Beachlover.iow
Thread Starter
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2018
- Messages
- 6
Sorry if this is a long story
I have lived in this house for 5 years. In that 5 years I have bought and returned under warranty at least 30 desktops and laptops. Probably more than 30 but I don’t want you to think I’m exaggerating.
What all these machines had in common was fried components. Either PSUs would fail and need replacing. Quite often high end GPUs would show visible burn damage. Even motherboards have fried. The first sign I get is the PC or laptop will shut down. Then when try to switch on it will often just briefly try to start (ie fan spins briefly or keyboard lights flicker) but it will fail to POST.
The last desktop I bought was a Dell Alienware. I made sure I paid extra for a tech to come to my house to fix it. He visited 3 times replaced the PSU motherboard. I even had Dell send me a complete new machine. After 3 weeks of it working I had to call out the tech again. He replaced the PSU again and as he plugged it in to the wall socket and switched the machine on BOOOM with clouds of electrical smoke! He couldn’t believe it!!
There seems to be no pattern of when these machines fail. Sometimes I get a few weeks of working perfectly then it dies, sometimes with smell of electric burning sometimes not.
Other times a machine might last less then a few days. The previous four laptops bought in March this year ( 2 MSI laptops and 2 HP laptops) only lasted two days. I smell burnt components. All returned and refunded under warranty thankfully.
The failures do not discrimate between makes or models. Laptops desktops intel or AMD. You name it I have had it.
Now the obvious thing to say is are you using a surge protector. Yes I have used over the years several surge protectors. The wall socket is surge protected too. I have a UPS with battery back up and surge protection.
Next you would wonder if I had bad supply in my house or maybe something not earthed. I have had a qualified electrician in to test everything in my house. I have up to date RCD breakers. I even got them to put in a voltage regulator where the electric comes in and set it at 230v.
I have also been on at the electric company. They have monitored the supply at the meter. No faults found. I complained so much they even dig up the ground and switched me and to a different circuit.
So next you would wonder does this happen to other stuff in the house?
TV seems ok and so far has lasted two years.
MacBook has not been affected
Phone and iPad have not blown but only had them since Christmas
But routers are a nightmare. I have a cupboard full of dead routers and can’t count the number of returns and replacements
Have I tried different rooms in my house. Well yes.
Do I live near a big power draw plant- No - I live in typical suburbia.
Do my neighbours have the same- not a far as I’m aware.
Are you buying cheap- most certainly not. I’m buying from reputable companies. In fact I have probably had PC or laptop from most makes and companies.
What are you using the computers for? Very light gaming- browsing- nothing massively taxing.
It would be wonderful if I could get somebody somewhere to solve this mystery of burnt out components. Right now I don’t have a PC and the money sits safe in the bank. I’m too sacred to buy one.
How can brown outs surges or whatever be getting past surge protectors and a voltage regulator. Why are only PCs laptops and routers blowing?
Of course can’t post my spec as I don’t have a pc or laptop right now but what I typically purchase is
i5 kabylake or quad core
NVIDIA 1060
PSU gold standard
Various motherboards tried.
Sometimes use WiFi sometimes cable to connect to internet.
Always use windows 10 home edition
As you can imagine I am totally stumped so I would be so grateful if I could get anybody to help.
Many thanks
I have lived in this house for 5 years. In that 5 years I have bought and returned under warranty at least 30 desktops and laptops. Probably more than 30 but I don’t want you to think I’m exaggerating.
What all these machines had in common was fried components. Either PSUs would fail and need replacing. Quite often high end GPUs would show visible burn damage. Even motherboards have fried. The first sign I get is the PC or laptop will shut down. Then when try to switch on it will often just briefly try to start (ie fan spins briefly or keyboard lights flicker) but it will fail to POST.
The last desktop I bought was a Dell Alienware. I made sure I paid extra for a tech to come to my house to fix it. He visited 3 times replaced the PSU motherboard. I even had Dell send me a complete new machine. After 3 weeks of it working I had to call out the tech again. He replaced the PSU again and as he plugged it in to the wall socket and switched the machine on BOOOM with clouds of electrical smoke! He couldn’t believe it!!
There seems to be no pattern of when these machines fail. Sometimes I get a few weeks of working perfectly then it dies, sometimes with smell of electric burning sometimes not.
Other times a machine might last less then a few days. The previous four laptops bought in March this year ( 2 MSI laptops and 2 HP laptops) only lasted two days. I smell burnt components. All returned and refunded under warranty thankfully.
The failures do not discrimate between makes or models. Laptops desktops intel or AMD. You name it I have had it.
Now the obvious thing to say is are you using a surge protector. Yes I have used over the years several surge protectors. The wall socket is surge protected too. I have a UPS with battery back up and surge protection.
Next you would wonder if I had bad supply in my house or maybe something not earthed. I have had a qualified electrician in to test everything in my house. I have up to date RCD breakers. I even got them to put in a voltage regulator where the electric comes in and set it at 230v.
I have also been on at the electric company. They have monitored the supply at the meter. No faults found. I complained so much they even dig up the ground and switched me and to a different circuit.
So next you would wonder does this happen to other stuff in the house?
TV seems ok and so far has lasted two years.
MacBook has not been affected
Phone and iPad have not blown but only had them since Christmas
But routers are a nightmare. I have a cupboard full of dead routers and can’t count the number of returns and replacements
Have I tried different rooms in my house. Well yes.
Do I live near a big power draw plant- No - I live in typical suburbia.
Do my neighbours have the same- not a far as I’m aware.
Are you buying cheap- most certainly not. I’m buying from reputable companies. In fact I have probably had PC or laptop from most makes and companies.
What are you using the computers for? Very light gaming- browsing- nothing massively taxing.
It would be wonderful if I could get somebody somewhere to solve this mystery of burnt out components. Right now I don’t have a PC and the money sits safe in the bank. I’m too sacred to buy one.
How can brown outs surges or whatever be getting past surge protectors and a voltage regulator. Why are only PCs laptops and routers blowing?
Of course can’t post my spec as I don’t have a pc or laptop right now but what I typically purchase is
i5 kabylake or quad core
NVIDIA 1060
PSU gold standard
Various motherboards tried.
Sometimes use WiFi sometimes cable to connect to internet.
Always use windows 10 home edition
As you can imagine I am totally stumped so I would be so grateful if I could get anybody to help.
Many thanks