Motherboard has fried on three different computers

gsoublis

New Member
All,

I am new to this site and could use some of your expertise. I have had three different computers where the motherboards went out. About 2-3 years ago the power went out at the house and the only item that would not turn back on was the desktop. All items (printer, monitor, external dvd rom, desktop) where on a surge protector.

Well found out that the power supply went out. Replaced it then the motherboard and hard drive went out. I purchased a used computer and no problems for the first 4 months then the mother board goes out on that one as well. Finally I purchased a new computer which I have had over year and used intermittenlly due to having a laptop. Well after one full year the motherboard went out on this one as well. I could understand the first computer being old, the second being used and kind of pieced together but now I know it is not a fluke.

If the outlet is causing some sort of surge why are the rest of my components on the surge protector o.k. The laptops are not affected. Any help or insight anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
George
 
Sean,
I am thinking about it, but what is so odd is that I have a slew of electronics on this surge protector and the only one item that comtinues to go bad is the computer's motherboard. Every other piece of electronic that has been connected has had no issues. Thank you for the response.
Sincerely,
George
 
I would try to get a surge protector that also comes with a something called a power regulator or something of the sort. What is probably happening is that the computer isn't getting enough power and is slowly degrading the motherboard over time. This potentially could be coming from the outlet or even the power strip itself when the power went out 2 - 3 years ago.
 
Some electronics are more prone to bad power than others. It is entirely possible that you may have experienced further brown-outs since your initial outage. This would NOT be stopped or rectified by a simple surge protector. Low power is like cancer to sensitive electronics (i.e. your motherboard). Noisy power does not help either.

First, it would be a good idea to have a qualified electrician inspect your house's electrical system. Depending on why the electricity went out in the first place, you could have some serious lingering problems. Second, I would recommend purchasing a decent UPS (un-interruptable power supply) that will also filter noisy mains power.
 
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