I'm not an electrician but I some clever heads together

[beachlover]

Hi everyone
I have the strangest problem that no matter who I ask in the trade they seem to scratch their head and tell me to buy a surge protection unit. I have bought a million surge protections units Just sayin

Here is the problem and some of things done over the past three years to try to resolve it ....

I seem to be getting some sort of problem that is blowing up my computers. No amount of electrical test seem to find the faults. It's not just bad components or the company's where I buy the machines either.
I have estimated Over 16 devices blown and 47 repairs since 2014. This is from five different companies where I have purchased computers with a warranty.
Computers last typically for anything up to two days or two weeks before failing. This most common failure benign burnt chips on the GPU s

It is my understanding The modern motherboards have built in surge protection and they go into protection mode when a surge is detected. I have had this happen but when I next switch on the computer the GPU is damaged or becomes damaged.

Work carried out on my electricity by the electrician working for the housing association house I live in

1 - four different surge protectors bought
2- ups bought with surge protection
3 - 2013 a full electrical test on RCD panel and all sockets - passed
4- 2015 another full electrical test - passed
5- electric supplier monitored for surges from outside- none detected
6- two sockets faceplates replaced (the ones used for my computer)
7 - independent electrician hired tested sockets. No fault found.
8 - Eco Max Home Voltage optimiser fitted on RCD panel and set to 230v

Other information.
No other devices in the house fail and we have two HD TVs, a MacBook, two iPhones, router, and the usual lamps, kitchen equipment. New mouse,keyboard,HDMI cables,USB cables purchased

UK based electrical system with RCD panel with an additional Volt regulator fitted. We have 240 volts coming into the house
The housing association also fitted a gadget that regulates the volatage 230

On the last occasion I saw the the computer component frizzle smoke and could see the damage. I'm really worried about a fire risk
I have on occasion see sparks come from the switch on the outlet.

I would appreciate your thoughts on why this is happening to me as three independent electrical test and Electricians tell me they can not find or think of what could be causing it.

No computing for me for a while

Many thanks

 

[Midwest]

I have no experience with the stuff, but is that a PV circuit I see there, and Air Source Heat Pump?

 

[Midwest]

PS Are you a computer bud who leaves their stuff turned on all day? Plus would it not be an idea to have this problem resolved first before keep buying replacement MB, GPU etc.

 

[beachlover]

Yea

I have no experience with the stuff, but is that a PV circuit I see there, and Air Source Heat Pump?

Yeah
That's our heating and hot water by air source heat pump

 

[Midwest]

Yea


Yeah
That's our heating and hot water by air source heat pump

I might be clutching at straws, but someone more intelligent might be able to rule that in or out.

 

[beachlover]

Nope Over the past three years the amount of failures has made me paranoid about making computers are switched off and unplugged
Yeah that would make sense
However I'm kind desperate to get on my computer world again. I find many people who play games as escapism are much the same.
I'm going half crazy trying to do normal internet stuff on my phone too

PS Are you a computer bud who leaves their stuff turned on all day? Plus would it not be an idea to have this problem resolved first before keep buying replacement MB, GPU etc.

ah

 

[The Ghost]

Couple of thoughts. Use a water cooled system for your card gpu and cpu? Check your bios settings that it is not set to "green" settings as this slows the fan down and can cause overheating. You can download stress testing and clocking monitoring software for your gpu. Had your Solar PV system checked lately?

 

[The Ghost]

I know if you're playing WOW you want a half decent graphics card, but have you tried just using the onboard GPU? Do you have a six pin or eight pin supplementary power lead to your card? (I play WOW) so I have a good idea of some of the other issues you speak of. But the more I think about it the more I am suspecting there is some lack of sync on clocking speeds in relation to the motherboard/memory conflict which could explain matters. Have you tried Furmark burning in software? Maybe you should play with it and see what you come up with before really going into usual play etc. And as a matter of interest how do you set your graphics options in WOW like anti-aliasing distance etc. high low medium?

 

[Davisonp]

I have no experience with the stuff, but is that a PV circuit I see there, and Air Source Heat Pump?

Well Spotted, with Solar Panels feeding into the system it is another possible source of problems, and the feed from the solar panels will vary significantly. It may be worth isolating the solar inverter for a few weeks to see if that solves the problem.

 

[dmxtothemax]

QUOTE [I'm just thinking of a way I can put it on my computer and on another electrical source.] QUOTE

what about an invertor running off a battery.
would be completely isolated from the mains.

 

[beachlover]

I know if you're playing WOW you want a half decent graphics card, but have you tried just using the onboard GPU? Do you have a six pin or eight pin supplementary power lead to your card? (I play WOW) so I have a good idea of some of the other issues you speak of. But the more I think about it the more I am suspecting there is some lack of sync on clocking speeds in relation to the motherboard/memory conflict which could explain matters. Have you tried Furmark burning in software? Maybe you should play with it and see what you come up with before really going into usual play etc. And as a matter of interest how do you set your graphics options in WOW like anti-aliasing distance etc. high low medium?

Some of the hardware I have been using can easily handle WOW on the highest settings

I'm just trying to say it is not a specific hardware problem. It happens to numerous machines regardless of the hardware specs
I have had i7 laptops with Nvidia GTX 960 . I have had different PSU in each build.

I have had i5 skylake with NVidia 1050 GPU
I have gone for AMD processor and Radeon cards. I have had laptops and desktops.

The point I'm trying to make is that no matter what type of CPU , GPU or motherboard. The result is always the same. Thing in common they have is they all fail. It stops working. I have had 2 i5 dell desktops, 2 pcspecialist desktops, with i5 and i7 processors, 2 i7 laptops,
Most recently i5 skylake desktop and an AMD desktop and that is not mentioning the second hand laptops.

I'm not overclocking, overheating or misusing the machines in any other way. I know about stress tests and I use cpuz and gpuz to monitor the computer
This problem is not with the components of the computers. It can't be I have had so many builds with so many different components.

This has to be an issue that is external to the computers.
For example here are some of the specs of computers I have owned. Most are well built and adequately cooled.
This was the most recent computer built to spec by chillblast
- [ ] Processor: Intel Core i5-6600 Skylake CPU, 4 Cores, 3.3 - 3.9GHz
- [ ] Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB Graphics Card
- [ ] CPU Cooler: Intel Stock CPU
- [ ] Motherboard: Asus H110M-A Motherboard
- [ ] Memory: 16GB DDR4 2133MHz Memory (2 x 8GB Sticks)
- [ ] OS Drive: 250GB SK hynix SL301 Solid State Drive
- [ ] Secondary Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB 7200RPM Hard Disk
- [ ] Power Supply: Aerocool 80 PLUS 600W PSU
- [ ] Case: Chillblast F3 Gaming Case - Black / White

This was the mean machine laptop I paid over a grand for
It was way over specs for what I used it for . It was bought in June this year and refunded by august.

- [ ] Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)

- [ ] Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4720HQ (2.60GHz, 3.5GHz Turbo)

- [ ] Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON SODIMM DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

- [ ] Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX®

- [ ] Memory - Hard Disk
1TB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm)

- [ ] 120GB KINGSTON SSDNow M.2 2280 G2, SATA 6Gb/s (550MB/R, 200MB/W)

- [ ] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)

- [ ] Memory Card Reader
Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)

- [ ] Power Cable
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor

- [ ] Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

- [ ] Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Def. Audio + SoundBlaster™ Cinema 2

- [ ] Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-7265 M.2 (300Mbps, 802.11BGN) + BLUETOOTH

- [ ] Wireless Router/HomePlugs/Range Extenders
NONE

- [ ] USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS AS STANDARD

- [ ] Battery
Optimus Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH)

- [ ] Keyboard Language
OPTIMUS SERIES BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD

- [ ] Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

Windows 10 Upgrade
FREE Upgrade to Windows 10 with all Windows 7 & Windows 8.1 Purchases*

DVD Recovery Media
Windows 10 (64-bit) DVD

Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MP FULL HD WEBCAM

This was the hardware in the second hand laptop I had ..... it was refunded under warranty.

- [ ] Chassis & Display
SkyFire: 14" Matte HD+ LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-4710MQ (2.50GHz) 6MB
- [ ] Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
- [ ] Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 850M - 2.0GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11

First computer I bought that had over 10 returns and was eventually refunded

Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-4690 (3.5GHz) 6MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® H81M-PLUS: Micro-ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
2GB AMD RADEON™ R9 270 - DVI, HDMI, DP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 4 Capable
1st Hard Disk
1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RA

Memory Card Reader

CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY

Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER

Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD

 

[beachlover]

Well Spotted, with Solar Panels feeding into the system it is another possible source of problems, and the feed from the solar panels will vary significantly. It may be worth isolating the solar inverter for a few weeks to see if that solves the problem.

I will ask the electrician about this on Monday
I'm not sure but I did think the previous electrician said it was on a different circuit from the other household stuff.

 

[DPG]

I don't believe this is surge related at all. Surges do not identify gaming PCs and seek to destroy them! If it was surges on the mains supply then other things would have succumbed to them by now, especially TVs, audio equipment, etc. Have you never had any other (ie. non-computer) device damaged in this way? Daz

 

[beachlover]

I don't believe this is surge related at all. Surges do not identify gaming PCs and seek to destroy them! If it was surges on the mains supply then other things would have succumbed to them by now, especially TVs, audio equipment, etc. Have you never had any other (ie. non-computer) device damaged in this way? Daz

Yeah I have to admit it is really strange that some things blow and others don't

My telly has been fine. It is plugged into the same socket as the computers but with an extension lead. Also the roku device and monitor are in the same socket. We have two telly in the house and they have both been fine. We have all the usual kitchen stuff washing machine, microwave kettle ext and they have been fine.
.
However I had three sets of powerline adaptors stop working. I opened one of them and the inside was black and melted . These were plugged into the same socket as the computers and one in the hall next to the router.
Strange thing is that I have had countless BT routers that seem to stop working plugged into the hall socket but the tplink one keeps on working. I can hear bits inside the BT routers rattling. I'm assuming these are bits of the capacitors

 

[beachlover]

I don't believe this is surge related at all. Surges do not identify gaming PCs and seek to destroy them! If it was surges on the mains supply then other things would have succumbed to them by now, especially TVs, audio equipment, etc. Have you never had any other (ie. non-computer) device damaged in this way? Daz

And yes when I think about it how could it be related to a surge when it has happened to so many different computers even though I have used many different surge protectors

 

[The Ghost]

Well ok then I'm going back to my original idea;Power quality analysis. If your PV is doing strange things then it would be picked up. I can't really see where or how you can investigate further without such an approach. I think I agree with DavisonP, turn off your PV inverter and see what happens.