Question Fauly Sound System caused my PC to malfunction. Can I fix this?

Apr 17, 2020
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Hi all, I have a big problem with my physical computer. Windows will randomly blue screen as frequenely as once an hour sometimes I can go weeks without a bluescreen. Recently I have been having a lot more bluescreens and the computer does strange things before it even gets into windows such as one of my monitors not turning on or it will restart multiple times before getting to the operating system. I know that the problem was a faulty subwoofer that was plugged into the computer's rear headphone port. I believe it was either drawing or sending power into/out of the port which has damaged something. That subwoofer is not plugged into my computer anymore and it hasn't been for almost a year but I'm not sure what is damaged.

My first guess is the motherboard mostly because the headphone port is soldered directly to the board. My second reason to think it's the motherboard is the malfunctions before booting to windows which is controlled by the BIOS which is on the motherboard. Whatever this has done has made the PC act so strange. I can't update any drivers or windows becomes very unstable, sometimes I have to unplug and plug in monitors for them to display anything, Sometimes the whole thing will freeze when I unplug something. No drive activity light or anything.
I don't think a crash dump is needed as the problem isnt with software. Updating drives makes everything worse. Is my whole rig ruined? Is it just the motherboard or processor or something? Please help!
(I have run a memory diagnostics test and my results were clean.)
(I have ran chkdsk and my drives are good)
I am running two two SSD drives, No hard drives.

Specs:
CPU: AMD 8300 8 core 3.3GHz with turbo to 4.2GHz
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
Motherboard: Biostar A960D+V2
RAM: 16GB DDR3 (2 x 8GB) (Forgot the frequency soz)
PSU: 750W

Yes, I will upgrade my weak CPU

Just to clarify I want to know what's damaged.
Thanks to anyone who can help!
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events that correspond to BSOD's etc..

SSDs: Make, model, capacity, how full?

Make and model 750 watt PSU: age, condition?

Power down, unplug, and open the case.

Clean out dust and debris. Reseat all cables, cards, RAM, jumpers etc. to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place.
 
Apr 17, 2020
15
0
10
Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events that correspond to BSOD's etc..

SSDs: Make, model, capacity, how full?

Make and model 750 watt PSU: age, condition?

Power down, unplug, and open the case.

Clean out dust and debris. Reseat all cables, cards, RAM, jumpers etc. to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place.

Reseated everything, no difference as expected. Hardly any dust to clean but still, no dice.

Power supply: Corsiar CX750M (2 years and 6 months old, not sure of condition.)

SSDs: Crucial ct1000mx500ssd1 (secondary drive 32% used)
WD blue WDS250G2B0A-00SM50 (windows drive 57% used)

I used to have two hard drives however the main one died and I swapped them out with the SSDs about 4 months ago. The problem is still here though.

I know that the subwoofer was the problem because the last computer it was plugged into did the exact same thing until there was little snap sound and then it restarted and never ran properly again. The power supply was good though because I tested it with another machine with no issues.

Event viewer shows lots of critical errors blaming random windows drivers. I don't trust the error reports because of how random they are.
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Random errors are symptomatic of a faulty/failing PSU.

If Event Viewer is flagging drivers that raises the question about the drivers.

How are you installing drivers: manually direct from manufacturer's websites or via some third party tool/utility?

Run the applicable manufacturer's disk drive diagnostics on each drive.

Run "sfc /scannow" and "dism" via the Command Prompt. Both look for and fix Windows related problems.

As always, be sure that you have backed up all data. Verify that the data is recoverable and readable.
 
Apr 17, 2020
15
0
10
Random errors are symptomatic of a faulty/failing PSU.

If Event Viewer is flagging drivers that raises the question about the drivers.

How are you installing drivers: manually direct from manufacturer's websites or via some third party tool/utility?

Run the applicable manufacturer's disk drive diagnostics on each drive.

Run "sfc /scannow" and "dism" via the Command Prompt. Both look for and fix Windows related problems.

As always, be sure that you have backed up all data. Verify that the data is recoverable and readable.
I have ran tests on both drives, both reporting to have no error and no data damaged. I also tried another power supply that I know is good because I burrowed it from another computer that works fine. Still bluescreens. Every time I try to update any driver it makes my computer get stuck in a bootloop. It runs better when I don't update any drivers. Specifically when I update my graphics drivers is when I get a lot of problems.
All I need to know is what would be the first thing damaged if a high current was drawn from or sent into the headphone port. I have the CPU from the other computer that the subwoofer killed, I'm not sure if that's good but should I try it?
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
If high current was sent into the headphone port it would be, in my mind, difficult to know exactly where that current "went". And there is also a heavy dependency on just what voltage the subwoofer shoved into the audio port.

Electricity seeks the path of least resistance but that does not specify one particular path. You can easily see that by watching lightning: a single atmospheric bolt can and does have many branches. Each branch representing an "easier" path that was found.

You could probably work out some probable paths via the motherboard's schematics. E.g., many circuits have built in safeguards to route excess current to ground (earth). Maybe at the cost of blowing a replaceable fuse or tripping a circuit breaker. However, the safeguard may not be enough or "react" quickly enough. Plus many such circuits can only survive a limited number of hits. Surge protectors are rated in Joules and damage is cumulative.

Yes - you can try the other CPU but you must understand that if the motherboard is permanently damaged in some unknown or invisible manner that CPU #2 could be destroyed.

What makes it all the more difficult is that CPU #2 might work until some unique configuration of hardware, software, connections until something happens (e.g., subwoofer plugged in). Then "zap" - CPU #2 is killed.

Components may die quickly and quietly or with heat, smoke, and sparks. Blown capacitors for example.

Reading back: " Specifically when I update my graphics drivers is when I get a lot of problems".

Where are you getting the GPU drivers? Verify that you are using the applicable drivers and that they are being downloaded directly from the manufacturer's website. Have you tried rolling back to earlier versions?

Download manually, reinstall, and reconfigure. No third party tools.

Also. Try running the built in iGPU if supported by motherboard and CPU. Appears that the motherboard supports VGA and DVI graphics. Not sure about the CPU's per se.

Do so with a normal boot and, failing that, try safe mode.
 
Apr 17, 2020
15
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Sorry for the long reply, I have just installed a brand new power supply out of the box, I know it's the correct rating for this machine but I'm still in the same situation. My SSDs are certainly not the problem as they are relatively new and the problems has been happening before I had them. I believe that the only things to blame now is my CPU, RAM, GPU or the Motherboard.
I have tried everything on the software side, I have reinstalled windows, Updated drivers, Downgraded drivers and completely uninstalled them and not a single difference (and yes I do get them from the reccomended websites). It's not effected by what I'm doing (Not more likely to bluescreen if I'm playing a game or if i'm just on desktop). It just happens and still blames random drivers. I have been looking for solutions for over a year and never seen anyone else have this issue. I also know that it was that specific subwoofer that damages things because everything its plugged into malfunctions after a few days. And the longer it's plugged in the worse the problem gets. Obviously I haven't got it plugged in now, Replaced by a new one that works fine (Yes I have tried using no speakers and still the same result). I have checked my motherboard's voltage monitor and all voltages are within the tolerances. So now it's either the Motherboard, RAM, CPU or GPU. Really hoping it's not all of them because I will have to buy a console if I cant fix this and I really don't want to play a console.

TLDR: It's not drivers or software, not the power supply or SSD going wrong, The subwoofer is definitely what screwed my machine up, It's either the RAM, CPU, GPU or motherboard.

Please help !!! (Getting really desperate!!)
 
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