Software to cause hardware damage?
I was reading up on this on another site and decided to ask you guys. Is it possible to, in some programming language write some software to inflict permanent hard drive damage on a computer? Directly and possibly indirectly (overclocking the machine and using up all it's resources to burn out the processor) etc.
slpctrl wrote: And I'm talking about permanant you gotta replace some shit fucked up not just a format or something lol. I think I had a friend write something he called 'hard drive fucker' or something similar that did that to the HD completely corrupting it. I just really need to know if it's possible.
If you know what you're doing, bricking is possible.
spyware wrote: [quote]slpctrl wrote: And I'm talking about permanant you gotta replace some shit fucked up not just a format or something lol. I think I had a friend write something he called 'hard drive fucker' or something similar that did that to the HD completely corrupting it. I just really need to know if it's possible.
If you know what you're doing, bricking is possible.[/quote]
Ah right. Wouldn't that be as easy as, say flashing a nice mp3 to the bios? Or just some completely unreadable data right?
I have an idea. I don't know if it can be fixed or not so if it can, sorry for wasting your time.
In C++ you can do something called dynamic memory allocation(you probably already know this anyway) but my idea is that you could make a loop that keeps using up new memory x amount of times and then exit the program without any deallocation thus stopping the computer for ever using that memory that was being saved by the program.
I'm still new into this whole area so I don't know if what I said was even close to right or if it could be fixed.
ShapeShifters wrote: I have an idea. I don't know if it can be fixed or not so if it can, sorry for wasting your time.
In C++ you can do something called dynamic memory allocation(you probably already know this anyway) but my idea is that you could make a loop that keeps using up new memory x amount of times and then exit the program without any deallocation thus stopping the computer for ever using that memory that was being saved by the program.
I'm still new into this whole area so I don't know if what I said was even close to right or if it could be fixed.
A simple reboot would fix that.
slpctrl wrote: overclocking the machine and using up all it's resources to burn out the processor
All processors nowadays are protected against this, since they simply shut down if they get too hot. However it was possible many years ago ^^
I know that if data is being written to the HDD when the computer is shut down, the HDD might take damage. However I don't know whether this can be done through an application since the computer waits until the buffer has been emptied before shutting down. It can be done by saving a big file and pulling out the power cable though :happy:
Uber0n wrote: [quote]slpctrl wrote: overclocking the machine and using up all it's resources to burn out the processor
All processors nowadays are protected against this, since they simply shut down if they get too hot. However it was possible many years ago ^^
I know that if data is being written to the HDD when the computer is shut down, the HDD might take damage. However I don't know whether this can be done through an application since the computer waits until the buffer has been emptied before shutting down. It can be done by saving a big file and pulling out the power cable though :happy:[/quote]
Yes but that can be turned off through the BIOS (temp shut off mechanism). I gotta figure out how to do so remotely (That's the real bitch lol).
You have to rewrite the BIOS software, there's firmware involved here. People CAN flash their BIOS, I dunno where it pulls the auto-config from though. It must be hardcoded in some chip or whatever.
What you want to do:
- Rewrite BIOS, turn off heat-protection (no shut-down)
- Turn off any fan you can
- Burn up system resources by running something very "heavy" (multi threading comes in play here)
I'm not sure about computer hardware, but I had posted about a recent script kiddie trying to hack into my computer. so i decided to teach him a lesson.
well, the lesson the skid learned was never leave the remote management option enabled on his router; and that upgrading with bad firmware will turn your router into a paperweight….