze those powerful RTX 4090 cards into a 4U rackmount chassis. Despite a recall, a couple of these adapters made their way into our shop, frying two of the GPUs we’d installed.

Sean and I reached out to PNY, but their response left us frustrated. They pinned the issue solely on the adapters and denied any warranty claims on the GPUs. Determined to find a solution, I called CableMod directly. After some carnival-style hold music that seemed all too cheerful, I reached a representative who understood our situation. CableMod promptly offered to cover all repair costs and even arranged expedited shipping to Northridge Fix in the USA for a speedy resolution.

Meanwhile, Nora, our shop cat, seemed keen to join the excitement. In her usual curious manner, she jumped onto a counter where a box of GPUs sat teetering. With one casual nudge, she sent it tumbling down, triggering a chain reaction across the counter. For a moment, everyone froze—but then laughter filled the room.

A few weeks later, our GPUs returned, repaired and ready for action. Sean, our resident tech guru, was thrilled. As he reinstalled each card, he firmly decided: no more angled adapters. To mark the occasion, we even hung a “Thank You, CableMod!” banner in the front window for a day. Nora sat proudly beneath it, watching over her domain with an air of satisfaction.

This experience was a reminder of the unexpected challenges we face—and how teamwork, persistence, and a tech-savvy cat named Nora kept us going.