I had my third desk top die recently. Each time, I thought it was the power supply, but when I went to change it, that wasn't it. The power supply tested fine.

They are running along just fine and in an instant, lights out! The first one was an elderly Compaq. These last two were both Dells. I figured maybe I wasn't doing something right in swapping power supplies, so I ran each of them in to the Geek Squad. Both times, they confirmed that it wasn't the PS but something shorting out on the motherboard.

Is this just bad luck, or something peculiarly to Dell boxes, or something else? I had hopes of using this last one as a Linux learning box.

I cannot help, but admire your ability to change power supplies. I am in the market for a new desktop and am interested in suggestions. I need a good size monitor and an ergonomic keyboard as I cannot type on a laptop or flat keys. Reliability is a critical issue for me as well.

Thank you posting this thread. I am comfortable buying cars, but absolutely hate shopping for computers and cell phones. I am intelligent, but when people engage in what I call GEEK speak I am lost.

If you have variosu equipment powered and interconnected, and on separate circuits, you may have a power loop issue.

That is my "best guess" if three PCs have had the same type failure and all other things remaining basically the same.

Need to get your local "Skins" to meter the outlets.

Most likely a blown capacitor, though there are lots of things that can fail on a modern motherboard.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
If you have variosu equipment powered and interconnected, and on separate circuits, you may have a power loop issue.

That is my "best guess" if three PCs have had the same type failure and all other things remaining basically the same.

Need to get your local "Skins" to meter the outlets.

Ah, the three computers are from different locations. One was at home in Whackyland, one was at our office there and one was here in my radio shack. They were spread over several years.

The office one was behind an APC, too. The one here in the shack may have been wiped out in a near lightning event, too.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I cannot help, but admire your ability to change power supplies. I am in the market for a new desktop and am interested in suggestions. I need a good size monitor and an ergonomic keyboard as I cannot type on a laptop or flat keys. Reliability is a critical issue for me as well.

Thank you posting this thread. I am comfortable buying cars, but absolutely hate shopping for computers and cell phones. I am intelligent, but when people engage in what I call GEEK speak I am lost.

I have some background. I have been fiddling with microprocessors since the mid-70's and have built probably a dozen or so PC clone types, selecting and buying components and putting them together, before I knew Michael Dell would get rich doing it.

Technology has run way ahead of me since the internet and I fall further and further behind, but I can still do relatively simple things like this, or at least thought I could, strictly an amateur.

Want to try swapping out the motherboards (mobo)? It's not as intimidating as it sounds. They come with pretty complete instructions. You generally only need a screwdriver, and maybe a nut driver. What have you got to lose? A mobo should be around $200 or less I would guess (it's been a few years).

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
Want to try swapping out the motherboards (mobo)? It's not as intimidating as it sounds. They come with pretty complete instructions. You generally only need a screwdriver, and maybe a nut driver. What have you got to lose? A mobo should be around $200 or less I would guess (it's been a few years).

If I knew for certain exactly what the problem might have been, that might be tempting, but buying a refurb or something is probably the way to go, for my purpose.

quote:

I have some background. I have been fiddling with microprocessors since the mid-70's and have built probably a dozen or so PC clone types, selecting and buying components and putting them together, before I knew Michael Dell would get rich doing it.

I am duly impressed. You should add that to your interests in your profile. I need some hobbies outside of my profession but do not have the requisite perceptual motor skills and patience.

Building computers these days is very easy unless you decide to do custom water cooled system. Everything is pretty much plug and play.

quote:

Originally posted by IndyRob:
Building computers these days is very easy unless you decide to do custom water cooled system. Everything is pretty much plug and play.

I had the impression it was more difficult due to the hazards of picking components that were compatible. Everything is plug and play, but not necessarily with everything else.

How old are they?
You realize Compaq hasn't made computers for 15 years, right?
Maybe you just drove it until the wheels fell off.
A "sudden" failure is a bit bizarre and usually is power related.

quote:

Originally posted by IndyRob:
Building computers these days is very easy unless you decide to do custom water cooled system. Everything is pretty much plug and play.

I wouldn't go that far.
Certainly easier as they get being made better but not exactly plug n play > if done properly.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
How old are they?
You realize Compaq hasn't made computers for 15 years, right?
Maybe you just drove it until the wheels fell off.
A "sudden" failure is a bit bizarre and usually is power related.

These sudden deaths didn't happen all at once or even close in time. The similarity is all stopped suddenly and in each case, the power supply was not the problem as it then appeared.

Yes, the Compaq was an old wheezer. Funny story, a fellow I knew from airplane groups called. He was coming to San Diego for a couple of days on business. I invited him to stay at our house, which he did. I knew he was a computer genius in real life. I was having some issues with that machine, slow, prone to hang up, etc. so I asked him if maybe he could look at it while he was there. One evening he did so, and straightened it out with ease. I complimented him on his evident familiarity with these things. Come to find out he had been a founder of Compaq, the Chief Technology Officer! He was there for meetings at La Costa, with Gates and Jobs. How's that for "factory service!"

What vintage MB's were these? There were episodes of bad power supply caps on the mother boards. The electrolytic caps would leak.

Building PC's was fun it the late '90's. I had a lot of fun delving into the minute details of performance.

But today PC's are disposable commodities and I just buy a quality functioning box without any concern for the components.

Sounds like both power and age related. I’ve only dealt with one Compac over the years. It died in the same manner you’re describing. Compac was still in business at the time, but it was both old and there was a suspected power issue involved.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

These sudden deaths didn't happen all at once or even close in time. The similarity is all stopped suddenly and in each case, the power supply was not the problem as it then appeared.

Yes, I know they all didn't die at once.
Sometimes a preliminary test for the power supply will be negative (test good) and still be a bad PS if they only test the primary lead and not the other connectors as well.
You need to try a new PS as well (something that the pimply skinned 18 year olds at Geek Squad doubtfully will do).
It can also be a switch or connections to the mb itself.
Dying in the middle of working is extremely rare ~ it usually manifests itself as a booting error.
However, if not on a UPS an improper voltage can cause all kind of problems.
Based on the data given > PS>MB>CPU in that order should be properly checked.
Of course there is a point where you may say "why bother" especially if the computer is 15 years old.
YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:

These sudden deaths didn't happen all at once or even close in time. The similarity is all stopped suddenly and in each case, the power supply was not the problem as it then appeared.

Yes, I know they all didn't die at once.
Sometimes a preliminary test for the power supply will be negative (test good) and still be a bad PS if they only test the primary lead and not the other connectors as well.
You need to try a new PS as well.
It can also be a switch or connections to the mb itself.
Dying in the middle of working is extremely rare ~ it usually manifests itself as a booting error.
However, if not on a UPS an improper voltage can cause all kind of problems.
Based on the data given > PS>MB>CPU in that order should be properly checked.
YMMV

On both the most recent ones, Geek Squad checked the PS as good, and voltage was getting to the MB. They believed something on the MB failed, and suggested scrapping as the economic alternative.

I just wondered if these type failures were typical or as common as they seemed.

I intend to pick up a low end refurb and use it to learn Linux, which was what I hoped to do with the most recent Dell failure.

quote:

I intend to pick up a low end refurb and use it to learn Linux, which was what I hoped to do with the most recent Dell failure.

FWIW, with most modern hardware machines and OS's you can run Linux as a virtual machine and not need an additional one.
This would be an separate instance of Linux and not interfere with the original OS.
This can be done natively with W10 (must be Pro and a few hardware requirements).
There are other methods too ~ VMWare, etc that work too.
After the initial config then you can run both simultaneously.
YMMV

I believe that your failures were just a fluke. Different locations seems to rule out a power issue. I have have Compaqs and currenrly a Dell, with no problem. Had Gateway as well. I've replaced power supplies, mainly to have more power for more powerful graphics cards that I have added as upgrades. Microcenter is a good source for parts.

But the bottom line is I think it is quite unusual to have three failures. Im not sure any of them are related, however.

There are any number of Linux distributions you can boot from a thumb drive to help choose what flavor you want to go with.