After alot of tinkering and swearing, I finally figured out the problem with my friends HP Media Center PC.... The Power Supply!

It all started around the time he downloaded SP3 for his OS. We all know how SP3 and the AMD Processor get along... Anyway... After downloading that, it started glitching and acting really stupid. The SP3/AMD thing hadn't been brought into the limelight at that time, so he figured something else was causing it. He opened the case and found an entire extended family of Dust Bunnies living in his tower... So he got some compressed air and blew it all out.

SP3 was eventually known to be the cause so he redid the system completely, but could never get the video to work correctly, and sometimes the PC would lock up, or just reboot on it's own without warning. I then took into consideration that SP3 had somehow infiltrated his restore partition. After talking to a few techs I know, they don't think that's the case and they said it sounded like either a hardware or grounding problem.

In the meantime, I got his new PC built and he decided he still wanted to use his All In Wonder X1900 video card. So I transplanted that card into his new PC, and then started work on the HP.

Yesterday, I took one of my stock Dell Power Supplies of my parts shelf, and bypassed the Antec 480W he had in his HP, and fired it up. Suprisingly enough, the video is CRYSTAL CLEAR, even set to the highest resolution, and highest Mhz the monitor can handle. Before, it was very staticy like a tv with bad reception. I ran it through all the tests I could think of and everything came back fine.

Jason then called me to say his NEW PC had locked up a few times. I asked him when specifically it did it, and it was 3-4 times during his Guild Wars game and the other was when he was on Google Earth website.

Narrowing it down, That Video card in his NEW PC, was in the HP a while back as well as that Power Supply, when he blew the PC out with Compressed Air. I asked him if he had blown out the PC on his front step, or in the house with the PC running... He knows it was in the house (Why?!?!?!?) and he's thinking the PC was running when he did it.


Is it possible that he messed up the video card and Power Supply when he did that? I'm thinking that's the problem with both computers... those 2 parts.

I know my cans of compressed air sometimes spurt out liquid when using them, and I'm wondering if his did as well and somehow hit the wrong components when it was running.


Thoughts?

I highly doubt compressed air could blow out enough liquid, if any at all, to fry any computer parts. The video becoming clear after changing the PSU doesn't make sense to me, though maybe there's something I don't know... a grounding issue maybe? Beats me, anyone else?

I was referring to the propellant that spurts out every once in a while from the air cans. I'm thinking that while the PC was running, that liquid hit a couple of parts and somehow grounded or shorted, or damaged something. The power supply and video card are in the forefront of the PC case when you open the side and he said he did blow out the power supply fan, and everything that had dust on it. After that, the video was jumpy and unstable looking. The screen almost vibrated or something. Putting the other power supply in, and also using the integrated video from the motherboard, all that cleared up and the PC hasn't locked up since. The only thing he had done inside that PC since he got it was blow it out with air. Before that, it ran fine...

That's what lead me to believe that blowing it out while running may have caused damage.

From what you've written, the only common part between the two systems is the AIW x1900? Or is the Antec PSU in his new system as well?

This was all in his HP Media Center PC. It had the X1900 AIW card in it with the Antex 480w power supply when he blew it all out. After it was running funny on him, I built him a new gaming rig and he used the X1900 out of the HP in the new rig. Now his new rig's video does some weird stuff every once in a while. The HP was also running funny and the video from the stock Integrated graphics was pretty bad. Once I replaced the Antec 480w power supply, it runs great and the stock video looks fine.

I was wondering if blowing out that power supply with air while it was running may have damaged it. Also, the video card since it was in the same machine and is now in a different machine and acting a little quirky

It's never a good idea to use an aerosol air duster while the computer is running. The propelent will be discharged if the tin isn't upright at all times. Can't find any information on the propellent used in mine so not sure whether it's conductive or not. What I have noticed though is that if the nozzle is close to any object and kept there a few seconds ice will start to form and that can't be good!