2 dead boards

[ever7]

Built a system with an ASRock MSA770DE which wouldn't power on. After some fiddling it seemed to work but then went dead followed by a diode on the board blowing. Figuring it was a short, replaced the board and the case. System ran well for 2 months and then the same diode blew on the new board after the system shutdown inexplicably. So, before I ruin a third board, what should I be looking at, testing etc.

System:
- ASRock M3A770DE ATX Motherboard
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (125W) Quad Core
- G.SKILL NQ Series DDR3 1333MHz (PC3-10666) 4GB
- AMD Radeon HD 6870
- Antec EA-500D Green EarthWatts 500W Continuous Power Supply

Thanks.

 

[o1die]

I would replace the power supply; would have replaced it after the first board failed. Anytime you get a catastrofic failure with sparks or other physical damage, it's always safer to replace the ps at the same time.

 

[totalknowledge]

That psu model is a respected one, I would RMA it and get a new one.

 

[ever7]

Hmmm... How can I be sure it's the PSU? Any testing you can recommend?

 

[kitsunestarwind]

You can buy cheap PSU testers that all the leads on a PSU can plug into.
These only give you basic voltage testing, not Load testing

 

[ever7]

Ok. Thanks lads. Will replace the psu, Appreciate the advice

 

[ever7]

Best answer selected by ever7.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr