Huge problems with entire system

[DeSean]

Hi everyone, and merry christmas.

 

This may be a long post, please bear with me; I have the following problems:

 

1. Hard lock after cold boot -> I usually restart after the POST beep and the system works

 

2. Recent instability at overclocked speeds. I was previously Prime stable for 6 hours at 2.7ghz.

 

3. Prime unstable at STOCK speeds, fails instantly. However, Memtest stable after 7 hours testing.

 

4. I have lost three (yes, 3) hard disks on my IDE controller. All three have gone snap crackle and pop.

 

5. DVD drive went the same way, making me certain that it wasn't static. (the HDDs had been in anti static bags for some time).

 

 

So:

 

Are my recent problems caused by my £90 (thats nearly $180 USD!) Silverstone PSU? The hard lock issue is simply the mobo, but the rest is caused by power supply problems? How can I test without risking more hardware? (I have taken a multimeter to the PSU, the voltages seemed rock solid 12.10v, 5.03v etc)

 

this is pi**ing me off. No system over Christmas :mad:

 

 

thanks

[Praz]

If all four drive are electrically faulty then yes your first course of action should be another psu.

[DeSean]

Hi thanks for the fast reply.

 

Do you know if Silverstone have any responsibility for the equipment its PSU has destroyed?

 

I can't understand how only the 4 Pin molex connectors seem to be affected. The floppy drive works, the fans work, the SATA connected drives work. I guess it could be a problem with the PSU rail that supplies the 4pin connectors... But the voltages are stable?

[Praz]

Do you know if Silverstone have any responsibility for the equipment its PSU has destroyed?

I really doubt it. That would be business suicide.

[DeSean]

Yeah that's what i feared.

 

Anybody want to buy some Maxtor branded paper-weights?

[DeSean]

Ok. Here is the situation:

 

I installed a PCI IDE controller card. Using a molex cale that was apparently stable, I attached an old Quantum Sirocco HDD. I booted the system and the drive worked. When I entered Windows the system hard locked - i forgot to restart after the post beep. I restarted and installed the drivers via USB as I didn't want to risk another CD drive.

 

So, anybody know how it is possible for an IDE controller to damage connected drives?

 

And by the way, this board has caused nothing but problems. I can take bugs here and there, but this is a joke. DFI will hear about this soon.

[Praz]

What psu are you using now?

[CPDMF]

I can see the CFX3200 corrupting/destroying data on hard drives but physical damage to the drive I can only see happening by constant reboots in the middle of a seek or load. The CFX3200 is about the most tempermental board I have used, the default memory timings are a joke and will lead to a number of problems. If you don't have a good setup in the bios from the beginning it will cause you all sorts of grief..

[DeSean]

I only have one PSU which is the Silverstone in my sig. There are others in the house but they either dont belong to me or I wouldn't trust them with any dual core CPU.

 

I am really shocked that it seems to be a motherboard problem. Any chance it could be an IDE cable? I don't remember which cable I used when the first two drives broke.

 

Although I agree that it seems really strange, the drives all died within seconds of power-up. (Although I didn't hear the DVD drive go). Therefore, I don't think it is due to a long running problem with the way the drives were being treated in the system.

[k€lticknight]

did you try the ide drives on another system

[DeSean]

Do you mean after they went pop and started to smell funny? I think I know what you mean: that the drives may have been badly kept etc before I reinstalled them. However I think that the death of the HP DVD drive which was already installed proves that there is something going on inside the system. (Both the power and data cables were changed to allow for the HDD)

[Praz]

I am really shocked that it seems to be a motherboard problem.

I have reread this thread several times. I'm still at a loss to why you would make this statement. Which one of your posts explain the reasoning for blaming the motherboard and not the power supply?