Weird PC failure history

[larry1135]

Okay here goes...

I believe I built this system about 6 to 7 years ago and into the first year the AGP MSI 6600TG 128MB DDR3 video card went bad and I had it replaced under warranty then two years after the build the ABIT Motherboard went bad.

So, I got a new MoBo an ASUS A8V-MX with AGP slot for AGP vid card and all issues seemed to be resolved. Not quite, now the video card has gone bad again it cannot display java and silverlite similar to the prob before and the onboard video can display that fine. I also noticed a burnt mark around the fan PCB disk. Well, I decided to get a new vid card but to upgrade I needed more then just an Antec Smartpower 350 watt supply so I got a Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W ATX 12V v2.2 but when I installed it my machine would just cycle on then off when I put my old supply in machine worked okay again. So, I returned the Thermaltake and got an Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 Modular Active PFC Power Supply machine once again cycled it would cycle more slowly attempting to boot so I got the Antec BP550 replace and still the same thing cycles on and off actually tries to boot to windows when using onboard video if I try the bad vid card it makes the cycle real fast. I've also tried a different hard drive with windows freshly loaded but still had the cycling happen.

So, I'm thinking the Motherboard is bad again and I am wondering CAN a bad video card ruin the Motherboard as well? I'm surprised this had happened twice now. How about the new power supplies aren't they backwards compatible? I did put my old supply in and instead of working fine this time it now cycles.

So, if you could give some feedback on the diagnosis here that would be great. Hope the new power supply did not get damaged in any way it is fairly nice cept for the cheapy Molex’s.

One other thing I noticed is when I forgot to put the memory back in I got no beeps from the bios what so ever. Also, this PC has been plugged into the same outlet the whole time with surge protectors although I do not replace those often.

Thanks in advance

[David M]

What exactly do you have now and have you tried removing everything from the case and seeing if the computer will boot?

[larry1135]

I did try a barebones boot with just the minimum hardware. I'm gonna try that again just in case I missed something after you've tried so many things I tend to lose track sometimes.

I'm wondering if the video card that went bad once before shorted and ruined the previous mobo and the same thing happened all over again. Anyone ever experience that scenario?

[larry1135]

Haven't had a lot of time to follow up but, it is looking like either the media reader that I had pulled from another machine and installed a couple of months ago or the Case's external usb. When I disconnected the two it stopped cycling so, I just need to narrow that down and also going to run PC Doctor too just for kicks. Will follow up when I know more.

[jaydeee]

I somewhat have same problem with you.
mine is GPU first then followed by Mobo after a year, then after replacing Mobo it video card again, I know replaced my power supply because I and thinking that its not supporting my system effectively. not its more than a year now without issues.

[larry1135]

So, I've removed the media reader and the PC runs fine with the old power supply I popped int the new one and after nearly booting up all the way (it got to the windows desktop) it rebooted itself. Now I'm wondering if the new PSU is to sensitive in some way. This is an improvement from before now that the media reader has been removed. Putting 2 hard drives on one PSU module cabel would this be a prob? PSU has really good specs. I diconnnected my slaved drive and also the CD sound cabel seems to be stable again BUT had no issues when on the old PSU.

+5V is 26A
+5V is 28A
+12V is 22A for 12V1 and 2 and 12V3 @ 25A

GLC or anyone have any ideas? HELP!

[larry1135]

Just added the analog sound cabel that goes from rom drive to mobo and right off it rebooted as soon as I removed it the PC appears to be stable again. So a bad media reader and analog cabel that works okay with the old supply but not the new!?!?

GLC or anyone have any ideas?

[glc]

Leave the analog cable off. It has no function at all in XP, all audio is now digital through the IDE/SATA bus.

[larry1135]

Thanks never knew they did that change.

[larry1135]

Well seems like when I disconnect something as noted previously it improves now it appears having a slaved drive is causing an issue of rebooting so I disconnected and it appears to be stable again. Either there is one piece of hardware causing a shorting issue making it appear that there are many failures when there is only one or, the motboard is going bad.

By the way do I need to be a premium member now to get feedback here? Just wondering because it seems like no one from the site has really weighed in with their thoughts.

[glc]

Premium membership doesn't get you any better feedback, it just gives you access to more areas of the site. There's no difference in the forums except for a private discussion forum which is not used for tech support.

You have an older system. Any component in it could be failing after 6 or 7 years. It's very difficult to determine what it could be over the Internet - and even if I or another tech had the machine in front of us we would probably have to troubleshoot by substitution.

Now - here's my personal feelings, and this is not to belittle you or your computer.

Asus A8V-MX. Yes, it's an Asus board. However, to me, it has 3 strikes against it.

1. It's for an AMD processor.
2. It's a VIA chipset.
3. The MX series is cheap low end.

OCZ ram. Becoming notorious for issues.

What I would do next is get a digital power supply tester. Example:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16899887005

Check the voltages. Write them down. They should all be within 5% of spec. If they aren't, you have a bum power supply. Then reconnect the power supply to the motherboard and use the bios or software to check the same voltages. If there are any significant differences, the voltage regulators on the motherboard are weak/bad.

[larry1135]

So, wasn't VIA really good at one time? Whose good now?

I won't feel belittled in anway the MoBo was to replace another that had AGP and was hard to find much of anything with the same.

To bad about OCZ.

I'm gonna get that Power Supply tester check it out.

Thanks much

This would be terrible if I had to replace and update (snickers with delight)...

[glc]

Now? Intel for Intel and AMD for AMD. Nvidia is a poor second for both. Via and SiS are out of the chipset business.