Ask a silly question ...

As you may or may not remember, my job involves me speaking to IT manufacturer's technical support desks. Some of the people I speak to are experienced, well informed and competent. Unfortunately, there are also those who merely read from the script provided by their call logging system. A perfect example (techie-english translations provided):

My user reported that their new PC was not recognising that there was a hard drive installed. When you switch a PC on it does a bit of a check - it's like waking up and thinking "Arms and legs? yes. Senses? yes. Memories? yes. Good".
A PC checks to see what is inside itself and attached to itself. This particular PC didn't think that it had a hard drive but in fact there was a hard drive installed. Therefore, my user and I came to the conclusion that the hard drive was broken! Cutting edge stuff this :o)

So, I rang the manufacturer and explained that the hard drive was not recognised so it would need to be replaced. Here's where it gets fun:

Tech: I need you to do a self test on the drive please to verify that it is faulty.
Rhea: I've already told you that the hard drive isn't recognised by the PC.
T: Yes, I know but to log this call I need you to do a self test.
R: [sigh] ok, would you explain to me how I do the self test.
T: You need to turn the PC on and go into the BIOS, choose self test and then select the hard drive.
R: So, now could you explain to me how I should carry out a hard drive self test if the hard drive is not recognised by the PC?!

Unfortunately, this poor soul was not getting it so I had to finish the call and re-dial, hoping that I would get through to someone who had an ounce of common sense.

It's quite worrying at times as these are the people that are supposed to support end users. I knew that what he was asking was impossible but I wonder how many non-technical users he'd driven to distraction by asking this silly question.