A bit of help regarding possible PSU issue please...

[Ratbag]

I've been out of the loop with desktop PC's for ages. Its all laptops and tablets nowadays in our house.

My last desktop stopped working for no apparent reason over a year. It was a unit I built myself about 6 years ago based on the original Antec Sonata!!

Now I'd like to get it up and running if possible for use by my son. I think the PSU might be the culprit. The light on the front of the case flickers on and off very faintly and quickly but there are no other signs of life.

Are there any obvious ways to check what went wrong? will a new PSU work in such an old case?

Thanks in advance....

 

[dotdrew]

I recently had this happen to me, my PC randomly shut down while I was using it and then every time I tried to turn it on the power light on the case would blink on and then fade off, turns out my PSU had blown. To check, I'd suggest getting the PSU out and trying the paper clip trick, if you want to know more google it but essentially you take the PSU out, stick a paper clip in the 24-pin ATX connector (specifically the hole with the green wire and any one with a black wire) and then turn it on, this should jump start the PSU. If nothing happens, you've got a dead PSU and will need to get hold of another one to see if it took anything else with it when it went poof. If it does work, could still be buggered, but it could also be something else in your PC.

Hope that helps.

 

[King Damager]

Paper clip as above...

kd