View Single Post - What is the worst luck you have ever had building a system?

DeathTears · Rated PG

The case that comes to my memory often is one where 3 full systems had to be assembled in order to find out why the problems were happening at the customer's residence.

We started with a system based on PENTIUM 4 LGA 650 (3.4GHz) that started showing BSODs, random lockups and shutdowns. Bring back the system to assembly and no problems whatsoever. Back to the customer's and back were the problems. What to do?

A second system was assembled based on the same CPU model, different MB, different MB, different PSU. All OK at the customer's through the first day but then the story repeats itself. And again no problems with the system when it came back to the test lab. I went on-site at the customer's residence to try to detect if anything could be causing the mayhem but nothing wrong was going on apparently. That second system was even set-up on a different room of the house and the problems continued. Back to assembly.

A third system and now with a Athlon 64 3500+. Maybe... we never know... Customer picked it up on the morning and returned on the afternoon. The results were the same. Until someone remembers to suggest to try a different surge protector. A power surge protector with 5 outlets was supplied with the first system and used every time from then on. After replacing the surge protector everything worked perfectly.