Case from hell -- fries motherboards

[FishB8]

I have now gone through 4 motherboards. Something about my rackmount case is cooking them! Help!!

When I assemble the bare bones systems outside the case, everything is peachy. It boots up, shuts down, posts, I can fiddle with the BIOS, etc.

As soon as I sick it in the case, and try to boot it up, the CPU fan spins a couple times and then everything goes dead. No post. I take the motherboard back out of the case but that doesn't change anything. Parts of the mobo still seems to function when the power is on. Ethernet lights blink a couple times when I plug a cable in. The green light on the ASUS board comes on, but when I try to power up, nothing. I've tried several different boards that are different makes and models. Same problem.

I've been trying to find out what is wrong, but each time I try something different and it doesn't work, I have to slap down another $200 for a new motherboard.

I find it hard to believe that a simple grounding problem would totally render the motherboard useless. Most people who talk of grounding problems usually say it works again once they remove it from the case. I also thought it might be a problem with the swap-bay back plane, but it's already been replaced once.

I've already ordered a new case, but has anybody ever heard of something like this? This is a totally new problem for me, and if the new case doesn't fix the problem I'm throwing the stupid thing in the lake!!

Are these boards a total loss? Is there anyway to revive them? What exactly is getting fried? I'm wondering if maybe an electrical current is clearing the ROM somehow. Would ordering a new ROM fix this?

This isn't much to go on, but given I cook the motherboard every time I try to figure out what is going on, I don't know much either!

[jbennet]

Are you putting the standoffs in!!!!????

The motherboard should not touch the case. There should be risers for the screws that lift it slightly off the bottom of the case

[jaymz1972]

Same thought here Jbennet. Or maybe one of the risers in the case is touching the MB incorrectly resulting a short circuit.

[madoverclocker]

are you using the same psu? if there is a different psu in the case, that could be your problem.

[cguan_77]

when you place your mobo on the casing don't power it on, check the + supply of the mobo through the atx conn if it's shorted to the ground, if it is not shorted then it could be your psu is the culprit...

[FishB8]

The PSU has been the same. It's a Thermaltake W0131RU 850W.

@jbennet: yes, I'm using the standoffs. Although they aren't brass ones like I've usually seen.

@cguan_77: How would I go about checking for the grounding problem you described? I have a meter, but I'm not sure exactly what points to measure from, and for that matter what is considered "normal" and what is not.