Can a bad peripheral (i.e. keyboard) blow a motherboard?

[FoSaan]

I upgraded my system on the weekend, but experienced
a problem after booting it at home. It starts up
and Windoze detects new hardware, and then does a re-boot.
The reboot hangs, and cycling the power results in the POST
giving a steady rapid beeping. The shop that did the upgrade determined the MB was blown. Replaced the board,
and starting up seems OK in the shop, but samething happened
again when I got home. The MB has been replaced again,
but I don't want to got through this again. Any one seen
something like this? I mention the keyboard as it is really
old (from a system I bought in 1993).

Appreciate any help/incite...

Cheers
FoSaan

 

[Slikkster]

Is the keyboard the only thing that's different from when you're getting it fixed at the shop and at home? Did the shop replace the motherboard?

Keyboards are cheap enough that I would just get a new one, even a cheapo, and try it. Under $20 for a basic model at most places.

 

[BadThad]

I've never heard of a keyboard "blowing" a mobo. Like Slik said, get a new keyboard anyway, they are super cheap, as low as $10!

 

[Scott Newton]

Keyboards don't produce power, they only consume. The only way that a keyboard could be an issue is if there was a short on the MOBO that was shorting with the plugging and unplugging.

::Long shot:: Are you plugging your computer into a power strip? If so, you might want to plug the computer and monitor into the wall and see if the same thing happens. Could be the power strip or even the power supply is allowing too much juice.

 

[FoSaan]

I'll give that a try.

I was guessing at the keyboard due to it being the "old man"
of the peripherals.

The shop is dropping off the unit today, so I guess I'll
investigate carefully tonite.

Thanks for all the suggestions...

 

[michec]

I've read in a few books that you can fry a motherboard if you unplug a P/S 2 keyboard while the system is on and then plug it in again. Maybe your keyboard's plug is a little loose? At around $10 for a new keyboard, it's not a bad idea to get a new one even if that doesn't turn out to be the culprit.

 

[azkiwi]

Funny you should say that because I just had a similar experience. While adding a new USB mouse I bumped the KB connection and poof - dead system. Because it was ATX the short prevented the power from coming on .... and I though tI had a dead mobo.

Long story short I got a new board and same problem. Eventually figured it was the AT>PS2 adapter between the KB and the puter. $3.99 at Walmart!!!

I have not put the old board back in but I suspect it is just fine...the ATX power supply just wouldn't let it run with a short in the system.

 

[FoSaan]

Thanks Again.

The system seems to be stable now. It has a new power supply,
which while it is a 250w seems more substantial than the 300w
that was previously installed. I also followed the recomendation
of plugging the CPU tower in a separate oultet from the powerbar
which has everything else.

Interesting about the keyboard, maybe I will grab a new one, just
to be sure.

thanks for all the info...

 

[FoSaan]

Looks like it was a virus, whenever WIndows would successfully
start the BIOS would get corrupted, thus the failure after shutdown.

I never had a probelm wiht my previous older MoBo, guess it was
too old...

thanks again for all the pointers