I've now heard of over 6 instances of Motherboard Failure caused by Trainz Simulator (including my own) use. What is it about Trainz Simulator that causes motherboards to burn out? My system was fully capable and exceeded the requirements for TRS 2009, but it burned out while I was running Trainz. I have met other people that had the same problem. It starts with what is called a Black Screen.
Motherboard Failure in Trainz
- Thread starter RiverRun
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On a modern PC, this won't happen as long as the computer has an adequate power supply and cooling. Many if not most modern computers have a native power and temperature monitoring and alarm utility. There are also some generic ones like HWMonitor and SpeedFan, though I have not used them.
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Fizzled motherboard
There's your answer, Biostar. Their motherboards are lousy. In all my years in the computer industry as both a developer and technician, I have never seen commercial or free software destroy a motherboard. Their was the odd virus that could damage a HDD floating a long time ago.
There's your answer, Biostar. Their motherboards are lousy. In all my years in the computer industry as both a developer and technician, I have never seen commercial or free software destroy a motherboard. Their was the odd virus that could damage a HDD floating a long time ago.
nugget2225
Active member
reply
i bought a biostar motherboard once, it was the first and last time i ever owned one, it died on me 2 months after i bought it, biostar in my opinion are the worst boards you can buy, not to mention cheapest, asus and gigabyte are the best to me, never had one die
i bought a biostar motherboard once, it was the first and last time i ever owned one, it died on me 2 months after i bought it, biostar in my opinion are the worst boards you can buy, not to mention cheapest, asus and gigabyte are the best to me, never had one die
Yes, I suspect it's the mobo, not Trainz. I had that same thing happen, while playing Trainz. The first indication of the mobo failing was an inexplicable RAID-1 failure a week or so beforehand. And, yes, it was a Biostar, Model TF7150U-M7 to be exact. I have had good luck with Biostar, but it seems a lot of folks (besides those here) have had more-than-usual experiences, so I don't deal with them anymore and haven't built anything with one in, I think, about a year or two.
norfolksouthern37
what's a normal map?
they were all incorrect, including your own. there is nothing that you or anyone else mentioned that would indicate that trainz directly caused a motherboard failure. in fact, to say so is absurd.
and i agree with what others have said here.
BuilderBob
New member
While 'directly caused by Tranz' might be a bit strong, it's not as wide of the mark as you suggest. Modern CPUs and GPUs shut down parts of the processor that are not being used to in order to conserve power. A highly graphics intensive application can definately tip a borderline system over the edge into thermal runaway and failure.
If you have a temperature indicator in the CPU and a controlled environment, and if you diasable variable fan speed, you can watch the temperature change pretty much in line with CPU usage.
It is like saying you tried towing your 34 foot Boston Whaler across the Great Continental Divide with a Nissan Cube; while stranded with a blow trans, blaming Nissan. If one wants to game on a comp then it should be up to the task. You want to blame games try Crisis and MF for eating up HP and Dell computers. You'll find a whole line of nice folks who thought a Walmart 400 dollar machine was up to the task. BioStar mid to high end boards are still good. Their lower end stuff like Gigabyte have bad QC, the past few years and don't seem to last (imho). Asus seems to be trying to clean their act up and for me "knocking on wood" hold up. So much for having a half way meaningful first post, I thought this was pretty funny, sorry. Think about the plus side, upgrades are always nice and gl with repairs.
norfolksouthern37
what's a normal map?
didnt seem strong, thats exactly what he said.
trainz by itself is not going to cause a system failure. sure you can do things to make a program do that, but then the blame rides on you.
trainz by itself is not going to cause a system failure. sure you can do things to make a program do that, but then the blame rides on you.
johnwhelan
Well-known member
Basically your PC was not thermally engineered to cope with the cpu running at 100%. Trainz works the cpu hard and many low end machines assume that the cpu will not be worked that hard.
Translation you needed more cooling fans and a better layout design.
Cheerio John
That's the way I read it as well, I'll go out on a limb (strictly facetious that is) and probably say hooking 600 W to a bio star is probably what did it:hehe:
May have been due to this.
Some Biostar motherboards had a problem with an excessively hot running Northbridge causing premature capacitor failure, the ones next to the CPU.
Capacitors start to bulge and if not spotted and replaced, with better quality ones, then start to leak eventually causing shorts resulting at worst a burned out motherboard.
Early signs would be a reluctance for the PC to start up or if it does it starts slowly.
Some of them were failing after just a few months others took a lot longer.
the temperature sensors, in general pretty inaccurate anyway, don't measure every onboard component and can give a false impression that all is well when it isn't.
Most people don't look at the motherboards much let alone know how to spot signs of bulging capacitors or overheating, just bad luck in choosing a bad mobo design. These things happen and even the likes of Asus and Gigabyte have made problem boards.
Some Biostar motherboards had a problem with an excessively hot running Northbridge causing premature capacitor failure, the ones next to the CPU.
Capacitors start to bulge and if not spotted and replaced, with better quality ones, then start to leak eventually causing shorts resulting at worst a burned out motherboard.
Early signs would be a reluctance for the PC to start up or if it does it starts slowly.
Some of them were failing after just a few months others took a lot longer.
the temperature sensors, in general pretty inaccurate anyway, don't measure every onboard component and can give a false impression that all is well when it isn't.
Most people don't look at the motherboards much let alone know how to spot signs of bulging capacitors or overheating, just bad luck in choosing a bad mobo design. These things happen and even the likes of Asus and Gigabyte have made problem boards.
Most people don't look at the motherboards much let alone know how to spot signs of bulging capacitors or overheating, just bad luck in choosing a bad mobo design. These things happen and even the likes of Asus and Gigabyte have made problem boards
That is 100% spot on. Funny how TRAINZ gets blamed for everything that goes wrong.
tomurban
That is 100% spot on. Funny how TRAINZ gets blamed for everything that goes wrong.
tomurban
Trainz can stress a poorly cooled or underpowered machine, but kill it, I doubt it. The systems today have thermal and power shutdown built into them, or should anyway. An Intel CPU, I know, will throttle down its speed then shutdown if the system gets too warm. This can cause a program to crash, and perhaps corrupt the program data and the operating system when it happens.
If the power supply is underpowered, the system may not boot, or it may boot inconsistently. Remember to always over specify a power supply, or at least future proof it to allow for the bigger newer video cards, which today require two power slots usually. This can, and will cause a motherboard failure due to poor or low current regulation. This is the biggest culprit in component failure. If a component receives an under current for an extended amount of time, they will die due to thermal failure. This is caused by the part working harder than it should in order to operate the way it is supposed to. With proper current levels, and in fact consistent and regulated rails in a good quality power supply, this will avoid this issue.
To be honest, I'd look at other brands. BioStar is not the best quality company. Asus and even EVGA are much better. At this point I have an Asus mobo that is extremely stable. The EVGA quality varies and seems to go up and down depending upon the lifetime of the product. Near the beginning there are lots of teething pains, but at the end they become very stable.
All of the manufacturers suffered from a spate of bad capacitors. This was due to one of the cap manufacturers stealing some unfinished product formula from a competitor. This company sold their new "hot" product inexpensively on the market, every company purchased them, and effectively the market was flooded with bad caps. The problem was the product had issues that weren't worked out yet, and among the problems was a chemical breakdown and bursting. The capacitor issue did cause quite stir and put a few companies out of business. The problem is the cheap, and I mean really cheap manufacturers probably still have stockpiles of old parts, and will continue to use them until their inventories have run out. I say this from experience, having worked in a manufacturing company for many years, and seeing this happen!
The problem today is what appears to be a great price deal, really is not. The components overall are made cheaper and cheaper. This great for the pocket and wallet, but there's an underlying price to pay. This price is quality. The manufacturer will cut corners somewhere to still make a profit, and this is the area that suffers.
John
If the power supply is underpowered, the system may not boot, or it may boot inconsistently. Remember to always over specify a power supply, or at least future proof it to allow for the bigger newer video cards, which today require two power slots usually. This can, and will cause a motherboard failure due to poor or low current regulation. This is the biggest culprit in component failure. If a component receives an under current for an extended amount of time, they will die due to thermal failure. This is caused by the part working harder than it should in order to operate the way it is supposed to. With proper current levels, and in fact consistent and regulated rails in a good quality power supply, this will avoid this issue.
To be honest, I'd look at other brands. BioStar is not the best quality company. Asus and even EVGA are much better. At this point I have an Asus mobo that is extremely stable. The EVGA quality varies and seems to go up and down depending upon the lifetime of the product. Near the beginning there are lots of teething pains, but at the end they become very stable.
All of the manufacturers suffered from a spate of bad capacitors. This was due to one of the cap manufacturers stealing some unfinished product formula from a competitor. This company sold their new "hot" product inexpensively on the market, every company purchased them, and effectively the market was flooded with bad caps. The problem was the product had issues that weren't worked out yet, and among the problems was a chemical breakdown and bursting. The capacitor issue did cause quite stir and put a few companies out of business. The problem is the cheap, and I mean really cheap manufacturers probably still have stockpiles of old parts, and will continue to use them until their inventories have run out. I say this from experience, having worked in a manufacturing company for many years, and seeing this happen!
The problem today is what appears to be a great price deal, really is not. The components overall are made cheaper and cheaper. This great for the pocket and wallet, but there's an underlying price to pay. This price is quality. The manufacturer will cut corners somewhere to still make a profit, and this is the area that suffers.
John
All of the manufacturers suffered from a spate of bad capacitors. This was due to one of the cap manufacturers stealing some unfinished product formula from a competitor. This company sold their new "hot" product inexpensively on the market, every company purchased them, and effectively the market was flooded with bad caps. The problem was the product had issues that weren't worked out yet, and among the problems was a chemical breakdown and bursting. The capacitor issue did cause quite stir and put a few companies out of business. The problem is the cheap, and I mean really cheap manufacturers probably still have stockpiles of old parts, and will continue to use them until their inventories have run out. I say this from experience, having worked in a manufacturing company for many years, and seeing this happen!
This is from personal experience John. I have a small Sxxxxxg LCD TV that went dead after a year. Since I like to at least attempt to repair my own stuff I went to one of the on-line repair forums and asked for opinions. Right off the bat, several of the forum "experts" said "power supply caps, replace them all" and included a source for replacements. I did and that same TV has been humming along now for over a year.
tomurban
This is from personal experience John. I have a small Sxxxxxg LCD TV that went dead after a year. Since I like to at least attempt to repair my own stuff I went to one of the on-line repair forums and asked for opinions. Right off the bat, several of the forum "experts" said "power supply caps, replace them all" and included a source for replacements. I did and that same TV has been humming along now for over a year.
tomurban
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