Question PC died. I'm trying to figure out what happened.

[MineDraped]

Hi everyone and thanks for this forum,

I've had my PC for approximately 6 years now.
It was a custom built rig and has performed flawlessly that entire time.

However, I didn't use it for quite some time this year and one day a few months ago I was in my basement and noticed it was turned off.

I normally keep it on, but my life kind of sucks and I didn't want to think about it for reasons I go into below, so I left it off.

Just recently, I tried to turn it on and nothing happened. It was like the power button wasn't even there.

I took it into a shop and they told me it was the motherboard. They found a comparable motherboard and put it in. $150 for the motherboard and $150 for labor.

Now I'm being told that the GPU is fried as well. They're offering to order a comparable one and put it in (another $150), but that's something I can do myself.

I'm now trying to figure out what could have caused this or if I'm just the victim of bad luck.

The internet argues with itself all the time and I've gotten frustrated trying to research. Most sites say that it's pretty rare for both a motherboard and GPU to go at the same time unless the PSU is faulty, but that component seems to be working fine from what they've said.

Which has me thinking.

To go back a bit, I should have been (and part of me was) more concerned about my PC.

This year I had people working in my basement.

One of them used my PC case as a cutting board to cut and work sheetrock. My PC was turned off at the time and he covered it with a drop cloth material. I tried to get him to relocate, but it didn't work.

I don't know if this could have caused damage to these components, so that's one of my questions.

Could his sawing have caused significant enough vibrations to cause failure shortly down the line?

Another thing they did was plug self-regulating heat tape into the same outlet as my PC. I recently learned that this particular setup is a code violation (National Electrical Code) and am wondering if anyone has any information on whether It could have caused some sort of (I'm just throwing things out here) power fluctuations which could have damaged my PC. Self-regulating heat tape is legally required to be plugged into a ground fault protected circuit breaker. This is not.

Looking at all the fire and shock warnings on the tag on the self-regulating heat tape has me shaking my head, but I'm not an expert or electrician or anything.

Or am I just incredibly unlucky and my Mobo took out my GPU? Or vice versa? Or they both just happened to die independent of each other within a month or two of the above happenings?

Unfortunately, I've been very sick this year and don't know how long my PC lasted after the day they were here. At least a couple of weeks, but no more than 2 months.

And finally, should I be worried about any other components under any of the above scenarios?

This has all been pretty horrifying and I'm in shock. My PC is my baby.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these questions border on stupid at all, but the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked lol

Thanks again!

 

[SorryBella]

Or am I just incredibly unlucky and my Mobo took out my GPU? Or vice versa? Or they both just happened to die independent of each other within a month or two of the above happenings?

Yeah, sometimes that happened. Also, it wouldve been appreciated if you have said your system specs alongside the vent, so people can make an informed judgement.

 

[Cyberat_88]

You have the answer, just don't want to face it - "Another thing they did was plug self-regulating heat tape into the same outlet as my PC. I recently learned that this particular setup is a code violation (National Electrical Code) and am wondering if anyone has any information on whether It could have caused some sort of (I'm just throwing things out here) power fluctuations which could have damaged my PC. Self-regulating heat tape is legally required to be plugged into a ground fault protected circuit breaker. This is not.".
A short caused by such machines can fry an entire PC, if you're going to stow a PC away, disconnect from plugs, remove CMOS battery. Don't use as a cutting board or kick box for workers with no ethics.

 

[MineDraped]

Yeah, sometimes that happened. Also, it wouldve been appreciated if you have said your system specs alongside the vent, so people can make an informed judgement.

Thanks for your reply!
Sorry if my vent was too long.
Didn't even think to include specs.

Mobo: ASUS Rog Strix Z270H Gaming.

GPU: EVGA 1060 6 GB.

Other (pertinent) components:
PSU: EVGA G3 Gold 750w, Fully Modular.
CPU: Intel i7 7700

Case is a Fraktal Define R4.

Built semi tank like, but I don't know that it was tough enough to withstand what they did.

And of course if it was the heat cable, nothing would have helped.

 

[MineDraped]

You have the answer, just don't want to face it - "Another thing they did was plug self-regulating heat tape into the same outlet as my PC. I recently learned that this particular setup is a code violation (National Electrical Code) and am wondering if anyone has any information on whether It could have caused some sort of (I'm just throwing things out here) power fluctuations which could have damaged my PC. Self-regulating heat tape is legally required to be plugged into a ground fault protected circuit breaker. This is not.".
A short caused by such machines can fry an entire PC, if you're going to stow a PC away, disconnect from plugs, remove CMOS battery. Don't use as a cutting board or kick box for workers with no ethics.

Thanks for your reply as well!

It sounds to me like you're saying what they did is definitely the cause.
That's what I'm trying to figure out.
The work was being done for free by a local state-sponsored organization for me because I'm disabled.
My furnace died and this work was all to get a new high efficiency one put in.

If they fried my PC, then I'd like to know so I can speak with them and get the repairs for it covered.
I can't even afford to get it completely up and running. And I'm afraid that if I do, other components are going to fail soon anyway now.

Local shops have all told me that my PC would have died immediately if it was due to what these workers did.

I don't really believe in such coincidences.

The PC wasn't in storage. It's my primary (and only) PC. I turned it back on before they left and all seemed fine. I just didn't use it much after because I've been sick.

I tried to stop the guy from cutting the sheetrock on it, but he simply wouldn't listen. I was utterly terrified at the time.

I had no idea that the heat cable was anything dangerous until I unplugged the PC to take it to the shop.
Then I saw the warning tag on it and did some research.
The HVAC guy who plugged it in (it's being used to keep the new furnace's drain condensate line from freezing) didn't say a word.

It's not that I don't want to face it, it's that I'm extremely sad and upset that this happened to me.

These people were supposed to be helping, but were instead rude, condescending and seemingly caused me irreparable harm.

And sorry if I'm ranting too much.
This is all too devastating for words.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It sounds to me like you're saying what they did is definitely the cause.
That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Excessive dust and excessive vibrations in construction area are not suitable for computer equipment.
Computer hardware has to be removed from such areas.
Dust kills fans, hardware overheats and dies. Vibrations kill hard drives, damage mounting points of heavy components like cpu coolers and heavy graphics cards.

Death of your hardware is a logical conclusion, I'm afraid.

 

[SkyNetRising]

They found a comparable motherboard and put it in. $150 for the motherboard and $150 for labor.

$150 for work to replace motherboard seems excessive.
Did your system have custom liquid cooling installed or something?
That would be the only way to justify such costs.

 

[punkncat]

First thing, don't take it back to that shop for paid service. That sounds like Geek Squad at their finest. You have already spent $300 and they have already tried to hit with another $300 that could have been spent towards a newer system, for instance.

In a case like this, you have a CPU with iGPU, so if the only issue ongoing now (according to them) is a bad graphics card, you should be able to remove it, plug into the mobo video output and confirm.
Your stating that the power button doesn't work even after the mobo change seems quite unusual, particularly after paying that shop. If I am understanding that aspect correctly. If you have paid that much I might consider going back to the shop and have them walk you through their process and have them show you the machine operational. You paid enough to expect that, and in absense of it would consider asking for a refund and or a dispute of charges. Basically robbery.

I wouldn't focus too much on the maybe and perhaps stuff about the workers.You have no workable timeline as proof that at the moment they did said things that the PC quit working. It could easily have been a storm, surge, or even just equipment failure.

Are you capable of some low level troubleshooting?
I would go in and remove the GPU, remove the front panel connectors, check all other power connections and try to short the power button pins on the mobo with a screwdriver to see if there is any response or sign of life.

 

[MineDraped]

@SkyNetRising,

Thanks so much for your replies!

That was my fear while he was working on that sheetrock. Utter terror actually.
Repeated warnings just went unheeded.
I'm not sure if the guy even knew what a PC was. He just saw a big black box that was conveniently placed and started working while I was upstairs talking with another worker.


As for the $150 labor at the shop, I got conned there as well. They were the only place in town who offered a free diagnostic. Everyone else I called wanted at least $80 just to tell me what was wrong (though that also included any service/labor fee).

It went downhill fast from there. He called me later that day and said that the motherboard had died but thankfully everything else was fine.

Since my PC was already there and he did the diagnostics for free I agreed to $150 in labor and thought that would be the end once the new motherboard arrived and was installed.

Then yesterday (took about a week) I got a call saying that they put in the new motherboard and now my GPU is dead. This was despite them saying everything else was good before I agreed to anything.

I wouldn't have agreed to pay them at all had I known other portions had failed. I would have taken my PC home and looked at different options.

That's money that could have gone toward a new rig, for example.

At this point it's obvious he didn't do any full diagnostics, so it seems like I'm going to be stuck paying them $300 for what they did just to get my PC back (it's essentially being held hostage) and then having to take it somewhere else to get actual diagnostics on the rest of the PC.

This is just atrocious.

Once again, thanks for the replies and if you or anyone else have any advice for me or ideas they'd be appreciated!

 

[punkncat]

Don't overlook the power of a well placed group of reviews. Even if it doesn't work out for you, it would spin the 'wheel' towards good to warn others of that manner of shyster-like service.

 

[MineDraped]

@punkncat,
Thank you so much for your replies as well!

My reply to SkyNetRising above goes into most of this as well, but I wanted to reply to you too.

Supposedly, the PC works now with the new motherboard. I haven't seen it. Sorry if my earlier writings were confusing in this regard. I'm using talk to text on my phone and am anxiety-posting lol

The problem is that they told me everything was fine except the motherboard and now suddenly they want more money because the graphics card is fried too. And somehow each charge is exactly $150. The motherboard was $150, this GPU is $150. Labor is $150. And I better act quick because this GPU they found is on sale!

That makes me wonder what else is fried. Did they properly test my PSU? My horribly expensive sound card? Anything else at all? I seriously doubt it.

That means I'll have to take it somewhere else and spend even more money just to get back to where I started.

I thankfully have a ride to get there tomorrow morning and plan on asking for proof of life on my PC and then getting it the heck out of that shop.

It'll cost me $300 for work they said they did but apparently didn't.

I spoke with my bank today and they told me I could potentially file a dispute after the fact, but it would be hard to prove on my end so long as the PC functions at all because it was dead when I dropped it off.

I never imagined this in a million years.

With regards to the original cause of death:
My hope is that I'll be able to reach out to the project manager overseeing the guys who did the original work in my house and they'll work with me regarding this.

They're a major state-funded organization here in my city for low income and disabled people. Even though I don't have an exact timeline due to my illness, I think it's pretty apparent that their work caused the issues and hope he agrees. They're not allowed to break stuff in people's homes.

And I just saw your second reply about reviews! Thanks for that one too. I'll definitely be going after this place in every way I can once my PC is free from their clutches. They somehow have all five star Google reviews, so I'm pretty shocked that they did this to me.

I would have been better off with Geek Squad.

Thanks again!

 

[stonecarver]

I would ask for your old parts back. Tell the shop your going to try to sell to recoup repair cost to sell them. Shop will be less aggressive about giving you back your parts, but I bet you will get oh we threw them out already. If you get them back.

At least you can in the future have the piece of mind that maybe just maybe the motherboard is not dead and you didn't give the shop another part they can flip.

Not saying everything you listed that happened to it in your basement is not %100 the reason your where you are at this point but I have fixed so many dead motherboards with a new battery.

There are a handful of systems that if the battery is dead does nothing when you hit the power button. Was that you issue , who knows or indeed the power supply.

I don't trust shops. I always mark the back of the motherboard with a sharpie with date I worked on it and leave my mark. Had a system come back where the owner had an issue long after I fixed it. They took it to a shop and was charged for a replacement motherboard. When I got it back it had the motherboard I had worked on earlier. At the shop they were showed computer worked. Took home a month later brought it back to me. It was dead again.

All the shop did was clean out computer and put a half dead motherboard battery in system. Charged a crapload for the repair.

All the system needed was a New fresh battery.

 

[MineDraped]

@stonecarver,

Thanks for the advice! I just called them and unfortunately the guy who worked on my PC isn't working and the girl I spoke with claimed total ignorance on what was wrong with it or what had been done to it. I guess they don't keep records of their work.

I asked for my old parts back (I called right after I read your message so thank you for the reminder!) and she said I'd be getting them. So that's good.

The Guy who did the work told me he tried a new CMOS battery in my old Mobo and it didn't work, but I don't trust a word these guys said at this point.

I don't know if any of the other parts are dead or failing. Or if any tests were ever conducted on them.

The scariest thing now is that they're even refusing to provide proof of life in the shop. She told me she couldn't turn it on in front of me in the store. But that she'd "double check it" beforehand to make sure it was working right.

I don't know what to do about that one.

 

[punkncat]

That last part is quite unusual.

A friend of mine purchased an HP Omen and it would not power up properly. He returned one, took the next one up to the service desk and the PC powered on without issue. He takes it back home and it won't work. Brings it to me, works fine. Ends up that we figured out an issue with his home power, but the short story being that if the store hadn't powered up the machine, there would have been no proof or telling that it was capable of operating properly.

 

[Zerk2012]

@stonecarver,

Thanks for the advice! I just called them and unfortunately the guy who worked on my PC isn't working and the girl I spoke with claimed total ignorance on what was wrong with it or what had been done to it. I guess they don't keep records of their work.

I asked for my old parts back (I called right after I read your message so thank you for the reminder!) and she said I'd be getting them. So that's good.

The Guy who did the work told me he tried a new CMOS battery in my old Mobo and it didn't work, but I don't trust a word these guys said at this point.

I don't know if any of the other parts are dead or failing. Or if any tests were ever conducted on them.

The scariest thing now is that they're even refusing to provide proof of life in the shop. She told me she couldn't turn it on in front of me in the store. But that she'd "double check it" beforehand to make sure it was working right.

I don't know what to do about that one.

So far they sold you a motherboard and that was no fix now they say the video card also. Take the video card out and use the CPU built in graphics if they are right then it will work.

 

[Cyberat_88]

Very sad this happened to you, all the workers had to do is unplug your PC and move it to a safer space.
Takes less than a minute. Hope you can & will go after them to recoup your money.

 

[MineDraped]

@punkncat
Thanks again!
I've never even heard of such a thing. Not showing me that it works before I leave isn't good for them (or me, but especially them).
On top of situations like you described, if I get it home and it doesn't work, or if any other components don't work, then I'll dispute the charge and get my money back. I thankfully have a witness to 99% of all this.

She told me that she wouldn't be able to power it up at the counter.
It's a PC repair shop for crying out loud.
I'd think they'd have places to plug in PCs somewhere.
A reputable shop would turn it on and show me that it was alive and well and that all remaining major components were working properly using integrated graphics.

I was reading their Google reviews yesterday and numerous people were talking about bringing their PCs in, having them turn them on, test things and do work right in front of them. Often for free.

I now believe those reviews to be faked. Somehow. The vast majority reference the names of two specific workers who (as far as I can tell) don't exist. None of them mention the people I've been working with.

This just keeps getting better and better.


@Zerk2012
Thanks to you as well!
Supposedly the new motherboard (which is a slight downgrade from my old motherboard, but they tried telling me was an upgrade) works.

But their current stance is that they can't tell me what else was tested on the machine and won't turn it on for me when I go in to make sure everything is functional.

For all I know some of my hard drives are fried along with my sound card.
If the PSU wasn't tested properly, it could obviously just end up destroying everything. Again.

I'm still lost as to how/why everything else was fine but the Mobo last week, but now the graphics card is apparently dead.

I asked her about that and she said she didn't know because she wasn't the one who worked on my PC, but that maybe it worked when he first tested it and died sometime afterward.

I don't think she realizes that would mean the failure is on them. It was in their possession and being tested/used/installed by them this entire time.

I've decided to wait to pick it up until next week when the guy who did the work is back in the shop.

I'm going to push for an explanation and stop being Mr. Nice Guy once I'm there.


@Cyberat_88
Thanks for the kind words!
All the guy had to do was use his own cutting board. Or something else in the area. My PC just happened to be convenient, flat and right near where he was working, so...here I am.

I've reached out to the project manager but so far have no idea what will happen. I think they're closed on Fridays so I should learn more early next week.

Given their status and role in my community, I sincerely hope that they'll work with me and take care of this. Thinking back now, I should have involved them prior to taking it to a shop.

If they won't help, I'm pretty certain I can take it up with people higher up in the State if I want to.
I hope it doesn't come to that or result in any animosity because as a disabled homeowner, I rely on this organization for a number of things.

I'm completely devastated that this happened and seems to be getting worse every time I turn around.

Hopefully that'll change soon.

Thanks again to you and everyone else!

 

[Zerk2012]

But their current stance is that they can't tell me what else was tested on the machine and won't turn it on for me when I go in to make sure everything is functional.

Sounds like your getting taken for a ride!

They say the video card is bad now it's really simple to pull the card out , plug the monitor into the motherboard and see if it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MineDraped]

Sounds like your getting taken for a ride!

They say the video card is bad now it's really simple to pull the card out , plug the monitor into the motherboard and see if it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Exactly! That's what they say they're doing ("again," to "double check" everything) in anticipation of me coming to pick it up. But for some reason have told me they won't turn it on while I'm there.

Like I wrote to punkncat though, that's their bad.

I'll have someone with me and if it doesn't work when I get home, I'll be calling my bank and disputing the charges.

I've already spoken with my bank and they told me to demand to see it working before I pay anything, but the place isn't cooperating.

Any legitimate place would.

Saddest part of all of this though is that I don't/didn't want any of this garbage. I just wanted a fair transaction that got my PC diagnosed, tested and working properly again. Simple.

How I ended up here is beyond me. The only real upside is that they told me I'd be getting my old parts back. And I should (somewhere) have all the serial numbers to check and make sure they're my actual parts.

Thanks again!

 

[beyondlogic]

Hi everyone and thanks for this forum,

I've had my PC for approximately 6 years now.
It was a custom built rig and has performed flawlessly that entire time.

However, I didn't use it for quite some time this year and one day a few months ago I was in my basement and noticed it was turned off.

I normally keep it on, but my life kind of sucks and I didn't want to think about it for reasons I go into below, so I left it off.

Just recently, I tried to turn it on and nothing happened. It was like the power button wasn't even there.

I took it into a shop and they told me it was the motherboard. They found a comparable motherboard and put it in. $150 for the motherboard and $150 for labor.

Now I'm being told that the GPU is fried as well. They're offering to order a comparable one and put it in (another $150), but that's something I can do myself.

I'm now trying to figure out what could have caused this or if I'm just the victim of bad luck.

The internet argues with itself all the time and I've gotten frustrated trying to research. Most sites say that it's pretty rare for both a motherboard and GPU to go at the same time unless the PSU is faulty, but that component seems to be working fine from what they've said.

Which has me thinking.

To go back a bit, I should have been (and part of me was) more concerned about my PC.

This year I had people working in my basement.

One of them used my PC case as a cutting board to cut and work sheetrock. My PC was turned off at the time and he covered it with a drop cloth material. I tried to get him to relocate, but it didn't work.

I don't know if this could have caused damage to these components, so that's one of my questions.

Could his sawing have caused significant enough vibrations to cause failure shortly down the line?

Another thing they did was plug self-regulating heat tape into the same outlet as my PC. I recently learned that this particular setup is a code violation (National Electrical Code) and am wondering if anyone has any information on whether It could have caused some sort of (I'm just throwing things out here) power fluctuations which could have damaged my PC. Self-regulating heat tape is legally required to be plugged into a ground fault protected circuit breaker. This is not.

Looking at all the fire and shock warnings on the tag on the self-regulating heat tape has me shaking my head, but I'm not an expert or electrician or anything.

Or am I just incredibly unlucky and my Mobo took out my GPU? Or vice versa? Or they both just happened to die independent of each other within a month or two of the above happenings?

Unfortunately, I've been very sick this year and don't know how long my PC lasted after the day they were here. At least a couple of weeks, but no more than 2 months.

And finally, should I be worried about any other components under any of the above scenarios?

This has all been pretty horrifying and I'm in shock. My PC is my baby.

Thanks in advance and sorry if these questions border on stupid at all, but the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked lol

Thanks again!

how long has the pc been sitting in the basement.

things to know about motherboards and components in general they dont like damp air

motherboards and graphic cards are made of layers in the pcb if the pc is heating up moist air it can cause the pcb to expand and contract widening and cracking the pcb or components joints to fail.