PSU

 

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I lightened the load, just going bare minimum to run the comp and it's doing the same thing. The power supply is a SilverStone 650watt. I used to play wow all the time with the same psu with no problems. Might possibly be going bad. I haven't switched out the power supplies yet but I'm going to do that right now. Will keep you all posted. Thank you all for the help so far

 

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Ooook so. I swapped out another power supply and launched AC. It's doing the same thing. The noise seems to be coming from the area around the video card. So, if it's not the video card, power supply, or RAM, then it must be a bad cap on the motherboard?

 

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Did you press on the caps around there? Use a Qtip or pencil eraser.


Or look for a bad cap, they should have flat tops but will buldge when bad.

I looked for bad caps but could not locate any. The ones that I can see look normal. I pressed on all the caps that I could get to but nothing happened. There are some that I can't get to due to space limitations. I'm probably just going to RMA the motherboard and hope that fixes the problem.

So...I've tried 2 power supplies both with the same result. I've tried 2 video cards both with the same result. I unplugged anything that wasn't critical to run the comp and had the same result. All the caps that I could get to appear held in place nor did they make any noise when I pressed on them. What's your opinion?

I don't know the exact details on motherboards but how can an issue with the mobo cause me to crash while playing games that use 3D? I'm just trying to figure out how it can do that.

 

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The way I see it, go with the RMA.


Speculating from what I can remember:

Capacitors are like mini energy storage units. There is a reason they are placed where they are. I believe they are a quick source of energy for when demand rises before it gets there from the PSU (which has larger capacitors in it)


So, a bad cap doesnt hold the charge required and causes the increased energy demand to be pulled from other electronic in the areas prior to the PSU stepping in.


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One other thing. If this is a computer you built. When you placed the STANDEES that the board sits on and gets screwed to, you might have one that does not match to a screw hole and essentially shorts out.

I remember doing this once many years ago. It definitely causes random bsod's...had be baffled for weeks. Sorry to hear it wasn't the psu...sounds like you are down to the last possibility.

 

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I read some of the reviews on newegg and some people have reported the same issues I am having. One person specifically mentioned that his comp crashes when playing games. It was also mentioned that the blue screens were very few at first but then started getting worse. Looks like its a known problem with the board.

I haven't thought about the screw issue. I can look into that further. Is it if the screw isn't in there tight it causes a short or misplacement of the golden little peg things that screw the mobo to the case?

 

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It is normally cause by putting a metal standee where there isn't a hole for one in the motherboard. This causes the motherboard to short out on the case.

The screws should be hand tight at the normal places. But specifically check to make sure you don't have one of the standees under the motherboard where there ISN'T a hole for a mounting screw. This would cause a short. Hope that makes sense. Otherwise, it sounds like you have a problematic motherboard.

edit: emphasis on "isn't"

 

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Ah ok I got ya. I submitted my rma request so hopefully that will take care of it. I truly thank you for everyone's help. Thank you =)

 

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