Can code damage hardware?

Can random code damage your hardware when run in Real Mode? If yes, give some examples how. What happens when the ACPI tables are overwritten? Is it possible to disable the CPU fan through code, and have the CPU overheat and break, or does the BIOS have moron-proof failsafes incase someone would do that?

>>33
Why not split the specialized tasks among two or more microcontrollers with a serial protocol like I²C to communicate between them, seems it would be a lot easier to debug... The chips can be tested as components and inter-chip debugging just involves listening to the serial stream, and processes sending each other messages is about ¹/₅ Erlang, everyone likes Erlang.

>>28
The Therac-25 basically was the earlier Therac without hardware interlocks, the same architecture and software was used and probably expanded. The first one, Therac 6 was actually just an X-ray machine with a computer tacked on for convenience, and some of the assembler source was ported over to the Therac 20. The homemade scheduler and multitasker for all we know might have been only intended for a responsive user interface since it might have been coded in 1970.