Is it my PC or new apartment?

Rezident

Rezident

Rezident

Soldato
Joined
29 May 2007
Posts
4,924
Location
Dublin
Since I moved to a new place when I plug in my PC (in sig) it keeps tripping a switch on the fuse board. PC is old (maybe 8 or 9 years) but never had this problem in previous places.

When I was plugging power cable back in to the wall there was a loud click that did not feel good and a smell of something burning. Now PC won't power on at all, no fans, no lights nothing.

I checked cables were all secure, tried different power cables, different extension lead (with surge protection) and a new motherboard battery but PC is still dead. How do you know if it is the PC or the circuit in the new apartment?

Also, how do you know if it is the PSU v motherboard or something where?

Cheers.
 
Rezident said:
How do you know if it is the PC or the circuit in the new apartment?
Click to expand...
Rezident said:
When I was plugging power cable back in to the wall there was a loud click that did not feel good and a smell of something burning.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming that the PC was not turned on and you have not tried a new outlet yet?

I think that's what I'd do first, try a different outlet.

If the PC was turned on, then that's a different story.

Rezident said:
Since I moved to a new place when I plug in my PC (in sig) it keeps tripping a switch on the fuse board. PC is old (maybe 8 or 9 years) but never had this problem in previous places.
Click to expand...
Did it only trip when first powered up from cold, or did it trip at other times?

If it was random, is there a chance you might have a water leak somewhere on that circuit?

Is the PSU your 750i? From what I can see in reviews, it didn't have unusual inrush current.

Rezident said:
Also, how do you know if it is the PSU v motherboard or something where?
Click to expand...
Unless there's an obvious sign (like burnt connectors) I'm afraid the simple answer is: you don't. But, from what you describe, I would suspect the PSU first.
 
Yes PSU is Corsair RM750i. It's been rock solid for years although it is 8.5 years old now and with the new GPU system is drawing around 700W plus.
 
Get a sparky round he can check each plug. Parents had one plug arcing a bit.

And on mine, when I switch on my subs (from cold on the master multiway) it causes the fuse box to reset, and when I plug in upstairs /switch on the same resets the fuse box.
 
If you actually are drawing 700w plus
From a 750w psu of that age
That's probably pushing the limit too far tbh

You can do a psu basic functionality test
By bridging the pins
Won't confirm much more than it isn't dead
Would need something like a molex/sata powered fan etc
Or a 12v led
To test it's at least alive if the psu fan is one that doesn't spin
Until certain temperature or load is put on it
But basic functionality test doesn't really mean it's going to
Be fine under any sort of load

In theory the psu should sacrifice itself first
Rather than your components
But theory doesn't always work in practice
 
Ok thank you did the replies, I tried the paperclip test in the PSU and it still does not turn on so I'm guessing it is the PSU that is dead then, is it?

That's what it says on the sticky above and I also followed the instructions on the Corsair site to test the PSU and it seems to be dead.

PSU calculator says I'm using around 700w as I have had to keep adding so many SSDs because games take up so much space now a 500Gb SSD doesn't last long. I haven't even been able to play COD in over a year as every time I try there is another insane 128+ gig update and another SSD is full up! I know I need a new PC but it actually plays all my games fine with the new GPU, until the PSU died.
 
While we can't guarantee the psu is dead
You've done the tests you can,on it

Psu calculators can be unreliable though
I have 5 x m2 and 4 x 2.5 ssds plus external drives connected
Even if saying 8--10w each that's still only approx 100w for all the drives
How many drives do you actually have?
It's more likely to be high gpu wattage followed by
High cpu wattage

But there's also the fact as psus age
There may be performance degradation
So it might not be capable of 750w anymore

Your signature
7800xt say around 250w
6700k say around 120w
10 x ssds/m2 say around 100w
That's still well away from 700 plus watts
Still around 250w left for other stuff before 700+watts
Fans,leds etc

So unless there's overclocking on top of that
Don't think the psu calculator is accurate

Nonetheless
Your psu has to be the main suspect
Though the house sockets/wiring would also be on the list
A choice of try another psu
Or get the wiring checked first
Am assuming you weren't using an extension cable on the pc?
Or that would also be a suspect if you were

Only way I can think to self test sockets Without specific equipment
Plug in something in same place /room as pc
High wattage device like kettle, electric heater etc and see
If that keeps tripping too
 
I once had a PSU for the best part of 7-8 years and it was solid. But it was always at the back of my mind, so I bought replaced the PSU with a new one and gave the old PSU to somebody who wanted it for an old machine they were tinkering with. They were quite surprised when my old PSU popped on them, especially since I'd told them it had been reliable for me. :o

I would get yourself a new PSU and a socket tester while you're about it. If you have an energy monitor that plugs in at the mains socket, most of these can tell you the voltage at the wall - or, if you're feeling brave, probe the socket with a multimeter.
 
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Mcnumpty2323 said:
While we can't guarantee the psu is dead
You've done the tests you can,on it

Psu calculators can be unreliable though
I have 5 x m2 and 4 x 2.5 ssds plus external drives connected
Even if saying 8--10w each that's still only approx 100w for all the drives
How many drives do you actually have?
It's more likely to be high gpu wattage followed by
High cpu wattage

But there's also the fact as psus age
There may be performance degradation
So it might not be capable of 750w anymore

Your signature
7800xt say around 250w
6700k say around 120w
10 x ssds/m2 say around 100w
That's still well away from 700 plus watts
Still around 250w left for other stuff before 700+watts
Fans,leds etc

So unless there's overclocking on top of that
Don't think the psu calculator is accurate

Nonetheless
Your psu has to be the main suspect
Though the house sockets/wiring would also be on the list
A choice of try another psu
Or get the wiring checked first
Am assuming you weren't using an extension cable on the pc?
Or that would also be a suspect if you were

Only way I can think to self test sockets Without specific equipment
Plug in something in same place /room as pc
High wattage device like kettle, electric heater etc and see
If that keeps tripping too
Click to expand...
It's a 7900XT, drawing about 315W, more when clocked.

I am using extension cables but the same tripping happened when I plugged in only the PC power cable in different sockets in different rooms, so I'm thinking it is probably the PSU.
 
Rezident said:
It's a 7900XT, drawing about 315W, more when clocked.

I am using extension cables but the same tripping happened when I plugged in only the PC power cable in different sockets in different rooms, so I'm thinking it is probably the PSU.
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Apologies I read 7900xt as 7800xt for some reason
Even though i read it multiple times

Even so
The psu is very likely the issue
I just won't say things like it's definitely the psu
Then you go buy a new psu
And the same thing still happens
But Replacing the psu is where I would start
Buy off the Internet you have the right to return it anyway
Assuming that applies in southern Ireland?

Though I would test it without doing a tidy job
Of the wiring just in case
No point making it all neat and tidy if turns out
It's not the psu

Other things that could trip it
Dodgy cable from the psu
Dodgy usb port could try disconnecting front usb ports
Could also double check 24 pin,8 pin,gpu cables are all
Fully inserted and clicked home
Had similar in the past and turned out as I was
Pushing in the 24 pin the board was flexing away from me
And it hadn't fully seated properly
Worked for quite a while before I started getting problems
 
Rezident said:
It's a 7900XT, drawing about 315W, more when clocked.

I am using extension cables but the same tripping happened when I plugged in only the PC power cable in different sockets in different rooms, so I'm thinking it is probably the PSU.
Click to expand...
a bit of a hail mary but are the sockets all on the same circuit?

IIRC you can get a tiny bit of current leakage on devices that are otherwise working fine, but when you put multiple ones on the same circuit/rcd it adds up to enough to trip it. Often happens with things like dishwashers and washing machines* IIRC. I remember back in the days of Seti where people had multiple PC's at home running it, you'd get instances where adding another PC would trip the RCD (I think it's still a bit of problem in workshops building/testing PC's so they'll try and have the sockets broken down into smaller groups each with an RCD rather than multiple socket rings/loads of sockets on one RCD).

I think you can also have old RCD's that get more sensitive/trip when they shouldn't but that's relatively rare.

It does sound like it's the PSU unfortunately though.

*From memory standard fuse box RCD's trip at about 30ma, so a few ma from several devices can lead to a situation where it's not enough to trip, but add one more and it'll go.
 
Yeah as werewolf says
Could be internal wiring,age of your consumer board,rcds etc
Those would be something to look at
If a new psu doesn't solve the problem
A new psu is probably the easiest thing to diy
And you've at least had your moneys worth out of that one

Could also check how long is the warranty
on the current psu
if its a 10 year warranty you may be able
to rma it should the psu be the problem

Think I forgot the cable/kettle lead from wall
To psu Could also need replacing

Edited
Rm750i does appear to have 10 year warranty
Though not sure if were any revisions of it
 
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Mcnumpty2323 said:
Yeah as werewolf says
Could be internal wiring,age of your consumer board,rcds etc
Those would be something to look at
If a new psu doesn't solve the problem
A new psu is probably the easiest thing to diy
And you've at least had your moneys worth out of that one

Could also check how long is the warranty
on the current psu
if its a 10 year warranty you may be able
to rma it should the psu be the problem

Think I forgot the cable/kettle lead from wall
To psu Could also need replacing

Edited
Rm750i does appear to have 10 year warranty
Though not sure if were any revisions of it
Click to expand...
Wow the Corsair does have a 10 year warranty, I thought the warranty would be long gone.

I unplugged all the other cables and did their paperclip test and it's still dead so they have agreed to RMA it. That's a big help.
 
Rezident said:
Wow the Corsair does have a 10 year warranty, I thought the warranty would be long gone.

I unplugged all the other cables and did their paperclip test and it's still dead so they have agreed to RMA it. That's a big help.
Click to expand...
That's good to hear
Though it may take a while to complete
The rma process
But its still good news
 
It may have been an old PSU getting moved to a new house just pushed it onto it's last legs May have dislodged a bit of dirt holding it all together :)

When I've had a PSUs go at least once they tripped the leccy before dying.
 
The reason your circuit breakers trip is because something is pulling above the amount of juice they are rated for. Your PSU sounds like it was shorting to ground (pretty terminal fault condition), which will be a high current flow. This will in turn create a lot of heat in the short location, which will eventually burn out and then as there's no more electrical connection there's no more current and you have a fully dead device.

Dirty test but if I wasn't already convinced of the above (I am) I'd push another high power device (higher than 700w) through the sockets. If they don't trip, it's the psu.
 
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