Killed 2 mobos in less than 2 weeks!!

**Master X** · 12-16-2006, 01:42 AM

Ok I need some serious help. My carpc is freaking out. It has worked fine since July then one night around the 3rd week of november I was driving a friend to the airport and it froze. No big deal i thought, this happens from time to time. I cut power to the pc and restart it, but this time, unlike the times before the pc didnt do its nice little beep. I tried a couple times to no avail. System was not posting at all. So at this point im thinking mobo, proc, or psu. So I take it home and test it with my desktop system which has the same type of processor. Put the proc in the desktop, boots fine. Take the proc that was in the desktop and put it in the carpc, nothing...Oh and the psu is a ac/dc that im testing in my room rather than the dsatx. So i decide its the mobo. So I order a new one. Gets here, I hook it up in my room with the same proc that was in it before. Boots up fine. I set it up, get all the drivers correct and go to put it in the car. I get it in there, it boots up fine. Over the course of the next 10 minutes I get my sound card configured again and everything is kosher. So I say to myself "ok, lets plug in the rest of the usb devices (touchscreen, dvd drive, and gps) but before I even open the door the system gets a stop error. MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION. That was a new one to me. So I do the same thing. I cut power to the mobo and go to boot up again. Nothing. Same exact thing as the last mobo. I just got done testing it like before and again, proc works fine in the other computer. And according to the AMD forums people are getting machine_check_exceptions and they just keep booting it. Mine got it once and was done.

So I need help on what could be going on. Like I said it worked for a good 4 months without a problem but now anytime i hook anything up to the car everything goes berzerk. Bad voltage from somewhere? Bad connection? Shorting?

Heres my specs, any help would be greatly appreciated:

Mobo(first and second): AMD socket 939 with geforce 6800 built in video
AMD Athlon 64bit 3000
Soundblaster 24bit sound card
1GB(2x512) corsair ram
dynex wireless card
usb mouse
usb touchscreen
usb gps
DSATX psu
Optoma yellowtop battery

Both the psu itself and the postive line coming in has a fuse. So I am at a loss.

**Master X** · 12-16-2006, 01:44 AM

Could it be the way I'm cutting power when it freezes? I have to disconnect the psu from the battery because i have not done a switch yet. I did that exact type of power down multiple times on that first motherboard in that 4 month period and it was fine.

**2k1Toaster** · 12-16-2006, 01:47 AM

Well to answer your second post, it shouldn't matter as long as you didn't get sparks. Fuses are nice, but won't protect from bursts of current. They are meant to burn and that takes a little time. Not much time but longer than a spark rushing through.

Did it spark?

Oh, and the ds-atx should filter that out, but if it was extreme for some reason then it wouldn't.

**Master X** · 12-16-2006, 01:58 AM

No sparking at all the first time as far as I know.

But especially the second one. It threw that blue screen at me while i was in the driver seat and it was sitting in the trunk untouched. It ran for a good 10 minutes before doing it and i even made sure that there was ample space between the mobo and the psu.

**2k1Toaster** · 12-16-2006, 02:00 AM

No but I mean when you unplugged it. The mobo works when it displays an error. It is when it doesn't display an error that there is a big problem. So working when you had an error. Then you unplugged it. And no more working. So it happened sometime then I believe.

**Master X** · 12-16-2006, 02:03 AM

I dont know. I've done that exact same thing multiple times with the other motherboard and on this one i made sure i was as careful as possible when i unplugged it.

**i700plus** · 12-16-2006, 06:38 PM

check the memory, bad ram can do funky things like that, could be a bad power supply too putting to much voltage into the board

**Master X** · 12-16-2006, 11:51 PM

Yeah, I'm starting to think I might have a bad PSU. I'll have to post this in the power supply section to see if anyone else has run across this with the dsatx. From what I thought, if something like this was happening with the dsatx, the diagnostic light would tell me, but it is indicating normal operation.

I thought it might have been bad memory, but 1. Every stop error i have ever gotten has never dumped physical memory 2. when the first motherboard went bad replacing it and using the same ram, it posted fine. 3. took the memory out and got no long diagnostic beeps at all.

**Nomader** · 12-17-2006, 04:59 AM

ok..
1. Get a multimeter and check the voltage on the 2 rails of the DSATX. that will exclude hopefully the PS.
2. Next I beleive removing the battery main cable as a way of shuting down, is dangerous.. it does create sparks believe me.. bad for the PS and the MOBO..
3. how much memory does that graphics card hold?? together with the 1 gig of ram maybe it is too much for the PSU??? i just guess.
4.My opinion is that by unpluging the cable of the DSATX that way
you created a problem in the DSATX (there was actually a problem on first DSATX units that when you did that a number of times it ruined the PIC of the DSATX and you needed to reflash..)

good luck, and keep us informed.
check my signature I have nearly the same specs and it is wirkin good 6 months now

**com2soft** · 12-18-2006, 02:12 AM

try use an inverter + your ATX psu. no usb device. just your monitor. if it works, it is your dc-dc psu.

also check you mobo in case is not grounded to any metal.