Re: Simple fix??? motherboard ?

[soybean]

Are you in a college dorm or off campus housing?  Do you have a surge protector for your computer?  Anybody else in the same building having similar problems?  Anybody else been using your computer?

Have you removed the PCI card from the HP?  Did you try starting it after removing the card?  Any other hardware changes on either of these computers while at college?

[soybean]

The notion that the PCI card might have damaged the computers seems highly unlikely, although I wouldn't rule out that possiblity.  Are you confident that you had the card properly installed and that you you handled it properly when not in a computer and when actually installing it?  No ESD (electrostatic discharge) damage to anything?  Card properly seated in the slot?  Didn't knock any components out of place when you installed the card?

Did this happen soon after moving into the house?  Have you had some prior experience at moving computers?  USB is the only type of device that considered "hot-swappable".  So, shutting off the computer and any peripherals being connected to it should be the general procedure when disconnecting components for a move and then setting them up at the new location.  

And, I'm still wondering about the power supply in that house.  If this happened due to no fault of yours, I think the fact that two computers have suffered damage gives cause for concern here.  Since your co-tenants have laptops, which, I presume, have batteries in them, the batteries could be negating any negative characteristics of the power supply to the house and, therefore, are not good indicators that no problems exist in the power source.  I'm actually inclined to think you should mention this to the landlord and perhaps ask him/her if the power company or an electrician could come out and test the wiring in the house.

[edistoalumni]

This is a old house that we rent.  My room is part of the basement that was redone into two bedrooms.  
There is some "unique" wiring in this part of the house, for sure. IE: There is an oscillating fan (in a hole in the wall) wired into the wall that pulls air from the 110 air unit in my room and blows in through to the other downstairs roomate's space. There is an unused 220  receptacle in my room.  There are 2 huge overhead flourescent lights(garage type) on my ceiling that have not worked since I moved in here. My dad says this type of "innovation" is PROBABLY not up to code.
I moved in here in May. At the time there were only two of us here. My computer went out about the time the other 2 housemates moved back. So the house is pulling mre power now for sure. The second computer went out the same night I plugged it in.  Everything else on that side of the wall works fine. The cpu on both computers is the only thing that went out.
  Are you thinking low power and then surges or something along that line? Do you think these computers are shot?  Is there a way to test the PCI card for fault?  I REALLY appreciate your thoughts on this.

[soybean]

Are you thinking low power and then surges or something along that line? Do you think these computers are shot?  Is there a way to test the PCI card for fault?

I can tell you this.  I've seen some strange things happen due to faulty wiring in old homes.  My son bought an 80 year house that he fixed up as a rental.  I helped him do some work in the house.  When lights were turned on or a power turned plugged in in one room, lights could go dimmer or brighter in other rooms.  An electrical component on the furnace was damaged and the furnace would not work (this was in winter, as luck would have it).  And, the motor in the garage door opener was apparently ruined by this.  After troubleshooting my an electrician, we learned that the main switch/circuit breaker box was not properly grounded; this seemed to be the main problem but perhaps not the only problem.  My son later had a whole new main switch/circuit breaker box installed.

As far as the PCI card, any PCI card (sound, video, wireless adapter, etc.) normally would not cause damage to the motherboard.  It would simply not work if it was faulty.