3 dead PCs - getting tired of this now!

[ehasler]

OK, my 3rd PC in 3 weeks has just died on me, and I've got no idea why!

PC 1 - dual Xeon, Asus m/board and 5 x HDD drives. This was running for 6 months or so, but about 1 week before I was due to dismantle it to sell on ebay (it was too big and noisy for the flat), it powered itself off while I was using it. Hitting the powerswitch then only resulted in the fans spinning for about 1/2 second then nothing...

I replaced the motherboard and this got it working again.

PC 2 - all new parts (Shuttle barebones system, AMD CPU) except for one of the original WD Raptor HDDs from PC 1. This worked for a day - long enough to install XP on, but the next day refused to power up with the same symptoms as PC 1. This is in the process of being sent back for a refund.

PC 3 - I bought another of the same Shuttle barebones units and swapped all the bits into it. This fired up perfectly, and ran for a week, including 1 whole day of running Memtest to burn it in, and another whole day of being used with no problems. Then, at 1 week old, it died the same way as PC 1 and 2...

The only single component that has been in all 3 units is 1 of the original 5 hard drives, and all 3 PCs have been plugged into the same surge protector with the same power lead, although nothing else that has been plugged into it has suffered any problems.

Is it possible that I've got a dodgy surge protector, could the hard disk be causing this somehow, or do I just have a knack for frying electrical equipment?

Even more spooky is that the new digital camera that I've just bought died within 2 days too!

Any ideas?

[beano500]

No! ....it's just resting!

[Einion Yrth]

I dont suppose you wear a lot of nylon and wool do you?

[jeremyc]

ehasler said:

The only single component that has been in all 3 units is 1 of the original 5 hard drives, .....

I think you may have answered the question yourself.

Are you able to try the system without the potentially dodgy disk drive?

[ehasler]

jeremyc said:

ehasler said: The only single component that has been in all 3 units is 1 of the original 5 hard drives, ..... I think you may have answered the question yourself. Are you able to try the system without the potentially dodgy disk drive?

Removing the drive previously didn't fix the problem, so if it is the drive, it's managing to fry the motherboard somehow, which I've never heard of before.

I think I'll be replacing the drive when I build my 4th system...

[Plotloss]

Was the camera plugged into the surge protector as well?

Try plugging them direct into the mains via a normal gang plug (electrical surges are a very much overstated risk) as thats the only thing thats uniform across all the oddness.

Where did you get said surge protector?

[ehasler]

Plotloss said:

Was the camera plugged into the surge protector as well? Try plugging them direct into the mains via a normal gang plug (electrical surges are a very much overstated risk) as thats the only thing thats uniform across all the oddness. Where did you get said surge protector?

The camera wasn't plugged in at all - I think that was just me being unlucky

The surge protector is a Belkin one from PC World.

I have also tried plugging the boxes into the mains directly, but once the boxes die, they stay dead...

[Plotloss]

I didnt think you'd get ressurection on the existing machines but if you have anyway of testing that surge protector I'd be inclined to do so or just remove it from the equation.

[Neil_H]

Well I don't think a single dodgy hard drive could cause failures like you describe. I would say a dodgy power supply from the mains, or some extreme electromagnetic or static interference would be the main suspects. Also make sure you have a sufficiently rated PSU in the machines as a dual Xeons and 5 hard drives will draw an awful lot of power, I'd say you need at least 500 watts. Not having enough juice would give the symptoms you describe (fans turning briefly and then dieing).

[pentoman]

Strange.. I have had a similar problem with my (just one!) PC.

It turned off whilst in use. Powering it up just meant the fans would begin to spin for a quarter second or so, then die, and if you listened quietly you could hear a squeal.

It turned out to be the PSU (13 month old very expensive silenX 400W one). The odd thing was, it only did this with my new silenX CPU/case fans connected - unplug them and it was fine. I couldn't work out what was causing this oddness but it seems that whenever those fans were plugged in the system could not power up. Back to my old super cheapo 300W supply and everything is fine.

Are any of your fans the same as from the old machine? Perhaps fans can take out PSU's??

Russell

[Neil_H]

pentoman said:

Strange.. I have had a similar problem with my (just one!) PC. It turned off whilst in use. Powering it up just meant the fans would begin to spin for a quarter second or so, then die, and if you listened quietly you could hear a squeal. It turned out to be the PSU (13 month old very expensive silenX 400W one). The odd thing was, it only did this with my new silenX CPU/case fans connected - unplug them and it was fine. I couldn't work out what was causing this oddness but it seems that whenever those fans were plugged in the system could not power up. Back to my old super cheapo 300W supply and everything is fine. Are any of your fans the same as from the old machine? Perhaps fans can take out PSU's?? Russell

That will almost certainly be because the 400w PSU doesn't provide enough current at startup (which is when the PSU is under the most strain), but the 300w does, even though it's rated lower. Not all PSUs are equal, even expensive ones can provide crappy, unstable current to the +3.3v, +5v and +12v rails. You can check how they are coping with Speedfan

[ehasler]

pentoman said:

Are any of your fans the same as from the old machine? Perhaps fans can take out PSU's?? Russell

Nope - the only component that has been in all 3 machines is 1 hard drive. Everything else has been new.

I did try another PSU in my first PC, but it didn't make any difference - it was definitely the motherboard that had died. The 2nd and 3rd ones are barebones systems, and are supplied as a case/PSU/motherboard combination, so I don't know what part was faulty. My guess is the motherboard though as the system wouldn't even start with everything except the CPU disconnected, but it would work with the CPU unplugged (a new CPU didn't fix it, so that ruled out a CPU problem).

So it's either my power feed or a rouge hard drive that is good at frying motherboards - it looks from the comments here like it's probably down to a dodgy power source, so I'll replace my surge protector and kettle lead and hope that PC #4 survives a bit longer!

[Pigeon]

I have a motherboard which is dodgy as a result of not liking a certain disk drive. It's not totally dead, but it has "difficulties" with all IDE hard drives now. (So I'm using SCSI drives with it )

Having said that, dodgy power does seem more likely.

[hedders]

Neil_H said:

You can check how they are coping with Speedfan

I can't seem to find the download link, There is a link to an EXE file but it actually just laods anothe rpage with the same link as far as i can see...

[ozzie dave]

You havent said what the hard drive was , it wasn't an IBM by any chance , there was problems i believe with some IBM drives and intel bios (Assuming an intel Bios on the ASUS board. Other thing is were any other items plugged in to the same circuit as the PC(I had a customer blow up their server with their MIG Welder not realising a socket in their garage was on the same circuit!)

[Neil_H]

hedders said:

Neil_H said: You can check how they are coping with Speedfan I can't seem to find the download link, There is a link to an EXE file but it actually just laods anothe rpage with the same link as far as i can see...

The link is on this page:

www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

He's added something to it to prevent remote linking, try right click/ save as.

[ehasler]

ozzie dave said:

You havent said what the hard drive was , it wasn't an IBM by any chance , there was problems i believe with some IBM drives and intel bios (Assuming an intel Bios on the ASUS board. Other thing is were any other items plugged in to the same circuit as the PC(I had a customer blow up their server with their MIG Welder not realising a socket in their garage was on the same circuit!)

The drive is a Western Digital Raptor, although I've now replaced it with a Seagate unit just in case.

I didn't have my MIG welder plugged in at the same time either The only other things plugged into the same surge protector are the monitor, a few chargers for MP3 player/camera etc... and a lamp.

That said, I checked the surge protector last night, and the "protection" light had blown, which apparently indicates that the protector had been zapped... I've just bought a replacement so will see how PC #4 fares...

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

Ah Ed, I had a couple of weeks like this around June. 2 disc drives, a motherboard, some X10 stuff, microwave, various lights all dead in a short time. Like all the posts above we analysed everything. Mains, Heat, Cold, Dust, Cosmic rays.... and my conclusion was? Sh1t happens.

Classic techy trait. Look for a link when there isn't one. Bad luck mate...