strange.. but true! :(

[harjafsormok]

Hi all,

Lately I experienced a really wierd computer problem.. and I came to these forums to verify probability of happenings and a solution.

Recently and randomly (i.e. have no idea when or what triggered this) my computer has been abnormally crashing after 2-10mins of 3D gameplay. This happened last night for the first time ever, for even with my previous pre-installed Vista OS, these games were more than sufficiently playable..

The first time round after 15 mins or so in a game of "Company of Heroes" .. the whole system freezes, subsequently forcing me to press the restart button in order to reboot my computer. After 3 attempts to restarting the computer, my system failed to boot and my monitor failed to display any sort of information what so ever.. simultaneously sort-of 'warning' sounds were being transmitted from the computer..

The next morning I managed to switch on the computer.. and had no problems what so ever (as regards to 2D OS management), until the computer crashed on me again (without blue screens as before) and I was forced to restart the system (This time not during gameplay). As I restarted, my peripherals (namely keyboard and mouse) failed to respond after boot and I felt there was only one thing I had left to do.. take the system to a technician.

Prior to taking it to be fixed I checked the tower interior for accumulated dust - as I initially suspected the problem to be graphic oriented - ..barely anything there to clean. I checked if temperatures were too high during the game, according to a temp application I downloaded it read 49(degrees celsius)

After 3 days of (seemingly) analysing, the techs have just informed me that 3 out of 4 of my motherboard's host memory sockets are ruined ([FONT=&quot]possibly due to some over surge or sudden cut in electricity[/FONT][FONT=&quot]..[/FONT]) My soundcard is also seems to be faulty due to the same reason. My computer is currently without an OS (due to reformat) and Soundcard, and has only 1GB of RAM attached to it as the other slots are damaged (+ that is the only way it will work without crashing on me again.)

I was wondering if such subsequent system happenings are possibly due to the component failures mentioned above, and whether the current motherboard issue can be solved by means of this motherboard replacement.

I am inclined to buying this (AM2+ compatible & 4 memory slot) motherboard, as I was intending to keep using my still functioning - according to the tech staff - "AMD Phenom Quad Core 9550 Processor", "1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT graphics card", "Corsair 6GB DDR2 Memory".

I imagine the above (replacement) motherboard is compatible to all other memory, gfx and cpu components mentioned above..

But still, I would really appreciate your assistance on checking for me if all (replacement) motherboard specs are compatible with my current system and if I can do anything to prevent this issue from reoccurring again with my new motherboard (not as yet put) in place.


As regards to the Soundcard, I have decided to buy another identical relatively cheap “Creative Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card” in order to replace my current faulty existing one.


My current system specs are as follows:
AMD Phenom Quad Core 9550 Processor
Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H (rev. 1.0) ATX DDR2/SATA2/PCI-E motherboard [FONT=&quot](faulty)[/FONT]
(6xUSB2.0, 10/100 LAN, x16 PCI-Express, TV-Out)
MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL OEM
1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT graphics card
Corsair 6GB DDR2 Memory
750GB Serial ATA 7200rpm hard drive
Pioneer BDC-202BK Blu-Ray Reader/DVD Writer
Creative Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card [FONT=&quot](faulty)[/FONT]
Coolermaster Case/High End 750W PSU
6 in 1memory card reader
Logitech EX100 Cordless Mouse
Logitech 967653-0120 Ultra Flat Wired PS2/USB Keyboard
Creative 5.1 Surround Speakers
AG Neovo 22" TFT Monitor

I excuse myself for such a long post..

Thanks for your extreme patience in advanced

 

[raj11650]

Try this

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards


GA-MA790 series will be good

 

[stevieray]

Get yourself a good quality surge protector... maybe one with a battery backup in it.

 

[harjafsormok]

mm.. seems like a good motherboard. (addressed to raj1402)Nevertheless.. I already ordered the motherboard specified above at:Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 Motherboard Phenom FX Socket AM2+: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

Is this board good enough though? (That's my question)

I already had a surge protector :S .. will a UPS help? I just bought an 800VA Centralion Blazer Line Interactive UPS. (addressed to stevieray)

Thanks again, for your immediate and specific feedback

 

[PC WhizzKid]

I think a UPS will help.

 

[harjafsormok]

ok, thanks PC WhizzKid but is the Gigabyte motherboard I bought from Amazon good to connect my above system components?

Thanks

 

[stevieray]

I already had a surge protector :S .. will I UPS help? I just bought an 800VA Centralion Blazer Line Interactive UPS. Thanks again, for your immediate and specific feedback

Yes, one of those should do the trick. But I still wonder... why was so much damage done to your motherboard? If the electrical surge didn't come through the electrical grid, it must've come from somewhere else... and the only other place I can think of would be your power supply. Perhaps its dumping excess voltage into your 5v and 12v rails?

 

[harjafsormok]

ok, thanks stevieray.. just to make sure about the board.

As regards to the Power Supply.. :shock: .. how can i check please? I doubt to be honest.. because the techs tried all other components.. power supply, HDD, gfx, CPU, RAM all's good (aaccording to them)

Thanks again for your replies

 

[ickymay]

ok, thanks stevieray.. just to make sure about the board.

As regards to the Power Supply.. :shock: .. how can i check please? I doubt to be honest.. because the techs tried all other components.. power supply, HDD, gfx, CPU, RAM all's good (aaccording to them)

Thanks again for your replies

I would ask these "technicians" why this happened and how can it be avoided another time ?

 

[stevieray]

I would ask these "technicians" why this happened and how can it be avoided another time ?

Yup.

 

[stevieray]

Let me clarify what I am saying...

I think you're on the right track with your motherboard replacement... as far as I can tell it will work with your CPU and memory. So that is all good....

BUT... I would be very wary of simply plugging in a new motherboard until I knew exactly why the old one got fried. A little bit of static electricity can ruin a CPU chip, a RAM card, or a board chip... but a bit of accidental static electricity would NOT destroy memory slots. Something really bad zapped your system, and could zap your new MB as well.

Go ahead and get the new MB, just don't use it until you can guarantee the same thing won't happen all over again.

 

[seekermeister]

stevieray,

Go ahead and get the new MB, just don't use it until you can guarantee the same thing won't happen all over again.

While I understand your drift, there are no guarantees either in the cyber or real world that are iron clad.

I see only two possible root causes for the problem, the first the tech has ruled out...the PS. The second is surge protection, which apparently didn't work sufficiently on his equipment. The best solution for surge protection is a good UPS, but I'm not going to say that is an iron clad solution either.

 

[harjafsormok]

thanks for your furher respectful observations.. I will ask them to check my Power Supply before plugging my motherboard in. (addressed to seekermeister and [URL="http://www.sevenforums.com/member.php?u=7807"]stevieray)
Could it be though..(hypothetically speaking) that the surge protection didn't work and that a sudden electrical cut in the power fried my RAM slots and soundcard? lol wtf are the odds of that![/URL]

Thanks in advance

 

[seekermeister]

Surge protectors are of varying quality and also have different ratings in terms of the amount of surge that they can handle. I'm not certain what to expect from a surge protector that has failed...if it would still permit current to flow or not, but then it is not just surges that can cause damage, voltage drops can also. However, I doubt that a voltage drop could have fried your RAM slots.

 

[harjafsormok]

ok then.. negating the surge protection factor.. is it hypothetically plausable for a sudden electrical cut in the power to fry my RAM slots and soundcard?

:huh:

 

[seekermeister]

I don't think so, but I'm no electrical expert. I think that it would depend exactly on the nature of the damage. The fact that the slots don't work doesn't necessarily mean that they were fried. I could mean that some kind of device on the motherboard that controls the slots was damaged.

 

[ickymay]

ok then.. negating the surge protection factor.. is it hypothetically plausable for a sudden electrical cut in the power to fry my RAM slots and soundcard?

:huh:

I would say a cut in power no , but a surge in power could

if ... the PSU went dead short on the transformer with no cutout protection, which would suggest badly designed PSU ?

 

[stevieray]

While I understand your drift, there are no guarantees either in the cyber or real world that are iron clad.

True enough... there are no ironclad guarantees.

 

[stevieray]

I don't think so, but I'm no electrical expert. I think that it would depend exactly on the nature of the damage. The fact that the slots don't work doesn't necessarily mean that they were fried. I could mean that some kind of device on the motherboard that controls the slots was damaged.

My PC building is limited (only one so far), and it was an Intel, not an AMD... but my understanding of AMD design is it has no external (i.e. MB based) northbridge... its all on the CPU. If this was an Intel design, then the FSB chip could be damaged, and that would affect the RAM... but I think AMD isn't structured that way.

Perhaps the OP should go to a hardware forum, like Tom's, and ask the experts there. They do nothing but build PCs and blow them up thru OCing... they'd know exactly what's going on.

 

[seekermeister]

I'm not positive that I understand what you mean by "external" northbridge, but I can assure you that AMD motherboards do have both northbridge and southbridge chips on them. Exactly what they do, or how they relate to the CPU, I will leave to others with a better understanding.