PC Case FRYING my motherboard

[woody599]

Hi guys,

Have any of you heard of this happening before? I'm building a rig for a friend, nothing fancy just a very basic system. The main components consist of:

- Gigabyte F2A68HM-HD2 Motherboard
- Corsair 450W
- HyperX FURY Series 4GB DDR3 1866MHz
- AMD APU A8 7650K Black Edition
- DYNAMODE DYNA-GC7810 LockStock Series Gaming M-ATX Computer Case - Black

I believe the case is the culprit with this problem. I originally built the PC with all components, and nothing would power.. not even a half spin from the fans. Then I took the motherboard OUT of the case, tried powering it and it worked! So after this I put it back into the case, tried powering it and it didn't start. I took it back out of the case, and this time it failed to work despite it working previously. All that happens is the smallest movement from the CPU fan.

I replaced the motherboard with a new one, thinking that perhaps this was the problem. The same problem happened again.. it worked OUTSIDE of the case, tried it in the case.. nothing. And after trying it IN the case, I think perhaps it is blowing a component on the motherboard or something, because it no longer works outside after this.

Have you guys ever heard of a case doing this? I can't think what else could be causing this problem. I tried all the other components in my own rig which worked. The case was the only product I cheaped out on, it is a pretty cheap and crappy case.. so maybe this is my own fault. But I never once suspected that a case could fry TWO motherboards.

Cheers guys

 

[amtseung]

I once bought an InWin 303 that fried two motherboards. I then took the issue straight to InWin and did a little back and forth on it, and eventually just sent them the defective case, and they later said they'd change the manufacturing process (which is really vague).

Usually, when a case is murdering motherboards, it's one of a few things, including but not limited to rogue motherboard standoffs, incorrectly sized motherboard standoffs, and rogue shards of metal left over from cutting/manufacturing. Usually it's the motherboard standoffs. Triple check for any extra standoffs that don't line up with the motherboard, and use one of your dead motherboards to check to see that the board isn't bending while it's being screwed down. If it's warping under pressure, something is wrong.

Oh, and check for rogue cables behind the motherboard, and check for rogue PSU cables. You could have a nicked/damaged power cable that's shorting against the case, which isn't happening when the system is assembled in open air.

 

[geofelt]

I suspect that the case is shorting out your motherboard.
Look carefully at the standoffs and how they match up to the motherboard holes.
You did use standoff risers I hope?
Possibly the screw heads used to secure the motherboards were too large and caused a short.

And, fwiw, I would not build using an APU unless the pc would never be upgraded in the future.