Surge Protector Went Out With A Bang Took Pc With It

So
The other day I was untangling and streamlining pc related wires under the desk. While doing so i look at my power strip and thought. Man this thing is old. Maybe I should replace it. I decided to let it be since it was working fine. A few days after this, it shorted with a lot of loud buzzing, and my pc and everything else that was plug into the strip shut off. On reboot my pc ran an error check. And things seemed fine at first. I quickly realized something was very wrong. Here are some of the things that I have noticed.

Both my monitors would on occasion flicker and the colors would seem washed out and faded one moment then vibrant and bright in the next.

I was unable to multibox effectively. Graphics would load slowly which hadn't been an issue before. Where I used to be able to pull up 5 instances of my game, two was about all I could manage now.

Any attempt to game on one screen and view say a youtube video on the other was sluggish

Skype is always up and running on my pc, without problem before the incident, now it locks and take some time to respond.

I have to reboot the pc several times daily because things eventually just slow to a crawl. (these last two issue make me think my Motherboard is damaged somehow?)

Lastly...I heard a very VERY scary electrical buzzing sound, it was unsure if was coming from my speaker or my case. (It stopped before I could be sure) As soon as I heard this I shut down and replaced my power supply. My thought being that the powerstrip had damaged it. No more scary buzzing but the issues remain.

I ran a check on my memory, it seems to be fine. I didnt see any obvious damage to my mother board. Nothing looked blackened, collapsed or otherwise sizzled.

I am currently trying to pinpoint whats broken. Im thinking my video card too a hit. But I'm not sure. Can a bad video card cause your system to be slow and sluggish? And need to be rebooted? At this point Im thinking vidcard or mobo. But Im unsure of how to proceed with my trouble shooting.

Lastly here are my specs
OS-Window 7 Home Premium 64 bit
PC- HP h8-1050
processor- IntelCore I7-2600 cpu@3.40Ghz
Mem-10240 MB Ram
Directx Version 11
Videocard- AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
PS-575 watts

Thanks
WildRabbit

 

Another reason I don't like power strips/surge and spike protectors. They wear out over time and without warning too. I always recommend the use of "good" UPS with AVR instead. Of course, hindsight is 20/20.

My first suggestion (besides getting rid of the power strip) would be to replace the computer power supply. But since you already did that and still have problems, I am afraid that is not good news and it sounds like more than just your PSU was damaged. It would not be surprising for there to be no visible damage.

You say your RAM "seems" to be fine. How did you check? If you used a program like MemTest86, it needs to run for several passes and have zero errors. But note software based memory testers are not conclusive. If they report errors, the RAM is bad. But they may not report any errors and the RAM still fails when installed. If you have more than one stick, try one at a time.

I would also try a different (or integrated, if your motherboard has it) graphics solution.

 

I used mdsched.exe to check my Ram on reboot.

 

That's fine and a good sign if you got no errors. But again, no software based RAM tester is conclusive. To conclusively test your RAM, you need to use sophisticated and very expensive test equipment, like this $4,000 Eureka Express DDR3 DIMM Memory Module Tester. So again, if you have two sticks, try one at a time to be sure.

 

I will try swapping out the memory for new Crucial sticks. Will update when they arrive. Thank you for your time. Also losing the surge protector as you suggested cause this is not fun at all.

 

Just remember to ensure the computer is unplugged from power and that you touch bare metal of the case interior BEFORE reaching in to discharge any static in your body. And don't touch the contacts of the RAM modules with your fingers to insure no static discharge damage and because skin oils promote corrosion and attract dust.

 

Okay
So while waiting for my new memory to arrive. I ran memtest for 10 passes. No errors.
I also did a clean reinstall of my videocard drivers.
New memory arrived today. I insert 4 4gb crucial ddr3 sticks with care. (upgraded, cause Id been meaning to get around to that anyway)
And a lot of the lag and stutter is gone. Still seeing some graphics issues in my games.
Blue blocks, slow loading objects, black screens and slow loading elsewhere.
So Im thinking memory was damaged.
And so was the card? Going to delete shader files to see if there is some corruption there maybe.
Will update here.

Wild

 

You are thinking your brand new RAM was damaged? How? Were you careful not to touch the contacts? Did you unplug the computer from the wall and touch bare metal of the case interior BEFORE touching the RAM or reaching inside your computer?

The graphics "artifacts" you are seeing would suggest to me problems with your graphics card, not your new memory. And that could be the card itself, or lack of quality power to it. Tell us about the PSU you are using now? And how are your temps?

 

He is implying that the old memory was damaged.

 

I think it need clarification from the OP because of this:

With all the facts in one paragraph, it is hard (for me anyway) to separate new from old.

 

Sorry
Yeah the old memory was damaged. The power supply Im using is a Ultra 575 watt unit, and the graphics card requires 500watts.
I cleared my cache, and im still seeing weirdness and slow loads.
Next step replace the vid card.
(And possible burn a few Powerstripa in the backyard until I feel better.)

Wild

 

Ultra 575 does not turn up anything with Google for me and the Ultra's I am finding don't suggest quality. I always recommend getting a quality supply - one that is 80 PLUS certified as they present a relatively "flat" and high efficiency curve. Everything in your computer depends on quality power.

And since you are looking for a new graphics solution, now is the time to look for a new PSU too since graphics cards are often the most power hungry devices in our systems. So find the card you want, then a quality PSU to support it.

 

The PS that went bad was an Ultra LSP Series V2 50 watt power supply-ATX, x Stat, 2x pci, 20/24 Thermal Controlled, 135mm fan, Single +!2v Rail, Short Circuit, OVer Voltage and Thermal Protection. Its still under warranty but I don't know if they will replace it or not.

I replaced it with an Ultra 550-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, SLI-Ready, 135mm Fan, Sleeved Cables, Matte Finish, LSP55. This is one that I used before I upgraded my video card a bit ago. I swapped it until I could get a replacement

I dont know much about power supplys, and picked it based on the reviews others had written.

Wild

 

If it is missing voltages, I don't know why not.

Assuming this is your current PSU, the problem is it does not specify efficiency. Since a relatively flat and high efficiency rating is such a critical specification for a PSU, not listing it (or that it is 80 PLUS']80 PLUS[/URL] certified) in their specs typically suggest it is nothing to brag about.

There is a graph in the manual (which you can see from that link) but as you can see, it barely hits 80% at just one point. And 78% efficiency at 275W (50% load) is not very good. And it does not show what happens below 250W but appears to drop dramatically. Most computers (even power hungry computers) consume less than 200W most of the time. Note I have a power consumption display on my UPS. I have connected to the UPS this computer consisting of an Intel i5 6600 CPU, R7 370 graphics, 2 x 8 GB of RAM, and 2 SSDs. Also connected to the UPS are my cable modem, wireless router and a 4-port Ethernet switch plus "TWO" 24 inch LCD monitors and I am currently consuming just 98W of power while typing this and streaming from Pandora. So clearly the computer itself is consuming less than that.

Also note that rating shown on the graph in your manual is at 25°C. That's just 77°F, not even warm for electronics. Better supplies are rated at 40°C (104°F) and the best are rated at 50°C (122°F).

For example, if you look at this EVGA 550W "Gold" supply it proudly points out it is 80 PLUS Gold. If you hover over the "Gold" logo in that 80 PLUS link above, you will see it is at least 87% efficient all the way down to 20% load. And if you look at that Newegg overview page, you will see "... all load and regulation testing done at 50c".

I am not saying you need to run out and replace your supply right away, but now you have some more information to know what to look for. That said, with that Newegg price (with rebate) looking so attractive right now, you might consider jumping on that (if you live in the US, that is). Regardless, if you do buy a new graphics card, I would consider getting a better quality supply to feed it.

 

Hi All
My replacement video card arrived today. I installed it, and everything seems to be a okay . Thanks so much for helping me ferret out my issues. No more surge strips for me EVER. Im waiting for my new and better PS to arrive as well

Hopefully I dont break anything else!

WR

 

While I agree 100%, they are still better than nothing, as I noted in my first paragraph of my first reply to you, I recommend all computers be on a "good" UPS with AVR instead of using a surge and spike protectors, which are little more than fancy and expensive extension cords.

But if not using a "good" UPS, you should still be using a decent surge and spike protector until you get a "good" UPS. It is very likely had you not had that surge and spike protector, you would also be replacing your motherboard, CPU and maybe RAM too.

Note I keep saying "good" UPS. Like power supplies, you want to avoid the budget models. A "good" will have better regulation and a faster cutover time to ensure no interruption of power. Note too battery backup in the event of a full power outage is just the icing on the cake. The real meat and potatoes is the automatic voltage regulation a "good" UPS with AVR provides.

Note a surge and spike protector simply chops off ("clamps") the tops of the waveforms of high voltage events - surges and spikes leaving an ugly (very dirty) waveform for the power supplies of the connected devices and motherboard regulators to clean up. That increases stress (and aging) on those devices. For extreme high voltage events, a surge and spike protector (if working properly) just kills the power to your computer which has the potential of lost data and corrupting your drives/OS.

And a surge and spike protector does absolutely nothing for the just as common low voltage events like sags (opposite of surges), dips (opposite of spikes) and brownouts (long duration sags). They either leave the connected device's regulation circuits with the task of compensating, or they allow the connected devices to suddenly crash.

A "good" UPS on the other hand will regulate both high and low voltage events without killing power to the connected devices.

A new and good PSU for your computer is great, but will not help protect your monitor or network equipment. And note the ATX Form Factor standard only requires a PSU to "hold up" voltage for just 16ms if power drops below 90VAC. 16ms is much faster than the eye can see (like in flickering lights). A "good" UPS with AVR has extremely fast response times and can easily cutover to battery power, if needed, for outages (or brownouts below 90VAC) lasting as little as 5ms.