My PSU Horror Story

[Guest]

Hi, i just need some expert advice on the many problems that i'm having with my computers and the corsair products that possibly ruined them both. So without further ado, here begins my horror story.
A while ago I had a working computer that use to get blue screens every now and then, but suddenly blue screens started to increase over time. I then decided to run memtest on my Corsair 8gb
Vengeance memory and it returned errors. Also around that time, i noticed that my Corsair tx850 v2 was making a scary ticking noise. By that time i immediately RMAed both psu and ram to corsair to avoid further damage to my OLDER computer. Keep in mind that this old computer was actually booting.
So when i got my Corsair PSU and ram back from almost a month long RMA period, i hooked up the psu and ram to my older computer, and nothing booted at all. The green light on my motherboard's power button would glow green when i hook up the psu to the wall jack, but when i press that power button to boot, the fans would spin for around one millisecond, then everything shuts down including the fan on the PSU. At that time i immediately called Corsair technical support and they told me to maybe try the psu and ram on another computer (which was a horrible idea and I don't know why I gave the psu and ram the benefit of the doubt after I saw the psu kill my older system) so I tried it on my brand new computer. Before I tried it on the new computer, i tried the paperclip test and it passed.
That same exact day i got the new parts for my new computer I tried the psu and ram. Keep in mind that these parts are literally 30 minutes old out of the box (just so you don't assume that any part besides the psu or ram is at fault) and the same EXACT thing happened. The system wouldn't boot and the fans spin for about a millisecond, then nothing would happen at all.
Most likely the psu caused permanent damage to both computers that I've spent more than half my yearly income on. What I need to know is whether i'm completely screwed out of my money at this point and if you guys think that this PSU in fact might have ruined both computers. I apologize if I sound rude in advance, you would be too if a $150 power supply ended up killing $2200 worth of computer parts.
1st (approximately 2 years old)
msi z77agd65 motherboard
i5 2400 @3.1 ghz
1x msi gtx 680
8gb Corsair vengeance ram
corsair tx850w v2

the second computer is an upgrade from that i5 to i7 3770k and a new motherboard (a second msiz77agd65) and a second gtx 680 (that means now i can sli) and i'm using the same exact ram and psu on both computers. Meaning i swap ram and psu for whichever computer i want to use since they have two separate cases (obviously) and i don't have some spare ram or a spare psu.
both motherboards (the 2 year old and the 30 minute old NEW motherboard) show the same EXACT symptom with the same power supply and ram installed. What makes me go nuts however, is the fact that the psu is passing the paperclip test. This is what's driving me absolutely nuts. So if you guys have any idea what could be going on here, please let me know. Thank you.

 

[Z1NONLY]

One thing at a time.

If you have two suspects, don't test them both at the same time.

If you have two sticks of RAM try one at a time.

 

[ram1009]

Anyone trying to diagnose a hardware problem outside of a laboratory environment has only one option. That is to swap suspect items (one at a time) with known functioning items until the problem is located. You should also NOT assume there is only one problem or that new items are always good.Try to proceed in a logical and organized fashion. Writing steps down will help.

 

[Guest]

I understand Ram1009, but I just thought that having the same symptoms for both old and new computers while having the same psu and ram makes me most suspicious about the psu/ram. I already tried the ram individually on each slot and I got the same symptoms. Unfortunately I do not have spare PSUs or ram so I just filled out a damage claim form with Corsair and sent in all my parts for inspection.

 

[Z1NONLY]

The chances of your old PSU causing errors in memtest are low. (Old PSU probably wasn't your issue)

The chances of getting bad two bad sticks of RAM from an RMA are low.

The chances of getting two bad sticks of RAM AND a bad PSU that not only doesn't work....but also damages every system it's installed in...from an RMA, is very, very small.

If this is actually what happened to you, I would start to worry about a piano falling on me, from the sky, when I walk out the front door.

Did you use the same outlet, pwer strip, uninterupted power supply, etc for both computers?

If so, I would take a look in that direction.

I would also get the parts to complete the "new" computer. Build the new computer without any of the suspect parts. and then troubleshoot the old computer from there.

 

[Guest]

What you missed is that the older PSU was actually making a bad ticking noise that sounded like it was going to blow up. I also contacted Corsair and they confirmed for me that it was a bad psu and they replaced it for me. The older ram was also bad and they confirmed that for me as well. I also never said that the older PSU was the culprit to getting errors on memtest so i don't know where you're getting this information from because certainly I did not say anything about that on this post so please don't make up stuff.

Even if one or non of the replacement memory modules that i got back from the RMA were faulty, it still does not rule out the possibility of a bad PSU coming back from an RMA either and since I tested that same PSU on a new computer and also a previously functional computer, I think that is good enough testing to prove the POSSIBILITY of a faulty PSU/ram. If in fact the PSU is the problem, then it is also possible that it might have damaged components on both computers. This is why I decided to fill out a damage claim form with Corsair and sent my parts to them for inspection.

Also about trying to complete the "new" computer (I don't know why you don't believe that the new parts are actually new and decided to put quotation marks just to act like a smart ass) I've already mentioned that I don't have a second ram kit and a psu to test the NEW build. Trust me, if I had a spare psu or ram kit, I would've used them. Clearly you're not reading my posts or you're not reading them correctly. Please read and attempt to understand the problem before you post anything. By the way, I've tested both computers on every outlet I have in my house, which took a long time and unfortunately it made no difference.

 

[Z1NONLY]

What you missed is that the older PSU was actually making a bad ticking noise that sounded like it was going to blow up. I also contacted Corsair and they confirmed for me that it was a bad psu and they replaced it for me.

I didn't miss it. I simply pointed out that it didn't cause the errors with the RAM.

The older ram was also bad and they confirmed that for me as well. I also never said that the older PSU was the culprit to getting errors on memtest so i don't know where you're getting this information from because certainly I did not say anything about that on this post so please don't make up stuff.

I never said you did. In fact, I'm pretty sure that at least one of the RAM sticks was bad and causing BSOD's. (Your primary original issue)

Even if one or non of the replacement memory modules that i got back from the RMA were faulty, it still does not rule out the possibility of a bad PSU coming back from an RMA either and since I tested that same PSU on a new computer and also a previously functional computer, I think that is good enough testing to prove the POSSIBILITY of a faulty PSU/ram. If in fact the PSU is the problem, then it is also possible that it might have damaged components on both computers. This is why I decided to fill out a damage claim form with Corsair and sent my parts to them for inspection.

I never said it was not possible. I simply said that getting a computer-killing PSU AND bad RAM back from RMA is not likely.

You said:

"I just thought that having the same symptoms for both old and new computers while having the same psu and ram makes me most suspicious about the psu/ram."

I am ponting out that getting two bad sticks of RAM AND a bad PSU that kills computers on the first power-up, is not likely.

Also about trying to complete the "new" computer (I don't know why you don't believe that the new parts are actually new and decided to put quotation marks just to act like a smart ass) I've already mentioned that I don't have a second ram kit and a psu to test the NEW build. Trust me, if I had a spare psu or ram kit, I would've used them. Clearly you're not reading my posts or you're not reading them correctly. Please read and attempt to understand the problem before you post anything.

I called it "new" because you never had two complete computers and the term "new" was the simple way to identify the group of parts I was talking about.

I am not the enemy here.