No luck with building computers

[JohnGalt47]

Is it just me or do you have problems with computers that you have built? I have built several and very few of them last. There are a couple that are still going after several years but most of them develop some kind of problem, especially with motherboards.

I tend to use premium components. I live in an area with high humidity and we don't have problems with static electricity.

It doesn't matter which brand of motherboard it is, either, although some are worse than others.

 

[n7]

It's a tricky thing.

In the roughly four years i've had my own PCs, here's what i have had gone wrong for me (that i can recall).

Old PC:
PSU died
mobo died
RAM dimm died
Crappy wheel-mouse died

Second PC:
Nothing

Third PC:
RAM slot died
Couple cases fans went wonky
WD Raptor 74.3 GB had issues

Current PC:
6800GT died
Sharp 17" LCD's inverter died (i think that's what it's called)
Floppy cable or port died (haven't gotten around to figuring out which)
MX510 died



I guess that could be called bad luck, but i dunno...

 

[BTA]

Rarely have issues with anything that I've built.

However the PC my friend built his sister (whom I'm dating), her PC has been screwed up since day one.

And he used good parts for the most part, stuff I would have ordered.

So I think it has a lot to do with the person building it.

Also I used to work with a guy who could kill a hard drive just by touching it. Pick's up hard drive, bam its dead. Guy had to have had some sort of magnetic field going through his body or something.

 

[JohnGalt47]

It is interesting that you brought up the topic of magnetic fields. I have been thinking the same thing about myself. I must have some kind of magnetic or electrical field that keeps killing the machines.

 

[cubeless]

try reversing your polarity by sticking your fingers in a plug socket

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Or try wearing a static bracelet?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Nope. All the systems I've built are still running to this date.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

If I can regale you all with a story:

I used to work as a technician in a computer store (PC World, for any Brits reading this). We had one guy who had about four broken PC's in the space of a fortnight. Each time he'd bring it back, it'd be dead, we'd send it back and give him a new one. After the fourth, my boss jokingly asked him if he had an electricity pylon in his backyard or something. He looked shocked and said yes, he did.

I know there's no peer-reviewed study that supports the idea that emanations from overhead power cables are harmful to humans, but has there been any kind of study to see if they're harmful to electronics?

Having said that, a lot of motherboards died due to the whole Bad Caps fiasco. All my computers I've ever owned or built all kept on working until I sold them (I had an Amstrad PC1512 that ran for 10 years, an Amiga 500 that ran for 8, an Amiga 1200 that ran for 6, and more, but those were the computers I owned the longest) except two, where the motherboard died, and both times, they had bulged and leaking capacitors. I mention that since you cite motherboard failure as being a recurring theme for you.

 

[CraigRT]

very rarely have issues with anything..
haven't had anything MAJOR die either.

 

[danklumpp]

I guess some just weren't destined to become PC builders.

My first build went together like a charm, just stuck the parts in and awaaaay we went.

 

[will889]

I have somewhere in the range of 350+ units out there over 5 years. Not many came back. The few that did/do i fix and all is well. My own units rarely fail. I have had a few optical drives go south - in one case it was the older NF2 sw ide drivers that did it, in another it was a drive flash that rendered it kaput. Other than that the systems i build run flawlessly. Perhaps your luck will change for the better from now on.

 

[episodic]

No problems with the 10 plus I've built. I used budget and used parts to top it off.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Built 2 machines (one with an ASUS P4P800-e Deluxe, and one with an ASUS P4C800-e Deluxe), first one fired up and went running, same with the second one. My latest system build was with a DFI Lanparty SLI-DR and it went smoothly - but I had a defective stick of RAM....luckily I had RAM from my other PC to test the board out with ... -> This was a build for a friend though.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: BTA
Also I used to work with a guy who could kill a hard drive just by touching it. Pick's up hard drive, bam its dead. Guy had to have had some sort of magnetic field going through his body or something.

LOL, I had a friend who was almost as bad. He would lose a hard drive every few months, and the ones that still worked would start developing clicks and chirps. Thing was that he used to take his computer with him to work every day. I managed to convince him that probably the vibration from driving was slowly killing the drives. Guess what? He hasn't lost a hard drive in over a year - these days he only transports his machine once a week (weekly LAN).

Oh yeah, he used to also lose power supplies every few months. He cured that problem himself by buying a TrippLite line conditioner. Not a UPS-battery backup, but a line conditioner. After losing 3 PSUs in a half year, haven't had another one die in about 3 years.

We have two clients (a school and a government funded clinic) who keep having dead power supplies. Any and all brands, whether our "white box" builds or name brand machines. I'm convinced they need line conditioning and have suggested such to them, but they just keep getting replacement PSUs. Been like that for a few years at a rate of perhaps one a month.

For the OP, perhaps try using non-enthusiast boards in builds for others. Just a pet theory of mine, but for people who aren't going to be overclocking (whether or not they're gamers) use boards that almost don't allow overclocking. The times we used "enthusiast" boards for "joe average" builds encountered more problems than otherwise.

BTW, who is John Galt anyways?

 

[BTA]

I agree with Zap on the non-enthusiast boards for clients.

I try to use nothing but boards that I know for a fact are solid and stable first, and feature rich next.

Especially if its for somebody I dont want to be obligated to doing 24/7 support for (family, friends).

 

[Granorense]

I build about 2 computers every week and I've had only one Albatron MOBO died on a 3 year old system which I just fixed last night. I do take my time to do it right though, I am very careful.
Could it be heat what is killing your motherboards? I know that when I work on old systems for people, often their fans don't work, there is dust all over the place and airflow is very low if any at all.

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Originally posted by: Granorense
I build about 2 computers every week and I've had only one Albatron MOBO died on a 3 year old system which I just fixed last night. I do take my time to do it right though, I am very careful.
Could it be heat what is killing your motherboards? I know that when I work on old systems for people, seldom their fans don't work, there is dust all over the place and airflow is very low if any at all.

Don't people notice that though? Once your system starts throttling.... ah well. I know for a fact that when I was new to computers, I didn't know about dusting and such - my prescott kept throttling - more and more every day actually... then I realized that it was completely PACKED in dust. Good thing I was here at AT forums and they told me what the problem was.

 

[BTA]

Ugh, some of the dirty ass people who own computers...

Had one years ago where a lady brought this old compaq minitower in in a plastic garbage bag (should be a tipoff right there).

Thing had a nest of cockroaches in it.

needless to say it went right back in the garbage bag and sat out back of the store, told her to come get it and we dont want her business heh.

Then there's the ones with cat/dog hair all nice and mixed in with the dust.
"my cat likes to lay against the computer"

yeah i noticed.

so glad i dont do that anymore hehe.