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Multiple dead motherboards

UberPsyX
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Hi guys, I've been a bit of a lurker for a while now on both the channel and the forums but finally found motivation to sign up; unfortunately not the positive kind.

 

I'm currently in the process of building my girlfriend a new PC but I've now fried my second new motherboard and I still can't work out how. The first board I (foolishly) installed into the case first, got everything set up only for the board to power up but not post. I've tested swapping out the PSU, CPU, RAM, etc. to no avail, so I deemed the board dead and I'm RMAing the board. However on ordering a board from elsewhere (was hoping to speed up the process, it's a fairly urgent build) I breadboarded the new Asus board and it successfully booted to bios, huzzah! I proceeded to install the setup in the case and on plugging in the power cable I heard a spark and now the board wont even power up the fans (in or out of the case) let alone post. I can't see any burn marks on the board and there was no smoke or smell. I had this spark issue with the first board too and when it occurs the TV in the room also powers off for a second, however the 3 other PCs in the room are and have been running fine. Could this be down to the case shorting somewhere and frying the board or is this more likely a house electrics issue? I've successfully built multiple PCs before but this has somewhat shattered my confidence in doing so. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'd really like to not kill the next replacement arriving in a few days...

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Wait... Did you plug in the cables with the PC/power supply on?

n0ah1897, on 05 Mar 2014 - 2:08 PM, said:  "Computers are like girls. It's whats in the inside that matters.  I don't know about you, but I like my girls like I like my cases. Just as beautiful on the inside as the outside."

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If by cables you're referring to the motherboard power cables no, everything was unplugged while I was building, but I did plug in the power with the powersupply turned on. The case is a Bitfenix Prodigy M with the power supply on the bottom and the extension cable, I didn't realise the switch on the power supply was on when I plugged the cable in the back however I've done this with PCs numerous times before with no issue (some of the PSUs I've dealt with didn't even have a power switch on them to turn off!).

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when it occurs the TV in the room also powers off for a second

Not sure where you're from, but where I live, no such thing should be possible.

 

 

If by cables you're referring to the motherboard power cables no, everything was unplugged while I was building, but I did plug in the power with the powersupply turned on. The case is a Bitfenix Prodigy M with the power supply on the bottom and the extension cable, I didn't realise the switch on the power supply was on when I plugged the cable in the back however I've done this with PCs numerous times before with no issue (some of the PSUs I've dealt with didn't even have a power switch on them to turn off!).

Even though you've had success before, I'd still strongly suggest you to keep your PSU unplugged from the wall when building a PC.

 

 

Now if I understood you correctly, the spark happens once you plug in the finished PC into the wall, am I right? In that case something is very wrong with your PSU or your mains wiring. I also think this because of my first quote.

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Thanks, unfortunately I'm thinking it could be the house wiring so it might be time to contact the landlord. I don't actually have the PSU plugged in while building, it was just the power supply switch being on when plugging the cable into the back after the build. Is it possible that the case shorting with the motherboard could be causing some form of horrible motherboard death? As far as I've heard in the past this would just cause the board to shut down, not completely die? I'll be heading to the family for Christmas soon so I'm tempted to build it there just to remove this house from the equation completely.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Another update here, this issue is starting to really kill my faith in building PCs, we ordered yet another replacement board, everything has gone fine, pc posts and what not outside the case. We moved it into the case, it still runs and posts, we install the graphics card (forgot to test this out of the case but figured it would be fine) and now we have the same issue, board refuses to power on with or without the card. The card is fine, it has been tested before and after in my PC so at this stage we're assuming it might have something to do with the PSU as it all works fine until we install the GPU and then the board is seemingly dead forever. Can anyone shed some light on the issue or at least have an idea on how to recover the motherboard? It seems incredibly strange that it runs fine until the working card is installed and then refuses to work thereafter. Getting pretty desperate for a solution here, we can't just keep killing boards with no solution or fault in sight and I feel I'm out of knowledge and options to fix this :(

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I'm not sure it is the case given it was posting fine until I installed the graphics card, unless it's the graphics card causing the short? The infuriating thing is that we can't get back to step one to try again without ordering yet another board, which I don't want to do only to fry it again :/

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Powercolor 290x

dude that thing is heavy as f*** hahahaha

It is possible that it could have broken the pcie slot if it wasn´t proper mounted or it does not make 100% contact if it hangs like a fruit downwards

 

Can you try to lift the graphicscard on the end of the cooler (touch the plastic shroud) and hold it straight and try to boot again?

EDIT: I hope you used a screw to mount the graphicscard on the case *ehem*

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Well managed to get it back from the repair shop finally, they told me all my components are fine and the motherboard is dead so no new information and charged £42 for the privilege! So time to RMA yet another board, at this stage it can only really be the case but no idea where or if its shorting. Might be time to ditch the prodigy...

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