• 0

C++ Program physically destroys computer


Question

I've been searching the internet for a while trying to find out how this is possible. My friend was programming in C++ and somehow messed with pointers or something like that.

Some of the stuff that happened after she ran her program (it was a programming project)

All her keys were randomized, some spouted the ABCs, some spouted out the less often used characters

Her computer immediately started overheating. Her computer literally started smoking within 5 minutes i believe.

My question is, how is it possible for a program to physically destroy a computer. Aren't the controls for the cooling fan, etc. protected or just plain simply built right into the motherboard or BIOS?

Thanks

P.S. I never managed to get a copy of the program from my friend seeing as how they're computer got destroyed.

22 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

I suppose that software was not run under WinXP or any kind of protected environment... I've done same kind of software once in C++ in DOS environment.

What I did was basicly send random data to random ports (outp function).. Screen started flickering, then eventually blanked and computer shutted down.. When I started it BIOS was totaly ****ed up, password was gone, settings were all wrong and computer worked at 70% of it's previous speed. Lucky for me it was school computer... :p

Function which you ask about (fan speed etc.) I think are not protected in any matter by OS, but rather controlled by some registers in CPU.

  • 0

Look, your friend lies. It is impossible our days to destroy physically a computer with a C++ software (in the way you describe it). However, it was possible long ago (before 1992), when a virus spreaded and destroyed some bioses that weren't protected at this time.

Our days, it is absolutely impossible. The motherboard controls how much power is sent on every parts of the machine (the miracle of ATX). The mother board even controls when the power supply powers on or off. Even Windows can't bypass this protection.

There are some motherboards manufacturers that distributes overclocking softwares. These, often, can control how much voltage is given to the CPU or the Memory. The way they do this is by using assembly call to the

bios with a key to unprotect. The protection is different for every type of motherboard, and is closed source

most of the time. When it is released publicly, you must know, that the BIOS makes a validation everytime you

adjust the voltage, so you can't give more then 10 % to 20 % more power to a part (depending on the manufacturer), the bios will not accept it and the change will not occur if it is not in this range.

So, is a C++ program able to destroy one piece of hardware ? I would say it is possible if you play too much with the voltages. BUT, it is absolutely impossible to make it explode or even make it smoke. The BIOS protection prevents going over a certain temperature (it would power off the computer). If the computer started smoking, the problem comes from elsewhere. Maybe the motherboard was directly screwed on the case (you must always use little pins that prevent the motherboard from touching directly to the case).

  • 0
  Jayzee said:
I suppose that software was not run under WinXP or any kind of protected environment... I've done same kind of software once in C++ in DOS environment.

What I did was basicly send random data to random ports (outp function).. Screen started flickering, then eventually blanked and computer shutted down.. When I started it BIOS was totaly ****ed up, password was gone, settings were all wrong and computer worked at 70% of it's previous speed. Lucky for me it was school computer...  :p

Function which you ask about (fan speed etc.) I think are not protected in any matter by OS, but rather controlled by some registers in CPU.

585972690[/snapback]

yes, i think that too

in the past, i saw some program do this

but it can't do anything on Windows XP and other

  • 0

Found these simple for-printf code that can give you a nice blue screen of dread a few years back. Used to work in Win95, and surprisingly enough - XP. Works for most (if not all) 32-bit compilers in windows (tried on borland, ms, and gcc)

Yeah, i bsod-ed my own comp a few times... just for the sake of curiosity. :unsure: I've yet to see code that could affect hardware functions directly lately (At least not since my assembly days in DOS). But i remember a friend had a toshiba laptop a couple years ago that had this software to change the bios password, and some other bios stuff...

#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
  for (;;) {
  printf(" \t\b\b\b\b\b\b");
  }
  return 0;
}

PS: Seems harmless enough? Go ahead. You've been warned. :devil:

  • 0

SpeedFan is an example of a software where you can directly manipulate fan speeds, or turn them off if you wish, and it runs just fine under Windows XP. So if you support the motherboards you can clearly turn off all/most fans in the computer automatically without the user having to know anything. However, as others have said, your BIOS should kick in later, or even the CPU shutting down itself if it gets bad enough and you haven't configured CPU throttling/warnings in the BIOS (this isn't something that's always done).

  ThunderRiver said:
I didn't think it was possible because it is quite a high level language anyway. Who could have thought a high level language could do so much damages?

C++ isn't that high level, and you can even program assembler in it with asm {} clauses. But even without doing that, C++ is fully usable to write e.g. device drivers with and in these cases bad pointers or other things can really mess things up. :)

Edited by Jugalator
  • 0
  tx83 said:
Look, your friend lies. It is impossible our days to destroy physically a computer with a C++ software (in the way you describe it). However, it was possible long ago (before 1992), when a virus spreaded and destroyed some bioses that weren't protected at this time.

Our days, it is absolutely impossible. The motherboard controls how much power is sent on every parts of the machine (the miracle of ATX). The mother board even controls when the power supply powers on or off. Even Windows can't bypass this protection.

There are some motherboards manufacturers that distributes overclocking softwares. These, often, can control how much voltage is given to the CPU or the Memory. The way they do this is by using assembly call to the

bios with a key to unprotect. The protection is different for every type of motherboard, and is closed source

most of the time. When it is released publicly, you must know, that the BIOS makes a validation everytime you

adjust the voltage, so you can't give more then 10 % to 20 % more power to a part (depending on the manufacturer), the bios will not accept it and the change will not occur if it is not in this range.

So, is a C++ program able to destroy one piece of hardware ? I would say it is possible if you play too much with the voltages. BUT, it is absolutely impossible to make it explode or even make it smoke. The BIOS protection prevents going over a certain temperature (it would power off the computer). If the computer started smoking, the problem comes from elsewhere. Maybe the motherboard was directly screwed on the case (you must always use little pins that prevent the motherboard from touching directly to the case).

585972735[/snapback]

my friend wasn't lying. I saw the computer after it was destroyed. Plus they have no reason whatsoever to lie. Lie for an interesting story, no, she had more than enough interesting stories. She ran the program on Windows XP, by the way. The maker of the computer was Sony, it was a laptop.

Like I said before, this is what really baffles me. How does a computer overheat from a program? (And don't try to work off the lieing angle) My friend still has the destroyed computer. One of these days, I'm going to get that hard drive and get the contents off it. In the mean time, I'm hoping some of you could provide a definitive answer.

Perhaps there is a problem with the BIOS on that particular motherboard that Sony failed to detect and she accidentally stumbled across it.

  • 0

Now that I think about it, BIOSs can be updated to a certain extent, right? I'm not sure how far you're allowed to edit the BIOS before you need to send it to a manufacturer to update. Maybe her program edited the BIOS but still stayed in the bounds.

Just a theory.

Just to answer any extra questions. The computer merely smoked, it didn't explode. She never tampered with the hardware of the computer. I mean it's a laptop, you can't really do all that much if you open it up.

  • 0

If the computer was destroyed from heat, it probably had a heat problem to begin with. The program or wahtever it was just caused high CPU usage, which in turn caused more heat, and if the heatsink was unable to cope with the heat the computer either shut off or died.

  • 0

Some motherboards allow you to overclock from within windows. It could've been one of two things. Either the program she was making caused her laptop to just overheat at stock temps, or the program could've somehow actually overclocked the CPU to the point of no return. I'm not sure what intel boards can do this, I am familiar with nvidia-based chipsets having such features.

  • 0
  nomis_nehc said:
heh, i think your friend is bs'ing too. from what i know of c++, it doesn't seem possible today.

585974791[/snapback]

may seem impossible but think about computers. The stupidest retard (no offense to them) is still smarter than the world's smartest computer, even that Honda robot. Do you know why? Because a computer lacks any common sense and doesn't assume what you want. It's quite possible that in programming the BIOS, the programmers overlooked a special case scenario which normally doesn't happen.

Before we start saying that all these programmers have master's in yada yada, they're still human and by nature, they will naturally assume the computer knows what they want and will do that.

When I go off to college, my friend will be relatively close so I'll see if I can grab the laptop's hard drive supposing it wasn't damaged too badly. But rest assured, my friend is no BSing and neither am I.

  • 0
  bubbleboys said:
may seem impossible but think about computers.  The stupidest retard (no offense to them) is still smarter than the world's smartest computer, even that Honda robot.  Do you know why?  Because a computer lacks any common sense and doesn't assume what you want.  It's quite possible that in programming the BIOS, the programmers overlooked a special case scenario which normally doesn't happen.

Before we start saying that all these programmers have master's in yada yada, they're still human and by nature, they will naturally assume the computer knows what they want and will do that.

When I go off to college, my friend will be relatively close so I'll see if I can grab the laptop's hard drive supposing it wasn't damaged too badly.  But rest assured, my friend is no BSing and neither am I.

585975135[/snapback]

You have a somewhat simplistic view of modern day computers. In the past there have been design flaws (or simply insufficient safeguards) that allowed physical damage (prime example.... setting the refresh rate of a monitor too high) but those days are long past unless you're talking about some very old or some very esoteric computer equipment.

In this case, either your friend is BS'ing YOU, YOU are BS'ing US or, as Weenur pointed out, it's coincidence.

  • 0

Well it's entirely possible to access registers on your chipset (and just about any other device). For example, on VIA KT266A and KT333 systems you can enable two flip-flops that enable the "halt" instruction for the CPU. This is disabled by the bios on boot probably because this feature wasn't bug-free. Depending on the quality of the hardware it could be possible to make things burn and fry. For example, if two pins are connected and they both try to drive a signal (let's say pin a is a 1 and pin b is a 0) then we could have some problems.

It is highly unlikely though. Safeguards are built into standards and other safeguards are are put in place without even thinking any more. Engineers do get lazy though especially when managers are bitching about product releases.

  • 0
  Andareed said:
You can write a kernel driver to do anything windows does. So the question should be if the processor allows such action.

585974781[/snapback]

You can only write a kernel mode application by getting a special SDK from microsoft, which you have to sign a license agreement in writing, in Redmond. The DDK that you can get for free can only make device drivers, in which case still cannot damage the system even if malprogramed because Windows still has total control over the system.

In NT (NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Longhorn), you cannot do such, as the OS is in protected mode which means that you cannot access physical memory thru your apps, and there is not bug in this. You cannot access any of the stuff that the OS can (BIOS, chipset, raw hardware access), unless you have a kernel mode application. It is much more complicated than I can explain to someone who thinks C++ on WinXP can destroy a computer, so I will leave it at that.

  • 0
  b0b said:
You can only write a kernel mode application by getting a special SDK from microsoft, which you have to sign a license agreement in writing, in Redmond. The DDK that you can get for free can only make device drivers, in which case still cannot damage the system even if malprogramed because Windows still has total control over the system.

In NT (NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Longhorn), you cannot do such, as the OS is in protected mode which means that you cannot access physical memory thru your apps, and there is not bug in this. You cannot access any of the stuff that the OS can (BIOS, chipset, raw hardware access), unless you have a kernel mode application. It is much more complicated than I can explain to someone who thinks C++ on WinXP can destroy a computer, so I will leave it at that.

585981996[/snapback]

But AFAIK, windows device drivers (made using the DDK) run in ring 0, just like the kernel and so you can do many stupid things like change the PDBR or IDT entries.

  • 0
  bubbleboys said:
may seem impossible but think about computers.  The stupidest retard (no offense to them) is still smarter than the world's smartest computer, even that Honda robot.  Do you know why?  Because a computer lacks any common sense and doesn't assume what you want.

retards have common sense?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Chrome. Because it just works Chrome. Because it just works  
    • I'm curious as to how Apple will marketing it's (lacking) AI-thingy compared to other players in the market. I'm not pro-AI on OS'es, but having practically nothing looks kinda 'sad' to me also.
    • Anthropic cuts off Windsurf's Claude 3.x access: What it means for users by Paul Hill The popular AI-native coding tool, Windsurf, has announced that Anthropic has cut off first-party capacity to its Claude 3 series of models, including Claude 3.5 Sonnet, 3.7 Sonnet, and 3.7 Sonnet Thinking. Until Windsurf can find some capacity to support the demand for these models, it has had to make some short-term changes. One action Windsurf is taking to ease capacity issues is offering a promo rate for Gemini 2.5 Pro of 0.75x credits instead of the usual 1x. Gemini 2.5 Pro is a strong alternative to Claude models for coding, so it could help ease the capacity burden. Additionally, Windsurf has totally removed direct access to the affected Claude models for Free tier users and those trialing the Pro plan. However, you can add your own Claude API key to continue using the model in Windsurf. Claude Sonnet 4 is also available via your own key. Who it affects, and how As a result of the change, users who rely on the Claude 3 series models within Windsurf may experience slower response times or temporary unavailability. As an alternative, users could use the free SWE-1 models or the heavily discounted promo of GPT-4.1. There are other models available for paying customers, too. Users on the Free plan or enjoying a trial of Pro are the most affected by this change is it completely removes first-party capacity, forcing them to create a key and add it manually in Windsurf. This is a big barrier to entry, but some people might be willing to do this as Claude is widely seen as one of the best AI models for coding. The move could be considered a fairly big blow to Windsurf, which was recently in acquisition talks with OpenAI. Given Claude’s reputation as a strong AI for coding, developers could be less likely to use Windsurf now that it doesn’t come with Claude's set and is ready to go on the Free plan. Why it's happening The change came with less than a week’s notice for Windsurf to adapt to the change. While the press release doesn’t disclose the reasons for Anthropic's decision, there is a strong likelihood that it has something to do with OpenAI’s potential acquisition of the IDE. Anthropic and OpenAI were the original leaders competing in the AI race, and Anthropic won’t want to give OpenAI any help if it can help it. The chagrined Windsurf said that it was concerned about Anthropic’s decision and said the move would harm the entire industry, not just Windsurf. It’s unclear what it means by this, as it didn’t elucidate on this thought. Reactions As mentioned earlier, if you have been using Claude models and now feel abandoned by Anthropic and Windsurf, following the latter’s recommendation to use Gemini Pro 2.5 could be a sensible idea. While first-party capacity has been removed, Windsurf is still actively working with other inference providers to restore capacity and full access to the models. Windsurf, while disappointed with Anthropic's move, said the magic of its IDE doesn’t come from the models themselves. Instead, it’s all about the software’s deep contextual understanding, intentional user experience, and unique features like Previews, Deploys, and Reviews. Despite this setback, it will keep trying to deliver “magic.” Given everything, users will now need to decide whether Gemini 2.5 Pro meets their needs or if they need to hunt for a Claude 3 series API key to restore Claude functionality in Windsurf. If you use Windsurf, do not overlook its own model, SWE-1, as it’s also very capable and free to use. This decision by Anthropic highlights the main issue with relying on third parties to provide AI tools that we increasingly rely upon. For businesses like Windsurf, it means they will diversify the models they offer or, as Windsurf has already done, create their own LLMs that they control. For end users, being able to download a language model and run it offline is increasingly becoming easier and ensures users don’t lose access to their favorite models. Windsurf is not the only AI IDE on the scene, and this move could cause problems for it if other players continue to offer Claude models, at least in the short term, while it searches for more capacity. It will also reduce trust between model creators like Anthropic and the companies that rely on the models.
    • Tesla instructor reportedly said staff leave with a 'negative taste in their mouth' by Hamid Ganji Tesla has been making the headlines over the past few months due to Elon Musk's controversy in the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE. People have been marching to the streets, boycotting Tesla, and even setting their already-bought Tesla cars on fire. Tesla temporarily shut down its factory in Austin for the week of Memorial Day, and employees could either take paid time off or attend a series of training sessions. Business Insider now claims to have obtained a recording of the sessions that reveals some interesting details about the Tesla culture and how its employees feel about the company. The Tesla instructor reportedly asked employees to respond if they ever felt "I can't work under these conditions" and were uneasy about the company's constant change. "I know I have," the instructor said. "A lot of people leave this company, and they have kind of a negative taste in their mouth," the Tesla instructor added. "They think: 'Man, it was terrible. It was bad. I got burnt out. I feel like I didn't get anything done, nobody listened to me.'" Hundreds of Tesla employees allegedly attended the meetings, where they were asked to take more responsibility for improving the company's culture. "Leadership has kind of another level of responsibility for trying to guide and direct that culture," the instructor told Tesla staff. "But at the end of the day, it's us as the people on the ground that are the reflection of the culture." Tesla's factory in Austin produces Cybertruck and Model Y. The staff said shutting down the factory for the sake of Memorial Day has been unusual for the company. Elon Musk recently announced that he would leave his position at the White House and added that he'll remain Tesla CEO for another five years. In the meantime, the latest data shows Tesla sales in Europe have dropped 49 percent, and the company's profit in Q1 2025 declined by 71 percent.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      jbatch earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Week One Done
      Leonard grant earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      portacnb1 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      portacnb1 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      m10d earned a badge
      First Post
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      271
    2. 2
      snowy owl
      158
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      146
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      141
    5. 5
      Xenon
      131
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!