Why do my power supplies keep getting fried?

[ethancodes]

Heres the story this far: Roughly 2 months ago I went to turn on my computer, and it wouldn't turn on. I tried everything, but it was dead. I RMA'd my PSU and when I installed the new one, at first it still would not turn on. I cleared the CMOS and when I did that it turned on the PC. At this point, the PC worked for varying amounts of time. Sometimes it would shut off after a few hours, other times it wouldn't even fully load everything before shutting down. When it shuts down, I mean like a power outage, and then reboots itself, does not give a blue screen. Eventually I took this to a shop, they verified the problem, put a 3rd PSU (one of their test PSU's), and it ran for several days with no problems. So I bought a new PSU and installed it, computer has been running great for about 3 weeks. 2 days ago I went downstairs to get on it, and noticed it was off (not asleep like usual). I went to start it, but nothing. Cleared the CMOS, and it fired right up. Ran for about 2 hours before it froze (did not shut off like it used to). I forced a shut down and tried to restart it, but I keep getting a Windows error. I tried to repair Windows, but it says it cannot be repaired. I shut it down again and tried to restart, but now the PC will not turn on at all, even if I clear the CMOS. I have RMA'd another PSU, but I don't think this is the real problem here.

Some additional facts:
1.The computer was moved into the basement just a few months prior to these concerns starting. It was originally plugged into an extension cord, that ran to a surge protector, that the PC was plugged into. The extension cord shares a wall plugin box with my sump pump. After all these weird issues, I decided to change plugins incase voltage surges from the sump pump were causing issues, so I started plugging it into a different wall plug, and also changed extension cords and surge protectors.
2. both times these issues started was immediately following a thunderstorm. Why the surge protector isn't protecting the PC, I'm not sure.

computer specs:
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty z170 i7 LGA 1151
Graphics card: MSI Radeon R7 370 DirectX 12 R7 370 4gb
CPU: intel core i7-6700k
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 500GB
Ram: G.SKill Ripjaws V Series 16gb (2 8gb's)
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 Bronze
OS: Windows 10

Possible culprits:
My thoughts are that either I've got a very intermittent issue with my motherboard, maybe a voltage regulator that's starting to go bad and is intermittently causing PSU issues? This seems unlikely though given the fact that it ran great for a few weeks.
My other thought was I could have some wiring issues in the house? Could something be wired incorrectly so that the surge protector is not getting grounded? This house is about 90% 2 prong plugins, so most are not grounded, and some that do have the grounding prong aren't actually grounded to anything in there. Could this be a problem? How would I find out?

Hopefully someone has some good insight for me. I'm going to school online for computer programming, so without my PC I'm dead in the water. Thanks for the help!

 

[velocityg4]

If you want to test and see if an outlet is properly setup. Use an outlet tester. It will let you know if it is grounded, if neutral is connected and if the hot wire is on the right side. You can get these at any hardware store.
https://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Receptacle-Professional/dp/B000RUL2UU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497617897&sr=8-3&keywords=outlet+tester

Surge Protectors are worthless against near by lightning strikes. It is far too much power too quickly for it to respond. I unplug my computers during a thunderstorm. Even units costing hundreds of dollars won't protect against that kind of raw power. If this is one of those white strips that cost $4 at WalMart. They are useless for any kind of surge protection.

If the EVGA Supernova 750 Bronze is the best PSU that shop carries. Don't go back. It isn't a very high quality PSU. It is decent quality. There are much higher quality units.

As you keep replacing the PSU. I doubt the problem is the PSU. Rather than wasting more money at shops and more time doing an RMA. Get yourself a PSU tester. That way you can plug it in, verify it turns on and that the voltages are correct.
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Automated-Supply-Oversized-Supplies/dp/B005F778JO/

If you suspect a voltage problem. You can run plugin digital voltmeter and monitor the voltage in that room.
https://www.amazon.com/GEREE-80-300V-Voltmeter-Household-Directly/dp/B01MZ208H8/

Given that you say you have a mixture of two and three prong outlets. I wouldn't be surprised if the house is wired improperly. Hopefully they didn't do something stupid like wire the ground to neutral before it reaches the breaker box.

 

[ethancodes]

If you want to test and see if an outlet is properly setup. Use an outlet tester. It will let you know if it is grounded, if neutral is connected and if the hot wire is on the right side. You can get these at any hardware store.
https://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Receptacle-Professional/dp/B000RUL2UU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497617897&sr=8-3&keywords=outlet+tester

Surge Protectors are worthless against near by lightning strikes. It is far too much power too quickly for it to respond. I unplug my computers during a thunderstorm. Even units costing hundreds of dollars won't protect against that kind of raw power. If this is one of those white strips that cost $4 at WalMart. They are useless for any kind of surge protection.

If the EVGA Supernova 750 Bronze is the best PSU that shop carries. Don't go back. It isn't a very high quality PSU. It is decent quality. There are much higher quality units.

As you keep replacing the PSU. I doubt the problem is the PSU. Rather than wasting more money at shops and more time doing an RMA. Get yourself a PSU tester. That way you can plug it in, verify it turns on and that the voltages are correct.
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Automated-Supply-Oversized-Supplies/dp/B005F778JO/

If you suspect a voltage problem. You can run plugin digital voltmeter and monitor the voltage in that room.
https://www.amazon.com/GEREE-80-300V-Voltmeter-Household-Directly/dp/B01MZ208H8/

Given that you say you have a mixture of two and three prong outlets. I wouldn't be surprised if the house is wired improperly. Hopefully they didn't do something stupid like wire the ground to neutral before it reaches the breaker box.

My next questions are 1. Would it actually effect the computer if the outlet is ungrounded? Someone else is telling me that it won't effect the computer but it is unsafe because I could get shocked if I touch it. Is this true or could it being ungrounded cause issues with the PSU? 2. If I am getting irregular voltage spikes, do you have any suggestions on how to handle that?

 

[velocityg4]

If you want to test and see if an outlet is properly setup. Use an outlet tester. It will let you know if it is grounded, if neutral is connected and if the hot wire is on the right side. You can get these at any hardware store.
https://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Receptacle-Professional/dp/B000RUL2UU/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1497617897&sr=8-3&keywords=outlet+tester

Surge Protectors are worthless against near by lightning strikes. It is far too much power too quickly for it to respond. I unplug my computers during a thunderstorm. Even units costing hundreds of dollars won't protect against that kind of raw power. If this is one of those white strips that cost $4 at WalMart. They are useless for any kind of surge protection.

If the EVGA Supernova 750 Bronze is the best PSU that shop carries. Don't go back. It isn't a very high quality PSU. It is decent quality. There are much higher quality units.

As you keep replacing the PSU. I doubt the problem is the PSU. Rather than wasting more money at shops and more time doing an RMA. Get yourself a PSU tester. That way you can plug it in, verify it turns on and that the voltages are correct.
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Automated-Supply-Oversized-Supplies/dp/B005F778JO/

If you suspect a voltage problem. You can run plugin digital voltmeter and monitor the voltage in that room.
https://www.amazon.com/GEREE-80-300V-Voltmeter-Household-Directly/dp/B01MZ208H8/

Given that you say you have a mixture of two and three prong outlets. I wouldn't be surprised if the house is wired improperly. Hopefully they didn't do something stupid like wire the ground to neutral before it reaches the breaker box.

My next questions are 1. Would it actually effect the computer if the outlet is ungrounded? Someone else is telling me that it won't effect the computer but it is unsafe because I could get shocked if I touch it. Is this true or could it being ungrounded cause issues with the PSU? 2. If I am getting irregular voltage spikes, do you have any suggestions on how to handle that?

1. I don't think it will. As long as neutral is good it shouldn't effect the computer. In some appliances and devices a charge can build up on the exterior housing. Which can give you a shock. Usually it is just minor like static electricity. In certain circumstances it can build up to more dangerous levels. This charge can build up around any device connected to the computer. You can read about people being zapped by their keyboard. Mostly Apple users with that pretty aluminum keyboard.

2. It's not cheap. You need a power conditioner with automatic voltage regulation. But it is cheaper than an On Line UPS. An On Line UPS isolates your electronics from the AC. Everything is run off the battery 24/7 while the AC is always charging the battery. This way any spikes are absorbed by the battery. It is the best solution I know of but it is expensive.

Best Prosumer Conditioner with AVR: https://www.amazon.com/Furman-PL-PLUS-Conditioner-Voltmeter-AMMeter/dp/B001JJ8WQK/

More budget friendly option: https://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-LC1200-Conditioner-Outlet/dp/B0000512LA

The Furman is definitely a better unit. It helps musicians running off generators keep their power clean.

If you are getting voltage spikes. The next question would be why are you getting voltage spikes. Power in the US and many other countries is pretty clean and consistent. This can mean a problem with the home wiring or a problem with the lines coming into your house. I had this problem. It became apparent when I tried to run an air compressor. Half the lights in the house would get extremely bright the other have very dim and the compressor would not start. Which after much research I concluded was a neutral fault. After much diagnosis I figured out all the wiring in the house was good. It was a problem with the power company. They checked their lines and figured out a squirrel chewed through the neutral wire.

Before you run out and buy a power conditioner. Get the cheap voltmeter and plug tester. To check the power and outlets.