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?

>>4
it was accidental, the driver wasn't supposed to turn off the fan

and it was an official driver from nVidia, not a competitor