Computer boots up, then fries the MB

[tylerdrumr]

A friend of mine fried his MotherBoard, so he got a replacement. That one ran for about 3-5 mins before frying as well. He did this 2 more times with the exact same results (why he did this idk.)
So when cyber Monday came around he bought a new case, ram, motherboard. After installing the new components the same thing happened again.

Also I should mention that the original setup in this story was with a 3 month old motherboard, ram, psu. (Before that I guess something went wrong with the old setup I guess.)

So Im kind of at a loss as to what is burning out all these motherboards of his. Im thinking it could be the PSU (3 month old raidmax 630w) but I thought I would ask you guys before telling him to go off and drop more cash on this pos.

ps: could he burn out the motherboard with a bad cpu or bad installation of its heat sink?

 

[Deemo13]

Raidmax do make some really really poor power supplies, but describe what you mean by "frying the motherboard" though.

 

[tylerdrumr]

Raidmax do make some really really poor power supplies, but describe what you mean by "frying the motherboard" though.

Yes, sorry about the poor description. When It burns out, it shuts the system down. When you try to power it back on, power gets supplied (case fans/ lights come on) but that's it.

Each time he replaced the MoBo it would power on for several minutes, before the same thing happens again.


edit: I have been informed that the latest MoBo casualty has blinking LEDs that correspond to the code: processor is in 3 phase power.

 

[Deemo13]

What are his specs?

 

[tylerdrumr]

What are his specs?

Msi 970a-g45 MoBo
Phenom 2 black quad core 3.4ghz
raidmax 630w psu
trooper x case
patriot psd38g1600kh 2 x 4gb
geforce gtx 550 ti

 

[wanderer11]

Sounds like that power supply to me. I wouldn't use a Raidmax if they paid me to.

 

[chugot9218]

Also make sure the standoffs are in, if he wasn't putting those in before installing the MOBO that is an easy way to keep frying em. But yeah people have lots of horror stories about cheap PSU's.

 

[wysir]

If you are an experienced buider, build the system with your friend to make sure he's building it correctly. To be on the safe side at the same time, grab another PSU.