Is this just a coincidence?

[PaulB_]

Hi all.

Not sure if this is a coincidence or what, but I have dealt with two motherboard failures in the space of two days.

Both at different locations, and different manufacturers but the result is the same. The LED on the motherboards which indicate power is there, but the power button doesn't respond.

I blew two energy saving light bulbs just by turning the light switch on. Thought it was simply a bad bulb, till I tried another, and the same thing happened. That light has been working fine for about 6 months prior without incident.

My personal desktop after also working fine has suddenly started blue screening.


Could this all be a coincidence, or could something perhaps be going on with the electricity supply beyond load shedding?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Harmonic]

Impossible to tell given the data. For all we know you live next to the ocean and corrosion has kicked in.

 

[lkpat]

Hi all.

Not sure if this is a coincidence or what, but I have dealt with two motherboard failures in the space of two days.

Both at different locations, and different manufacturers but the result is the same. The LED on the motherboards which indicate power is there, but the power button doesn't respond.

I blew two energy saving light bulbs just by turning the light switch on. Thought it was simply a bad bulb, till I tried another, and the same thing happened. That light has been working fine for about 6 months prior without incident.

My personal desktop after also working fine has suddenly started blue screening.


Could this all be a coincidence, or could something perhaps be going on with the electricity supply beyond load shedding?

Thanks in advance.

If you're asking if brownouts or surges can kill electronics, the answer is yes. If you're asking if it destroyed those pieces of hardware, there's no way to conclusively say.

 

[Tomtomtom]

Hi all.

Not sure if this is a coincidence or what, but I have dealt with two motherboard failures in the space of two days.

Both at different locations, and different manufacturers but the result is the same. The LED on the motherboards which indicate power is there, but the power button doesn't respond.

The past month in CPT with the increased humidity I've been forced to blow dry my motherboard to get it to boot. It's pretty bizarre. In 20 years of building PCs I haven't seen this, but apparently it's a thing now.

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

if in this day and age you still run your desktop PC in ZA without any sort of surge protector (like with a cheap UPS) in place you're either stupid or you have a PC cheap enough that you don't mind replacing it from time to time

 

[chrisc]

1 - Decent surge arrestors before the DB
2 - Run it all from an inverter

 

[Dan C]

Hi all.

Not sure if this is a coincidence or what, but I have dealt with two motherboard failures in the space of two days.

Both at different locations, and different manufacturers but the result is the same. The LED on the motherboards which indicate power is there, but the power button doesn't respond.

I blew two energy saving light bulbs just by turning the light switch on. Thought it was simply a bad bulb, till I tried another, and the same thing happened. That light has been working fine for about 6 months prior without incident.

My personal desktop after also working fine has suddenly started blue screening.


Could this all be a coincidence, or could something perhaps be going on with the electricity supply beyond load shedding?

Thanks in advance.

As for the power button not working. I had the same recently after all the loadshedding. You can try and remove the power to the machine for an hour or two and also remove the CMOS battery and place it back again. That solved my problem at least.

 

[DapperDanMan]

Could this all be a coincidence ...

Nope, this is the start of it all.
This is the part where the protagonist discovers his otherwise inexplicable superpowers.
All the best with the ups and downs of your newfound life!

 

[leon.davibe]

The past month in CPT with the increased humidity I've been forced to blow dry my motherboard to get it to boot. It's pretty bizarre. In 20 years of building PCs I haven't seen this, but apparently it's a thing now.

I live close to the coast

So i don't switch of any of my pc's haven't done for years

My son's pc started exhibiting this behaviour after power failures

Warming it up around the cpu would see it boot the moment it is hot enough

ie bios is set to boot on power failure

If it has cooled down it won't startup ie load shedding is long enough to do that

And then Out of the blue it stopped doing it but if i recall it was in summer when it stopped doing it

And booted fine

was years ago and since on inverter now won't know the state of this gremlin

 

[lkpat]

Voltage regulators were a thing in East Africa years ago. They might still be today. I can see them becoming necessary in SA. Before you say your UPS has built in voltage regulation, most home units only havdle fluctuations of around 5-10% and a separate V regulator in line before it would help.

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

As for the power button not working. I had the same recently after all the loadshedding. You can try and remove the power to the machine for an hour or two and also remove the CMOS battery and place it back again. That solved my problem at least.

if you really want to go the whole hog you can:

- disconnect the PSU from everything but the mains and short out the two connections needed to power it up, fan spins = PSU probably fine

- reconnect PSU to the motherboard with all expansion cards removed and short out the two motherboard pins needed to power it up, if it powers up but using the power button does not power it up then the power button itself / its wires / its connection is likely the issue (and the motherboard is probably fine)

- if it is powering up even with power button, add back hardware components one at at time powering up each time until it fails to power up, that last component is likely the problem

pain in the ass, but sometimes the only way to be sure, I had a GPU fail once after many years of use and the only symptom was the PC refusing to power up

 

[Dan C]

if you really want to go the whole hog you can:

- disconnect the PSU from everything but the mains and short out the two connections needed to power it up, fan spins = UPS probably fine

- reconnect PSU to the motherboard with all expansion cards removed and short out the two motherboard pins needed to power it up, if it powers up but using the power button does not power it up then the power button itself / its wires / its connection is likely the issue (and the motherboard is probably fine)

- if it is powering up even with power button, add back hardware components one at at time powering up each time until it fails to power up, that last component is likely the problem

pain in the ass, but sometimes the only way to be sure, I had a GPU fail once after many years of use and the only symptom was the PC refusing to power up

Ah yes the GPU. I did have a reseat it to get to the battery, maybe that solved the problem. Who knows.