Friends PSU keeps blowing

acharris · 3 Jun 2006 at 23:42

Hi guys, I need some advice. A friend of mine has the following PC which I built for him about 28 - 30 months ago.

Athlon XP2400+, Asus A7V8X-X,
512 Crucial Ram
Maxtor 120 HD and WD 40 Gb
Pioneer 110D and LG DVD

He has always had a problem of every couple of months, usually after 8 months of a PSU always blowing and needing to be replaced. These include Sumvison 400 and 500 watts with 24 Amps on the 12v rail, and some other brands which he has got himself with 20 amps on the 12v rail, more than enough for a Athlon XP, as I ran one on a 400W qtec with 18 amps on the rail and no problem.

In the time he has had it, it has blown 6 PSU's and this latest one took the 40 Gb WD drive with it. Any ideas as to what, as I have checked for shorting by re-assembling the system, and I have never had any problems like this on any computers I have built for people, including myself.

My ideas are either something is drawing a lot of power on the Mobo or components due to a fault, as the 24 amps rail PSU lasted longer before it blew than his unbranded ones.

Or I think, it is the heat in his room, as it is as hot as 31 - 32 degrees in his room, sometimes more in the summer even with windows and a fan on. His chip can get to 75 on load (though I think his sensors are out a bit as the HSF don't feel that hot, more like low to mid 60's), even though I created airflow and tidyed his cables and got one intake and one exhaust. I had to redo his paste, as it hit 95 degrees and shut down, due to no paste on the chip left and dust and it did feel like 90 + on the HSF.

Could heat these failiures or some component. Any help is appreciated and sorry for the long post.

senorstealth · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:10

Are you sure its something in the computer causing it and not a surge on the mains??

acharris · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:16

Hi, and thanks for the reply. I thought that and asked him, but he said that they had a new electricity meter installed and the guy said the electric is fine. I said to him check the mains socket ran in his room and also I told him to change his surge protector gang socket, as that could be the problem, but he's adamant there is nothing wrong the wiring in the house, but I am not too sure.

I can't see any anything noticable with the components, and the system is rock solid stable for 3 - 5 days or more a time on 24/7. I thought heat could be a factor, due to the room ambient temps and lack of air in the room, but would say it could be a mains problem, but nothing else running gets touched on the same socket, only the PC.

Anthony

Conanius · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:24

he uses a surge protection adaptor for the pc though... right?

axe · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:32

one word which stands out to me there is .. Q-Tec

senorstealth · 4 Jun 2006 at 00:45

Its very unlikely to be component related the specs not high enough to draw enough current to fry a power supply.

there has to be something else

Yewen · 4 Jun 2006 at 02:23

Check to make sure he is using a surge protector, a backfiring PC killing a PSU would be highly unlikely even with a Qtec.

It sounds to me like he is getting spikes in his mains, and needs a surge protector, if they blow every few weeks you know you need a device to iron out the poor leccy.

acharris · 4 Jun 2006 at 10:23

Thanks for the advice. No, none of them were a Qtec PSU, that was mine a few years ago before I heard about the reputation of them and now avoid them like the plague. Just used that as an example that the system is unlikely to draw that much to blow the PSU.

Yes he uses a surge protector, and I told him to change it as it is about 5 years old and probably taken a fair few spikes if his electricity is that bad to blow a PSU. But he's sure it won't be the problem.

Thanks again for the advice though. Just confirms what I thought.

Anthony

LoadsaMoney · 4 Jun 2006 at 13:20

Does sound like the electricity supply spiking if it keeps on blowing PSU's, but if he's not gona do anything about it then theres nothing you can do, just leave him to keep blowing one PSU after another, just tell him its gona be expensive.

luminous · 4 Jun 2006 at 15:08

Grabbed this elsewhere

I had an experience with my office PC, an athlon 1800, blowing up 2 PSUs. The first one exploded, the second one sort of fizzled out. It turned out my motherboard had bit the dust. I noticed the capacitors had started to bulge. Of course, it's possible the 1st explosion caused the capacitors to bulge.