Did I blow power supply?

Thai1On

Slave to my route
I just returned from my Philippine trip and fired up my rig and after 15 minutes I hear a loud POP and the machine went black. I have been having random shutdowns over the last week before the trip.

Are there any home techniques I can use to check to see if the PSU is dead? Or what else should I check for?

Dave
 
I just returned from my Philippine trip and fired up my rig and after 15 minutes I hear a loud POP and the machine went black. I have been having random shutdowns over the last week before the trip.

Are there any home techniques I can use to check to see if the PSU is dead? Or what else should I check for?

Dave

Yep, the paper clip test, save me typing it all out see here.

http://support.antec.com/support/so...19-is-my-power-supply-dead-the-paperclip-test

If the PSU is OK then you are probably looking at a blown electrolytic capacitor on the motherboard or one of the voltage regulators on the motherboard has blown.
 
I forgot about that test. It's been awhile since I performed that one! :)

Let's sure hope it's only a power supply as they're much less expensive than a motherboard. If it is your motherboard, you could probably replace the blown cap on there, but due to the number of layers on the circuit boards these days, removing the faulty component can be quite difficult because you can't always apply enough heat to the pins without damaging the board inside on the inner layers. In the olden days, I used to do stuff like this using a solder sucker and solder wick, however, the boards were a lot thinner and my eyes were a lot younger. :)

John
 
Dave sorry to hear your trouble.
since thailand has spikes and drops in the power supply and for sure in the Kalasin area too i think your power supply got toasted and hope only that.
I suggest take your machine to Khon Kaen to a reliable shop and test or if you know one in Kalasin.
Also make sure to get yourself a power surge protector Long time ago i had them and you will hear it rattle or tick tick especially in the rain season.....
Hope you guys are doing well and stay away from crowded places with merse visiting the country one cannot be careful enough.
How strong is your power supply ?

Roy
 
Invest in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to buffer the poor power source going into your computer. This will save you a lot of headaches, trust me!
 
The paper clip test is a good test for seeing if the power supply is good or defective. When building a new computer, I would test the PSU to see if that is working before moving on to anything else.
 
You can also buy a plug in adaptor for a few bucks and EVGA provides these in some of the Power Supplies for completing safely a complete circuit........
 
I'll be opening up my rig in a little while and try the paperclip method and report back. Also I will give the motherboard a good visual inspection to look for any burnt parts. Roy is right, power here in Thailand is not the most dependable and my PSU may have had it's last run :'(.

Bad timing too as my wife and me are heading back to the US next week. I haven't noticed much in the way of different prices for parts between over here and back in the US. I do know I'll get better service in the states than here so if I need a new PSU or motherboard I'll wait and get it there. I the mean time work will go on on the L&A on my laptop :hehe:.

Dave
 
I did the paperclip and the PSU is DOA :(. The old one is a Cougar 760 and I got 5 years out of it so I can't complain.

So is anyone have any advise on what PSU to buy or not buy? How about mail order in the states? Which companies are good and which ones to stay away from?

Dave
 
Any PSU you buy should be based around the typical wattage usage of your PC as a whole. For example, if the typical load expected out of your PC is 300 watts, then a 600 watt PSU would leave you at 50% typical load, which is the most efficient load rating to stay at for peak efficiency. Look into 80+ certification charts for this.

A little extra headroom is never a bad thing however, be it for keeping the PSU operating below what you expect of it, or simply for room to grow into with upgrades.

As it stands I couldn't really tell you exactly which power supply is best, however knowing your exact build and component choices would be helpful.

Jack
 
I did the paperclip and the PSU is DOA :(. The old one is a Cougar 760 and I got 5 years out of it so I can't complain.

So is anyone have any advise on what PSU to buy or not buy? How about mail order in the states? Which companies are good and which ones to stay away from?

Dave

With any PSU Provider, you will find that they have DOA brand new out of box situations..........
Price Point and Affordability is going to determine who the best option is, but make sure you do the paperclip test of the PSU you do get prior to installing to limit other component issues.......
I would hate to have to read this happened........

Antec/EVGA/Corsair/Seasonic/Zalman are very reputable power supplies........

The advice in Overhead Excess Power is by far excellent advice and will also allow for additional power protection capabilities with surges and having to compensate for weak power distribution........

My advice is to look at Newegg and Amazon first.......... Tiger Direct third, but I find they are higher in price..........

To avoid mail order DOA issues, if you know where you will be in the states, search MicroCenter and if one is within a reasonable driving distance.....
You might pay a little more in this category cause they do make up for other sale prices to compensate for their bottom line profit and in hopes you'll buy all your parts thru them......
MicroCenter if you can be patient has a Technical Service Center on site at every store, and if you ask they will test the power supply right there for you, and then you can exchange if it is defective.....
In your case, a fantastic reason to choose MicroCenter.......... Maybe someone can suggest Fry's for this service, but I do not have any on the eastern side of the country.........
 
Thanks Brittney and I looked to see if Microcenter is in Florida, but sadly no :(. I be doing a major rebuild on my rig once I return, but it will be a "one piece at a time" build much like I did on my old hot rod VW:hehe:. Great tip on checking parts as they come in and I probably check each on the old rig till all the parts are ready to build the "TANE monster" PC.


One thing I'm seriously looking at is having a water cooled system for several reasons. One is noise as my video card really howls when TANE gets going and the CPU get really warm too. Two is I want to do some overclocking, but noting to crazy. Three a water cooled PC just look crazy cool :cool:.

Dave
 
With any PSU Provider, you will find that they have DOA brand new out of box situations..........
Price Point and Affordability is going to determine who the best option is, but make sure you do the paperclip test of the PSU you do get prior to installing to limit other component issues.......
I would hate to have to read this happened........

Antec/EVGA/Corsair/Seasonic/Zalman are very reputable power supplies........

The advice in Overhead Excess Power is by far excellent advice and will also allow for additional power protection capabilities with surges and having to compensate for weak power distribution........

Good advice as one who got caught out a couple of years ago by a new Gold rated Cooler Master 700 Watt PSU literally exploding after a weeks use, loud bang and smoke, luckily it didn't take anything else out with it, according to my supplier one of the voltage regulator chips had exploded, they replaced it obviously Free of charge with a slightly more expensive 750 Watt Antec so all is well now.

Worth mentioning that if you have a PC stuffed full of add-on cards and extra drives you need to also take that into consideration when choosing a PSU.
 
Little update...

I just installed the Rosewell 1000 watt PSU and no joy :'(. When I hit the power button the fans start for a few seconds and then it shuts down.

Any ideas?

Dave
 
Little update...

I just installed the Rosewell 1000 watt PSU and no joy :'(. When I hit the power button the fans start for a few seconds and then it shuts down.

Any ideas?

Dave

Hi Dave,

Ensure you have plugged in everything including both power connectors on the motherboard. There's sometimes even 3 connectors on some motherboards... On many modern boards, there's a small 6-pin connector near the CPU in addition to the 20-pin? connector on the edge.

Also make sure you have plugged in the power for your video card as well. The newer breeds of video cards require two power plugs, and if these aren't plugged in then there could be problems.

Outside of this, are there any beeps other than the normal single OK beep?

John
 
Thanks John, all the motherboard and 2 video card plugs were plugged in. The motherboard is a Asus P8H61 EVO.

I never got any beep when the power button was pushed.

My youngest brother is a good shade tree tech so I take it to him.

Dave
 
Good luck. It could be something is shorting out somewhere on the board against the case, or worse something is fried on the motherboard, which I hope not! I'm going through that right now with dead USB ports and a replacement motherboard coming in soon.

John
 
After a bunch of tests it looks as though when the PSU blew it took the motherboard with it :'(. I'm guessing the CPU is most likely dead too. Looks like it is time to save up for the big upgrade. It's a shame the motherboard is dead as I was going to send it to my in-laws in the Philippines.

Dave
 
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