Here is my story…

I had an acquaintance of mine (my bank teller) that needed her computer cleaned up of viruses and spyware etc.. no big deal I can handle that I told her..

Well I got her computer to my house plugged everything in booted up, did some preliminary scans and etc..

Wrote her a quote for a total of $60 which would include my time to remove the more than 900 spyware and over 40 viruses and to install better antivirus etc..I also told her that I recommend more Ram as she only had 256MB, and I would put an extra 256MB for an additional $30.

She agreed to the quote and the next day I did some cleaning to the inside of the system, installed the 256MB ram chip. then when I turned on the system, all I got was the CPU fan on and no post beep, no video display and no boot up of the hard drives?

I was amazed, as I have never experienced this before.. so I removed the new ram, and it still did not post or boot correctly, so I then removed everything except for the CPU & monitor, and still nothing… I was feeling REAL bad that SOMETHING went wrong while at my house, so I told her the truth, & I figured that the Motherboard or power supply must have went bad, so I ordered new ones, I told her that of the $90 she was gonna pay me I would only charge her another $40 for the new parts, which actually cost $100 (gateway replacements)

The new power supply arrives, I install it and to my surprise, it does the same thing and does not boot etc..
Now the new motherboard arrives I re-install everything (even the power supply) everything works just fine (must have been bad motherboard & powersupply?) I finish removing the viruses & spyware etc.. and the system was running GREAT!
My cost was about $100 her bill $130.
she was happy, I was relieved!

For 2 days… then the SAME THING HAPPENED AGAIN!

Now I was really stumped but I thought hummm maybe the power supply is sending too much power to the motherboard?? so I bought a power supply tester as well as ordered a new motherboard (again) $90, which I told my client that I WOULD EAT THE CHARGES as I mis-diagnosed the problem (I know, strange to hear repair people be honest)

So now I get the tester, and test the ‘old’ power supply it shows OVERVOLTAGE on the -5v leg of the power supply… so I think maybe the old motherboard died because of this power supply, but why did the new motherboard die with the new power supply?? I tested the ‘new’ power supply, and it ALSO READS OVERVOLTAGE on the -5v leg of the power supply!

So now I am out over $130 worth of parts, I then ordered ANOTHER power supply this time from a different company and this time a better wattage etc.. The new ‘new’ power supply is testing good, and I am now going to re-install the new motherboard etc…

And I hope that all is fixed this time.. but I have heard of stories of even bad CPU’s causing motherboards to go bad.. So I guess what I am long windly saying is that things DO happen, but us ‘experts’ that say we can fix it have to be willing to put our money where our mouth is if we diagnose something wrong or damage something and just be honest about it!

Thats my story.

Jason T.