Author Topic: Has anyone run into this  (Read 373 times)

Offline TilDeath

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Has anyone run into this
« on: May 29, 2009, 03:47:11 PM »
System runs fine... go away for a week turn system on and monitor dies (literally) replace monitor start system and hard disk fails, replace hard disk.  System runs fine doing everything except AH, I think that the processor and or video cards (latest drivers yes it is SLI but have another system identical no issues) are having issues due to the following.  I am thinking the home wiring was hit by some sort of spike be it from the Power Utility or a lightning strike close to the home.  The customer had the system on a power strip rather then a surge protector.

I have to admit this has me stumped... looking for some ideas or a direction.

Thanks in advance

TD

Offline Fulmar

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2009, 04:30:36 PM »
I haven't had your symptoms exactly, but something similar.  My mom's computer seemed to stop working after a power outage one day.  My brother went over and took a look at it and said he couldn't get it to post/get into Windows, fans would spin up but that was it.  I took a look at it a week later and brought a number of tools.  I figure maybe the PSU went belly up since it was plugged into just a power strip.  Brought an extra CPU, RAM, and PSU tester.  First thing I did was check the PSU and registered okay on my tester.  I flipped the I/O switch on the back of it, hooked the 20 pin connector back up and it fired right up.  I couldn't figure out why it did it.  It was a cheapo PSU and the motherboard was 5-6+ years old and its worked fine ever since.
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Offline Getback

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2009, 04:34:08 PM »
Let me give my amateurish dribble. Like the above poster, I think it was a power surge or there was a short somewhere. Had a similar incident. Turned out to be a short caused by yours truly. One of the fans was not properly grounded. My son figured it out. You would actually get shocked when you touched the metal case.

Addendum: I keep thinking on this. Some electrician hop in here. Along with the thought of a power surge could there have been a static build of some sort. I guess this goes with what TD was saying. Maybe his home wiring is a bit outdated. So if the static had built for a while in the home wiring and then one of the first things he turns on is his computer then wham; It takes the hit.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 04:40:35 PM by Getback »

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Offline llama

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #3 on: May 29, 2009, 05:20:29 PM »
System runs fine... go away for a week turn system on and monitor dies (literally) replace monitor start system and hard disk fails, replace hard disk.  System runs fine doing everything except AH, I think that the processor and or video cards (latest drivers yes it is SLI but have another system identical no issues) are having issues due to the following.  I am thinking the home wiring was hit by some sort of spike be it from the Power Utility or a lightning strike close to the home.  The customer had the system on a power strip rather then a surge protector.

I have to admit this has me stumped... looking for some ideas or a direction.

Thanks in advance

TD


I call this the "Indian Burial Ground" syndrome. As in the house was built on an Indian Burial Ground and the spirits are causing all sorts of weird failures with the components.

9 times out of 10 a Uninterruptable Power Supply takes care of the problem - even a cheapo $65 unit from APC (my preferred brand.)  If you hang out in one of these sites long enough, you start to notice the overhead lights flickering whenever the air conditioner turns on, but the homeowner never even notices. Or the stereo plays a burst of static every 5 minutes, but no one knows why. Sometimes it starts when a neighbor starts a major remodelling, complete with contractors, or the city is doing electrical work down the street.

In my experience, hard drives and optical drives are the first to go, followed by the CPU and RAM.

As for the continued failures, this guy could still be getting noisy or spikey power that is still causing failures, OR the power supply got whacked and is sending weird voltages, OR the components are now flakey due to the original spike. I say get the UPS and see (cross your fingers) if the problems go away. There's a good chance they will.

-Llama

 

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Offline Vulcan

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 06:21:31 PM »

I call this the "Indian Burial Ground" syndrome. As in the house was built on an Indian Burial Ground and the spirits are causing all sorts of weird failures with the components.

I had a guy with an amiga 500 suffering this once :)  . Put a game disk in and the game would play fine... once. Then the disk would be stuffed, not playing on any amiga including the cursed one.

So we got it serviced... in order parts replaced were...
floppy drive
power supply
mainboard
keyboard

The only thing never replaced was the plastic case... and it STILL ATE DISKS!



Offline ketinkrad

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #5 on: May 30, 2009, 02:55:17 PM »
A.P.C.-U.P.S.

Offline Chalenge

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2009, 04:17:42 PM »
All power companies are guilty of allowing power to get to your house with harmonic content and some power companies provide power with 'non-negligible harmonic content.' It is not a requirement that power companies guarantee the quality of power but it is a law (government regulation) that all equipment must be designed to receive interference and then it is up to the consumer to filter out interference. Most of the time harmonic content is not a problem except you may experience a high rate of replacement in light bulbs and in the case of power critical components like computers you may get component failure regularly (mostly hard drives). Most power companies offer an 'upgrade' of service where they come out and install line conditioners but even after you do that you want to make sure to use a surge protector and UPS.

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Offline alskahawk

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Re: Has anyone run into this
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2009, 08:26:21 PM »
 Sounds power related. UPS/surge protector. Replace powersupply too. Probably every component in the computer is damaged to a certain degree. Irratic power can do strange things. When I have that many different things happening I figure it is either elec/ground or heat related.