Built new computer, motherboard keeps burning!!!

[PcPro12]

OK, i built a new computer, and it was the 5th one i built, the first 4 i built had no problems at all...and still dont after 1-2 years of use...

Anyway, this one keeps getting the motherboard burned...at first i thought it was the video card thats burning, so i returned it and got another one, didnt work, it was PCI Express, i tried PCI video card, didnt work...i tried the video card from one of my computers that i built that worked and i was currently using, it didnt work...i returned the motherboard and got a new one...it worked on the video that was new, the same one that didnt work on the old motherboard...

So the computer worked fine, for a few hours...i was setting it up...than i tried to fix the clock on the computer and the computer would have been finished...than i got a blue screen and the computer shut down...i couldnt start it up, and while trying some different ways to turn it back on...again, the video card stopped working...but im guessing the motherboard burned out AGAIN...i called the support people letting them know that their motherboard keeps burning out...the motherboard was built somewhere around march of 2008...it only has a few months...its bound to have a few bugs at burning out...but that tech guy blamed it on my computer, saying something might be burning it out, like the power supply or something...

I went to a Best Buy store, and it costs $69 to do a diagnostic test on it...didnt do it...he said to try a different power supply...what im going to do after my THIRD motherboard comes in...i returned the second one...

Anyway, here are the computer specs...

CASE: Apevia X-Cruiser ATX Black Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side, Front USB, Audio and Firewire Ports (Link to case)

POWER SUPPLY: Apevia / Iceberg / 680-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / 20/24 Pin / SLI-Ready / SATA-Ready / Blue / Power Supply (Link to power supply)

MOTHERBOARD: MSI K9N SLI-F Motherboard - v2.0, NVIDIA nForce 570 LT SLI, Socket AM2/AM2+, ATX, Audio, PCI Express, Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATA, RAID (Link to motherboard)

CPU/PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core Processor HD9550WCJ4BGH - 2.20GHz, 4MB Cache, 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) FSB, Agena, Quad-Core, OEM, Socket AM2+, Processor (Link to cpu/processor)

MEMORY/RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) (Link to memory/ram)

COOLING FAN: Thermaltake / TMG A3 / Socket AM2/939/754 / Aluminum Base / CPU Cooler (Link to cooling fan)

HARD DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM (Link to hard drive)

GRAPHIC/VIDEO CARD: PNY GeForce 8500 GT / 512MB DDR2 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual Link DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card (Link to graphic/video card)

DVD/CD ROM: Sony DRU190A 20X DVD Rewritable Drive - 20x DVD±R, 8 DVD+RW, 6x DVD-R, 8x DVD±R DL, ATAPI/EIDE, Black (Link to dvd/cd rom)

OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows Vista Home Premium

thats all the info...any more info needed?

so my question is why does the motherboard keep burning out??? the graphic card works fine...ive already proved that...the motherboard is new, not even 1 year old...its WAY passed the due date to return, so i cant return it to get a different brand...

next thing i will do it try a used 600W power supply...its actually not that old, i used it on my 2nd computer that i built, than i upgraded it with another power supply, and my old 600W one is just laying around...

Also, on my first 2 computers that i built i used GIGABYTE motherboards, they're working fine...the 3rd and 4th computers i used ATI motherboards, and they are working fine...and the 5th i used MSI, and its breaking down...so thats making me think that the MSI company sucks...but than again, the power supply is 680W, so it might be overpowering the system.

also, when the computer was running, the motherboard had a feature called DOT...i was playing around with it, and turned it up to 5...and left it there...than after the 2nd motherboard burned out, i read that DOT is Dynamic Over-Clocking...but if i was over clocking the CPU/GPU, wouldnt the CPU/GPU burn out and not the motherboard??? but than again, DOT might be over clocking some other feature and burning out the motherboard...

now i bought the case and the power supply as one...so i would still like to use the 680W power supply, but i dont want to risk burning a third motherboard...ive been working on this computer for over 7 months now...if not more...

but again, if the graphics card burned out, and i was over-clocking the CPU, the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) gets over-clocked too...and the PCI-Express bus was burned out, and not the motherboard...

and im learning more about this as im typing...lol...

so what should i do?

1. Try a 600W power supply and use that?
2. Use the 680W power supply, and reinstall windows since it crashed...and set the DOT to 0?
3. Use the 600W power supply and reinstall windows and set the DOT to 0?

or any other suggestions? im actually building this computer for my cousin...so they are waiting...dont want to have the third motherboard burn out again...

Thank you for reading...

[caperjack]

i read ,and read ,frustrating isn't it .
one thing that comes to mind is the front case connection ,usb, sound .firewire ,maybe one is shorting things out .when you get it don't hook up any of these front case items for a few days or longer before hooking them up .i have seen faulty usb do this ,actually almost fried my own with a faulty front case usb

[PcPro12]

yes, it is frustrating...especially when my cousins parents keep asking whats wrong and i dont have an answer...

hmm...alright...ill try that...my own computer front USB dont work...i connect flash drive, or external, and it wont work, and i think its the same with all other 3 i built....nothing happened...

i went to Best Buy, and asked the tech support people, and well...they need to go to college a bit more...all he said was I dont know, could be both, sorry, i dont know, got to see it something like that...so much for support...

thanks for answering :) in a few days, up to a week i should get the other motherboard...any other suggestions appreciated...

[caperjack]

yeah it is hard to say with out seeing it ,you say the motherboard is burned ,do you see burn marks on the board .

[PcPro12]

nope, i dont see anything...

im talking about some internal wires or something burning out...not visual burning...

since everything is working, the computer is starting up, it cant have burned...so im guessing since i put in a graphics card, and tried PCI Express and PCI graphics cards, both failed to work...so that must be the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) has failed or burned out because i over-clocked the DOT (Dynamic Over-Clocking Technology) which over clocks the CPU AND GPU...when one is over clocked to much over the other, than that one will raise up to speed to balance with the other one...the DOT is automatic over-clocking the system...

example: if i over clock the DOT, and the CPU is over-clocked more than the GPU, than the GPU will raise up higher in power to meet and balance with the CPU...and i might have messed with some settings that over clocked the GPU too much, the PCI Express and PCI slots/buses have failed/burned internally...or in short, the whole graphics processing unit (GPU) has failed/burned internally because of the over-clocking...

but the computer turns on, everything is working fine, CPU is working...

now thats just my guess...and i just want to confirm it with someone...

[caperjack]

nope, i dont see anything...

im talking about some internal wires or something burning out...not visual burning...

since everything is working, the computer is starting up, it cant have burned...so im guessing since i put in a graphics card, and tried PCI Express and PCI graphics cards, both failed to work...so that must be the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) has failed or burned out because i over-clocked the DOT (Dynamic Over-Clocking Technology) which over clocks the CPU AND GPU...when one is over clocked to much over the other, than that one will raise up to speed to balance with the other one...the DOT is automatic over-clocking the system...

example: if i over clock the DOT, and the CPU is over-clocked more than the GPU, than the GPU will raise up higher in power to meet and balance with the CPU...and i might have messed with some settings that over clocked the GPU too much, the PCI Express and PCI slots/buses have failed/burned internally...or in short, the whole graphics processing unit (GPU) has failed/burned internally because of the over-clocking...

but the computer turns on, everything is working fine, CPU is working...

now thats just my guess...and i just want to confirm it with someone...

yeah right ,never seen a warranty that covered overclocking

[PcPro12]

but the warranty does cover VGA Function Fail ;)

[zettabyte]

just curious how much would this system cost if the motherboards haddn't burned out?
I haven't built a system since 2004

can you smell that it's burnt?
I've burnt up a few and I could smell that it had burnt up and after careful review find where the burnout had happened.
have you made sure all the jumpers are in the right pins?
too many fans/ide on one power line?
I find it odd that your usb/firewire doesn't work on any of your systems, why?
I have a gigabyte 2004rz board and the front usb/firewire/mic/headphones work fine, maybe MSI are bad I'll keep your problem in mind next time I buy a motherboard :)

oh have you checked you monitor cable pins? my dvi had a bent pin that cause me problems for a while till I found it.

[PcPro12]

this whole system costed me around $1,000....but i dont pay anything for changing the motherboard...except one way shipping...

no, i didnt smell it...vga just quit working, blacked out....so it failed/burnt internally...when i say burned, i mean that it just stopped working or something is broking inside that cant be fixed anymore...

they have to be in the right place, i used the manual to set them up...

hmm...didnt check that...but how could that prevent the vga from working?

i find it on that it does work either...they sometimes work and sometimes dont...considering i never had a manual to my gigabyte motherboard, i just placed the USB wires by what i thought was right...they worked for a while, than quit working...

i havent...but ill check it...but everything works fine, than all of a sudden it goes black and says NO SIGNAL on the monitor...

[zettabyte]

I have the manuals for Gigabyte 2004RZ
models
7vm400m-rz
7vt600-rz
are either of those the boards you have?

the power thing could keep the graphics card from getting enough juice during a disc access or if a system fan kicks on, my system had six fans but two have burnt up so far and I think it might be because i had them all on the same power line, or they were just cheap fans that burn up after a few hundred hours of use, I run for weeks at a time between shut downs (or at least I had been till recently see http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread145530.html)

the last time I had a "no signal" msg when the system was running it was because a program conflict had cause a system hang, but I had a TON of programs running and from what you've said it doesn't sound like thats your problem

[PcPro12]

i have the manuals for the gigabyte too...

hmm...ill check that...but that system only has 1 fan in the case, 1 fan in the CPU, and 2 fans in the power supply...a total of 4 fans only...

but maybe i need more fans? cause my other systems have at least 3 case fans, 1 CPU fan, and 1-2 power supply fans...

also, i run for weeks or months without shutting off my pc...and i got no problems with it...except maybe causing too much radiation inside my house...lol