Same problem on 3 different PCs

[Alex526]

Hello everyone! I have an interesting problem which I don't know how to solve anymore. I'll start from the beginning.
I have 3 PCs: 8 year old P4 with x850xt, 5 year old AMD3800 with 7900gto and 4 year old C2D e6700 with 8800gt.
P4 worked fine, never had any problem. But it was the time to upgrade it so I got an AMD3800, both of them came from the store, I didn't build them and didn't change any hardware inside them.
AMD worked fine for the first few weeks but then one day when I tried to power it, the CPU fan started at max speed and never went down, the screen stayed black all the time. I gave it to my friend to test. Everything worked fine when he tested. It booted to windows, he kept it running for a few days and then gave it back to me. He didn't find any problem. But when I got it back home and tried to power it up, I got the same problem again - cpu fan at max speed, screen is black, nothing happens. I brought it back to the store. They didn't find any problem, it worked just fine. I brought it back home, same problem again. My fiend needed a PC, it worked when he tested so I gave it to him and bought a new which I built myself this time.
e6700 with zalman 9500
p5n32-e sli plus
4Gb some ddr2 ram (it was in supported list for this mb)
SB X-Fi fatal1ty
620W PSU
500Gb hdd
22" LCD
The new system worked great for many years. But today, this morning, 4 years after I bought it I tried to power it up and my CPU fan suddenly started to spin at max speed and screen stayed black all the time. I thought something is broken (PC is already too old). I reset bios, I tried to pull out ram, disconnected everything except cpu, gpu (tried 3 different, no effect), 1 stick ram and monitor. Nothing helped.
And here comes the interesting part!
I finally decided that the problem is in MB or PSU. I wanted to test my PSU from e6700 on my old P4. I brought back my P4 which always worked. Powered it on with his PSU to make sure that it still works after been off for like 5 years and... CPU fan at max and screen stays black. I got the same problem on 3 PCs! But the P4 always worked and 2 of my PCs suddenly stopped to work in the same day? All of them are completely different. I did not pull anything out and put it in another. I tried to power then on in my bed room, kitchen, another room, same problem everyone:
All three run their CPU fans at max speed and don't show anything at all (except the LG and Acer logo when I turn displays on). But!! P4 gives away some signal like an ambulance and 1 beep then it finally showed a message something thermal event (overheating).... few second later it powered off. So e6700 and AMD simply run their cpu fans at max, don't show anything at displays and it will continue until I power them off. While P4 also runs his cpu fan at max and also show a message about overheating and then powers off. P4 and AMD are using the stock coolers, e6700 uses zalman 9500. They all have the same problem, and two of them broke in the same day in different rooms, how is it even possible?

I would really appreciate any suggestion.
Alex

 

[casualbuilder]

Actually, it sounds like you burnt out your cpu's. You had an overheating message on there? i would say either your heatsink fan went, and caused your cpu to burn out, or your cpu started to overheat, causing your heatsink fan to go into max rpms, and still burnt out cuz your cpu was too hot. Did you OC your processor at all? what were the temps in your house? Did you get a beep sequence from your mobo? if you did, what exactly was your beep sequence?

 

[nordlead]

If I understood this correctly this is a new problem that just started happening. With 3 different PSU/Mobo combos.

If you are getting too much power on a non-active PFC PSU, then it could be causing your problems.

Check your input voltage at the wall outlet. If the power doesn't measure 120v +/- 10% give the local utility a call and tell them you think there is a problem with the local transformer. I talked to one of my neighbors and he said that the power was coming in over 130v once because of a bad trasnformer (this was before I owned the house) They should come out and measure the power and fix any problems. If they confirm there was a problem you may be able to have your equipment covered by the utility or homeowners insurance.

 

[pepe2907]

nordlead +1

 

[Alex526]

Thanks guys! I had some busy day today at university. So I didn't have enough time to test everything. But here is what I found out... One of four pins on cpu fan on P4 was slightly off. It was in my basement for many years. I guess I had accidentally kicked it or something. I simply put it back, I also applied some arctic silver on it. I was able to power it on, boot into the windows. Everything seems to work, the temps are good as well.
Likely p5n32-e sli plus also supports that P4 so here is what I did:
I replaced e6700 with P4
8800gt with x850xt
corsair 620w with Fsp group 400w
I left the cpu fan, MB, ram, hdds the same.
And it seems to work! I'm going to put everything back one by one and see the results.
Too bad that p5n32-e sli plus did not had any system speaker, so I can't hear any beeps. P4 had it integrated in intel 915gav mb.
The P4 and AMD were running on stock speeds with stock coolers. While e6700 was oced to 3.3 (2.67 stock), voltage was pretty low, 1.36 at stock speeds on auto, but to get to 3.3 I had to manually raise it to 1.4. I'm sorry about all those temps and voltages. I live in Sweden, we have 230 volts and temperature in Celsius. But anyway the temps on oced e6700 on full load were max at 58, the recommended for oc on air was <60. But it was running oced for like 5 years, it could be broken now.
I'm going to local technical store tomorrow, they had some multimeter to check the voltage and I'll also ask them if they have some system speaker for the MB.
PS Sorry for my bad English. This place is my favourite to look for solutions to any hardware problem. So I decided that it would be a good place to ask for help.

 

[Alex526]

So I have placed everything back one by one and... It works again! I don't know what fixed the problem. I tried replacing gpu, psu, ram, resetting bios and so on many times. But... only when I replaced the cpu my pc returned back to life. Unfortunately I can not try this on AMD since it's the only amd cpu I have.
Oh year I also got the multimeter and it look like everything is ok with voltages at my home. So I have no idea what cases that problem. But I'll post again if any of these problems return back. )