Haunted Computer.. what gives?

[NickS]

My Dad's computer has been turning itself off and randomly hard-locking now for about 3 months.

We have replaced every single piece of hardware for either trial and error or an upgrade.

So lets bring up the list of replaced hardware shal we?

Mobo: MSI K8N SLi Platinum to EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra, back to MSI (Back from RMA)
CPU: 3800+ Venice to 3800+ X2 Manchester to 3800+ X2 Toledo (Wanted Upgrade, then a better clocking chip.)
PSU: Tagan 2Force 480w-u22 to OCZ GameXStream 600w (Trial and Error)
RAM: PDP Patriot PC3200LLK 2GB to one stick of my 3200LLK (Trial and Error, just testing)
HDD: 2x 120GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 in RAID0 to 320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Perpendicular Recording (Wanted upgrade, RAID0 a hassle)
VGA: HIS IceQ3 X1900GT to 2x 7600GT SLi (Wanted to go back to nVidia, bit more performance)
We've tried unpluggin the optical drives one by one to see if one was faulty, still shut down/froze. Switched PSU power cord, still has issue. Now we're down to the last possible thing, ruling out the fan controller. It's a coolermaster aerogate 1. Who knows if its shorting out or w/e, but thats the only possible thing!

With all the hardware swapping you'd think you would notice anything grounding/shorting. So, does anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm beginning to think its haunted. Case is a Lian Li PC-65 Plus. No extra standoffs are in, etc. I've tried hitting/shaking/rocking case while its on, and nothing shorts. What gives?

EDIT: All IDE & SATA cables have been swapped out too. House power isn't an issue, his PC is on the same circuit as mine and his LCD nor speakers cuts out when the PC turns off. Neither does mine.

[[XC] moddolicous]

Maybe bad caps on the motherboard?

[Silver Bullet]

Ghost in the machine :(

I'd try with just minimal hardware (1 GFX, RAM and HD) ... and see what happends .. adding 2 graphics cards and other stuff just adds to the complications.

[itznfb]

did you try a new psu power cable?

it sounds like a bad ground on the case though... did you try a new case? or it could be a bad piece of hardware that was shorting things out as you cycled through them

[[XC] MarioMaster]

bad psu or overheating issue?

[NickS]

@ Moddolicious, on two mobos?

@ Silver bullet, I've tried one stick of my known good working ram, and we're using one VGA atm.

@ Itznfb, tried new PSU power cable. Could possibly be a bad ground, but I doubt it.

@ Mariomaster, all temps are VERY good. Everything is @ stock, and we're using an FX-60 heatpipe heatsink. Had a Zalman CNPS9500-Am2 before, but the FX-60 heatsink worked better.

Haunted? Quite possibly =\

[itznfb]

wtf. thats crazy man. i would definatly try a new case. the only two things left i can think of are during your cycling of parts something was shorting out parts as you went.... or bad ground on the case.

[[XC] moddolicous]

Just see if any of the caps on any of the motherboards are domed or leaking. But on 2 dif motherboards, that is weird. Did you try firing it up outside the case?

[NickS]

Nope, I guess thats the next step.

[NickS]

Audio went nuts playin far cry, i think its a grounding issue. Sigh. Gonna try it caseless later.

EDIT: nvm sound is working again? Haunted i tell you.

[babalouj]

When I lived in my last apartment I had similar problems because of a grounding issue at the wall socket. When large appliances were turned on the computer would reboot. Turned out that a wall socket in the house had the ground and neutral swapped. You'd be suprised at how much that happens.

[NickS]

Well this wiring is from the 20's I think.. not sure exactly what outlet it's on but there are no major appliances on the circuit its on I can tell you that. All that's on the circuit from the old wiring is a few wall lights. How would I check if the outlet is properly wired? All the computers before this one were fine.. hmm.

EDIT: Yes it does have ground plug on the outlet btw. Maybe its the surge protector? It's a nice Belkin one too.. hm.

[Sparky]

EDIT: Yes it does have ground plug on the outlet btw. Maybe its the surge protector? It's a nice Belkin one too.. hm.
Just because the outlet is a 3-prong grounded outlet it doesn't mean it actually is grounded. In my parent's house there are several outlets that don't have the ground connected. You can test it with something like this
http://www.davesdeals4u.com/AJ%20-%20OUTLET%20TESTER.jpg

Usually a few bucks at your local wal-mart. Some surge protectors tell you if there is a ground or wiring fault as well.

[babalouj]

You will not be able to check for a swapped neutral and ground without taking the wall plate off or purchasing an outlet tester since a multimeter will perceive them to be the same thing. So turn off the circuit breaker then take the wall plate off. Check to make sure white is connected to neutral, black is connected to hot, and copper or green connected to ground.

[NickS]

Can you repeat that in english? :p:

Theres three prongs. A big one, a slightly smaller one, and a ground. What wires should go to which?

I know green to ground yeah, but what about hot and neutral?

[NickS]

http://www.kindlachristmas.com/images/Outlet.bmp

Got it :p:

[NickS]

Sigh, dissasembling an outlet isn't the most fun thing under a cramped desk in a retarded position, but here. It's wired correctly, pic for checking over.


http://upload.nickfire.com//files/1/electric%20001_thumb.jpg
(http://upload.nickfire.com//files/1/electric%20001.jpg)

Turns out it was on new wiring.. very new. The previous owners of the house must have had most of this floor rewired. Anyway, I guess it's the computer. Wiring is A-OK.

[NickS]

Hasn't shut off yet today, maybe it was fan controller?

[itznfb]

did you recently remove the fan controller?

[NickS]

Unplugged it and moved side fan & rear fan to mobo.

[itznfb]

in all that swapping of hardware you did previously did you always have the fan controller connected?

[NickS]

Yep.

[itznfb]

:slap: of all the things!

so it's still running well?

[Ron 61]

Could be the fan controller especially if it has a shutdown feature on it.

[EsaT]

House power isn't an issue, his PC is on the same circuit as mine and his LCD nor speakers cuts out when the PC turns off. Neither does mine.In same circuit but are both PCs in same wall socket?
If not getting UPS (Like APC ES-serie (http://www.apc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=21)) would be one thing to try.
Speakers staying on definitely doesn't mean that voltage would be stable enough because of big capacitors in amplifier.

BTW, power company might borrow meter which could measure stability of voltage

[NickS]

Same circuit, different outlet. At least I THINK it's the same circuit (95% sure, it could be one of two.) They're all so "tangled" and everything in these older homes its nuts.

[EsaT]

Same circuit, different outlet. At least I THINK it's the same circuit (95% sure, it could be one of two.) They're all so "tangled" and everything in these older homes its nuts.In that case it's always wise to assume they're in different circuits and no one knows what else there's in same circuit.

If electrical installations (+changes to old) have been done in many phases those are propably quite mess...
Or what it sounds that burned fuse cuts electricity from outlets while lights stay on and in next room lights are out? :D

Also other thing which can be quite lousy in very old installations is grounding, lack of grounding could make PC even more sensitive to voltage fluctuations. Surge protectors require it and also UPSes might require it to work well.

BTW, This kind (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=N10BY&DOY=8m9) voltage detector is very useful for detecting burned fuse if fuses are like these (http://controlparts.com/siemens.relays/fuses.htm).
Also it can detect is there voltage in outlet or surface installed cable so it can be used to detect which outlets are in which circuit. (take fuse away/trip circuit breaker and start checking outlets)

[NickS]

It's not fuses, its all on a circuit breaker. :)