Dead PC is it the PSU?

pigsback

pigsback

pigsback

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Joined
23 Mar 2008
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7
PC was working fine. It was a new build about 12 months ago. Went away, came back after 1 hr and it was dead!

The power switch gets no reaction at all. No attempt at ard drive start.

Opened up and the green light on the board is off (with power connected of course). Thought it was the switch so diconnected this lead and jumped it using a scewdriver, no reaction.

My conclusion is that its a dead PSU or the motherboard is b*****d.

This was my first ever build and I am not an expert and have no diagnostic kit.

Would appreciate any comments/pointers

Thanks
Ian
 
welcome to the forums:)


at first thought it does sound like the power supply, especially if the motherboard is correctly reporting no power (green led not lit). what make and model is it, out of interest?
 
Welcome!

Do you have any case fans you can plug into the PSU, switch it on and see if they spin. If they don't the PSU is dead and will need to be RMA'd. Otherwise I would think it's the motherboard.
 
Thanks for the very quick responses guys. Appreciated.

I do not have a case fan... might be worth buying one?
I'm thinking that I should replace the PSU first (as thats cheapest) and then replace motherboard if still no joy. Does that sound like a sensible approach?

Ian
 
Before making any purchases I would try and get a case fan off someone, where abouts are you located? If you are near me I can drop one off for you. IF you do have a faulty components (Mobo or PSU) you can then get a RMA and get a replacement under warranty. So don't buy anything just yet.
 
Hi Pigsback and welcome,

If you suspect the PSU you could unplug the 24Pin main power connector form the motherboard then use a paper clip and connect the green wire to a black wire then turn on the PSU, if the fan on the PSU runs your PSU is nearly certainly running ok, it's probalby another component.

doggo
 
As above I have also come across faulty power leads before too so swap it out with a known working one such as your monitor's.
 
Stick your nose near the grill of the PSU and sniff deeply. The smell of a blown PSU is unmistakable :eek:. I had one of those, the PSU went off bang, RMA'd it, the replacement went bang & they didn't want the 2nd failed one back. The third Antec is still going strong in an old PC, I'm Corsair powered now as my nerves couldn't take another blow up. Nice case, shame about the PSU they use, had to get rid of the stock of the naff PSU somehow I suppose :)
 
Yep already tried a different power lead. Same problem, so not a blown fuse.

Nick, I'll see if I can sniff out the problem:-) You may be rightabout naff PSU's in supplied cases. I guess unless you spec the PSU separately you are almost certainly getting inferior kit.
 
I think Antec went through a bad period & they are out of it now, just my luck to get two of them. I went for Antec as I thought it was quality rather than a cheap case, still think that actually, just that they had a bad supplier for a while.
 
I've been using Antec now for over 8 years and I've only ever had one PSU go on me, which was covered by the warranty. They are definately a quality, reputable brand and I would continue to invest in them when considering PSU's. The PSU's that come in their cases are the budget one's in their range so they aren't going to be of the same quality you would expect from the likes of a Truepower Trio, Neo or Quattro etc.
 
Yep, I think you are probably correct about that. Smartpower rings a bell, one was 400 Watt one was 430 Watt & they both went bang, luckily they didn't take anything out with them.
 
Well psu seemed dead and confirmed by the tests recommended.

Installed new PSU today. Bingo, everything back to life.

It was the Antec 450w in the sonata II case. My ASUS motherboard does recommend a minimum of 400w, so wondered whether the 2 large hd's and sound card pushed it over the edge! Academic though as now powered by a Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W PSU - ATX 12V V2.01 120mm Fan 20+4pin.

Thanks for the help
Ian
 
Good to hear all now up and running - Good job!!

The Antec psu should have coped with that load - is it still under warranty? If it is and you could get a 'free' replacement then you could either keep it as a spare or sell.
 
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