From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!hplabs!sri-unix!Hess.Unicorn@MIT-MULTICS
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Title: Compaq Software Bites Hardware
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1056
Posted: Thu Apr 21 15:32:00 1983
Received: Mon Apr 25 03:08:41 1983

Remember DOS 1.0?  And those programs you used to speed up the disk
drives by patching random locations in the disk table?  Well, DON'T
run the one which was in the second issue of PC magazine (BASIC
program created a .COM which patched locations) under the Compaq DOS
system.

A friend of mine did unwittingly, and the program actually blew up TWO
Compaq screens!  Imagine -- programmatically destroying a diode by
patching some memory locations...  The guy at Compaq who my friend
talked to confirmed the destruction and the ease of fixing machines
damaged by the program.