I am attempting to repair a cheap computer which I normally connect to a small 20" TV via SVideo output for things such as quick web surfing (wireless) and listening to music. When the computer is actually running (or was) there was an apparent ground loop that caused distortion in the picture in the form of wavy horizontal lines that moved slowly down the screen. My setup is as follows:
Sony Vega 20" tv (2 prong power connector)
EpoX 8K7A socket A mobo
Athlon TBird 1.4
256 megs of crucial PC 2100 DDR (has 512 but one stick went bad per memtest86)
Enermax 300W powersupply
AGP radeon 9250SE 128mb with svideo out to the tv (used to have geforce 3 but it died for unknown reasons [related to ground loop maybe?] )
no other cards in the motherboard whatsoever (for testing purposes only)
Western digital 5400rpm 8 gig drive that I took out of an xbox (my 7200rpm 40 gig died recently)
All hooked into same surge protector on the same wall outlet.
Windows XP Pro (attempted installation)
As you can see 3 pieces of hardware died in the last month (one stick of ram, one hdd maybe two, and one video card. I purchased the new radeon, have purchased a new hard drive on the way from newegg, and have RMAed the stick of ram with lifetime warranty. Currently I am trying to load windows on this temporary hard drive. I have run extended diagnostics with the western digital software on the previous drive (which is definately dead or slowly dying) and this small temporary hard drive (which passes the test with no errors.)
When the windows installation gets to approximately 34 minutes remaining, it flickers the screen several times which I guessing is testing video modes or somehow enabling the video card's features. When I have attempted installation on the TV, after the 3rd or so flicker, the ground loop shows up (most likely because the video card "kicked in" so to speak) and the horizontal wavy lines infect the TV. Seconds after the video mode switched on, the windows installation completely locks the computer, and nothing will reset it other than a hard reset or power off.
My computer is 3 prong power cord and my monitor is 2 prong. When I hook a dvd player up to my tv, there is no ground loop and no distortion. Previously when I had my geforce 3 working along with my old hard drive, I had first encountered the problem one day out of the blue when my monter SVideo cable stopped working completely and had to be replaced. I had never heard of an svideo cable going bad before. I only used the computer for approximately 3 days while the ground loop was there. It has been two months since I used it and I am finally attempting to troubleshoot it.
Can a ground loop cause damage to hardware components?
Edit: I should mention that the exact same windows installation lockup happens when I have a monitor connected rather than a TV. And it happens at 34 minutes remaining.
Sony Vega 20" tv (2 prong power connector)
EpoX 8K7A socket A mobo
Athlon TBird 1.4
256 megs of crucial PC 2100 DDR (has 512 but one stick went bad per memtest86)
Enermax 300W powersupply
AGP radeon 9250SE 128mb with svideo out to the tv (used to have geforce 3 but it died for unknown reasons [related to ground loop maybe?] )
no other cards in the motherboard whatsoever (for testing purposes only)
Western digital 5400rpm 8 gig drive that I took out of an xbox (my 7200rpm 40 gig died recently)
All hooked into same surge protector on the same wall outlet.
Windows XP Pro (attempted installation)
As you can see 3 pieces of hardware died in the last month (one stick of ram, one hdd maybe two, and one video card. I purchased the new radeon, have purchased a new hard drive on the way from newegg, and have RMAed the stick of ram with lifetime warranty. Currently I am trying to load windows on this temporary hard drive. I have run extended diagnostics with the western digital software on the previous drive (which is definately dead or slowly dying) and this small temporary hard drive (which passes the test with no errors.)
When the windows installation gets to approximately 34 minutes remaining, it flickers the screen several times which I guessing is testing video modes or somehow enabling the video card's features. When I have attempted installation on the TV, after the 3rd or so flicker, the ground loop shows up (most likely because the video card "kicked in" so to speak) and the horizontal wavy lines infect the TV. Seconds after the video mode switched on, the windows installation completely locks the computer, and nothing will reset it other than a hard reset or power off.
My computer is 3 prong power cord and my monitor is 2 prong. When I hook a dvd player up to my tv, there is no ground loop and no distortion. Previously when I had my geforce 3 working along with my old hard drive, I had first encountered the problem one day out of the blue when my monter SVideo cable stopped working completely and had to be replaced. I had never heard of an svideo cable going bad before. I only used the computer for approximately 3 days while the ground loop was there. It has been two months since I used it and I am finally attempting to troubleshoot it.
Can a ground loop cause damage to hardware components?
Edit: I should mention that the exact same windows installation lockup happens when I have a monitor connected rather than a TV. And it happens at 34 minutes remaining.