IS THIS POSSIBLE

mdaw

mdaw

mdaw

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Joined
18 Apr 2013
Posts
603
Hi all.

Im starting to wonder if I have a virus on my SSD or my HDD that is killing motherboards.

Reason being I was told by a computer shop that my motherboard had gone wrong after it would boot for a few seconds then cut off and restart. All components appeared to be working but nothing actually happened. Nothing on screen at all.

I then bought another cpu and motherboard from a friend and set this up would only turn on for about a second and then cut out and retry again and again and again. My friend took these two back to see if he could get it working and has managed to get it to stay on much like my old motherboard did but same problem where nothing will show on screen. Thats with a different HDD and other components connected.

Do you think its just another faulty motherboard or could i have caused this by connecting my SSD or HDD and possibly transferring a virus to this motherboard too. I dont want to buy a whole new motherboard and cpu again and have the same thing happen.
 
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I dont believe its the power supply as i tried two myself and on his power supply he also had the same problem at first. He then cleaned a few bits and then it stayed powered on. The problem is the same as my old motherboard now where it stays on but nothing comes on screen not even bios. The computer is moving but nothing actually gets processed is what it feels like. Thats why im worried its something on either my SSD or HDD causing this to happen via a virus.
 
You wont have a virus on the motherboard ever, as there are no physical storage components on the board, you can only get viruses on your hard drive and in you RAM, I guess you could get them in your CPU as it has a cache, but ive never heard of this.

Sounds to me like you have a serious short going on somewhere, remove everything from the case and build it on a box with just barebone components, motherboard, CPU, 1 stick of RAM, a reliable PSU and GFX card if you have no on-board GFX.
 
Sounds like a PSU problem, sorry but it's got all the classic signs. The PSUs your trying may be under powered too.

It's incredibly unlikely to be a virus, it's more likely to be a PSU or bad mounting of motherboards/short somewhere.
 
Have you made sure you're using standoffs? The motherboard touching the side of the case could cause what you describe & would be very likely to kill it.

To repeat what Jamin said try building outside of the case on a cardboard box.

Minimise what components you are connecting. Try just the mobo, CPU & RAM then if that works add one at a time until it goes wrong. If it doesn't work with just the above then it's nothing to do with your HDDs.

As others have said, a virus is not a likely cause, faulty hardware or a mistake are massively more likely.
 
I have tried two 550w psu's. Easily enough to power it.

I have tried building it outside the case as well. Same problem. Also tried using minimal stuff on the board i.e 1 ram, only on board graphics. Still the same problem occured.

I cant understand how two 550w psu's could not power a dell motherboard and core i5 650 when previously they powered everything listed in my signature no problem at all for 5 years. The xfx is basically a seasonic so good quality and also had some good reviews as well. It is a XFX pro 550w. The other is a cheaper brand (ez cool) i think. Hence the reason for changing to the xfx even though the ez cool was working fine. Not sure what power my friends is but dont think its anything special.
 
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If you're trying to start it with minimal things attached and it's still happening then it's not your HDD, something else is going wrong. (I'm assuming your HDD is not attached when you say minimal stuff)

If it's powering off quickly for you but not your mate I'd look at what all is different - you've tried multiple PSUs, are you using the same RAM? Maybe try a different stick. Are you using the same slot for the RAM? Are you using the same fan header for the CPU fan? etc.
 
Yeah we are using the same ram and heatsink.

Hdd not connected.

The problem now is that it stays on but nothing actually seems to be actually happening. As i say it wont even load to bios. Nothing appears on the screen at all. It started to stay on once he had wiped some thermal paste off the underside of the cpu is what he told me a few hours ago. How that got there is anyones guess as i never removed the cpu. But nothing on screen.
 
Having not seen it im not sure. I believe he has got any thermal paste that was there off both. If all thermal paste has gone would this have left damage?
 
It certainly wouldn't have done any good if it had made contact between adjoining pins (i.e. creating an electrical path).

Worst case scenario? Damaged cpu.:(
 
UnfortunatelyI have seen this before, and would explain multiple dead motherboards, thermal paste does not go in the socket and has never in history gone in the socket or on pins, refer to the manual if you are unsure about anything like that.

You only need a very very tiny amount between the CPU and whichever heatsink you are using, all thermal paste is used for is to iron out the tiny imperfections between the base of the heatsink and the TOP of the CPU.

If a tiny bit is in the socket, you may be able to remove it with some isopropanol alcohol and a cotton bud, but you have to very careful not to bend any pins, they are easy to bend, however if the socket is filled with paste, then the best place for that board is the bin, if your lucky, the CPU is ok.
 
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