unstable power supply unit

540media

540media

540media

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My father-in-laws system all of a sudden is flashing up a bios message that says 'unstable power supply unit' and 'anti-surge' activated because of 'unstable power unit' - he says it not even getting to the bios stage now.

The system is about 3-4 years old, I think its a Corsair PSU, but not sure what MB it is.

I'm going to go have a look at it tonight, but was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem??

Off the top of my head the issues I can think of are:

1. build up of dust
2. bios needs resetting/updating
3. cable has come lose
4. surge protector (if hes using one) is at fault
5. PSU is buggered!

I have a spare PSU I can pull out of one of my systems to test if needs be... just looking for any other suggestions.

Cheers
 
Plug it directly into the wall socket and see if the issue persists. If so then it's likely a duff PSU. Some of the earlier Corsairs were shockingly awful. I had 3 go on me within 12 months of each other, all in separate systems.
 
yeap ask him to do that before I head off round - still waiting to hear back

I've been using Corsairs for the last 10-12 years and not had a problem - maybe I've just been lucky?!?
 
540media said:
yeap ask him to do that before I head off round - still waiting to hear back

I've been using Corsairs for the last 10-12 years and not had a problem - maybe I've just been lucky?!?
Click to expand...

It depends on the model. Some Corsair units are excellent, others not so much.
 
Thats true, I tend to use more of the top end - think hes probably got a basic one

Just heard back and hes plugged directly into a wall socket - hes now getting past the bios and its telling him its a windows problem, so is doing a windows repair

Hes also found the manuals and its a ASUS P8Z77 MB - doing a quick search online it appears that it could be to do with ASUS Anti-Surge protection
 
On the subject of surge protectors.

If it's one of the cheap ones (and most of them are) there not worth using, the cheap one don't filter much and the component that does the filtering degrades over time, there has even been some that have caught fire! To save guard yourself on the cheaper surge protectors is use them plugged into a main trip, then if the surge protector burns out that will trip.
 
Corsair PSU's are manufactured at a few different places depending on wattage and model line - they have different failure rates as well.

Interestingly, while higher price generally means better failure rate, there are some mid-range ones that also have a low failure rate.
 
Habakkuk said:
Corsair PSU's are manufactured at a few different places depending on wattage and model line - they have different failure rates as well.

Interestingly, while higher price generally means better failure rate, there are some mid-range ones that also have a low failure rate.
Click to expand...
My old CX750M died with less than 12 months use I got it replaced under warranty its now in my youngest lads machine but it is on the list to get changed
 
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