Is my PSU dead? Squeeling - Comp keeps restarting?

alexx · 29 Aug 2012 at 09:53

The psu must be around 3 years old now and it started squeeling (i think its the psu) about a week or 2 ago. I usually leave my hackintosh in sleep mode but shutdown last night (total stable install) and now it will vary from getting into osx to not even getting to bios so nothing is stable... making me think this is the PSU? sadly no one close to test this theory in the middle of the French Alps... surprised though as I've never had a PSU fail and its a decent modular cooler master one?

I've only built this computer up in the last 4 weeks but it's been rock solid and had no errors installing - can't be the operating system as it wont even get to the bios.. maybe it could be the new mobo or i5 chip but not sure how to test any of this as I cant get far enough into anything - anyone else had a PSU die and do similar?

alexx · 29 Aug 2012 at 11:27

I've taken 1 of the 2 ram sticks out and it seems to boot fine with 1 but wont have it at all with 2... how can I narrow down whats goosed - is it the board or the ram?

Scooby_WR1 · 29 Aug 2012 at 12:39

Have you tried each stick individually?

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 13:39

Id clean or replace the psu. Also, download and run memtest from here: http://www.memtest.org/

alexx · 29 Aug 2012 at 13:45

ok memtest successfully run on the first slot - just on the second ram module in the same slot... so far so good.... what does it mean if its struggling when both are in? could a weird shutdown cause someleft over info in the memory causing it to panic?

psu seems ok apart from a small squeek - how do i clean it without zapping myself is it just a case of not using metal objects like skrewdrivers inside the psu case?

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 13:49

Have you got the voltages set to your rams optimum.

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 13:52

I just opened carefully, making sure NOT to touch anything, used a paintbrush. But voids warranty.

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 13:55

Also common for ram slots to get dusty

alexx · 29 Aug 2012 at 14:03

bios is all on pretty standard - not overclocked it and its all new so no dust - gave the old tower a big clear out - i'll check to see if the psu is dusty but doubt it.

i'll take a look in bios to see if the ram is set to undervolt by accident / default... however why has it only just started happening now? doesn't make sense!

alexx · 29 Aug 2012 at 15:47

1 slot of ram reads 1.5v in bios which is what it says on it.

2 slots wont even get to bios now - 1 is rock solid...

both slots have been tested separately and work fine in memtest... however obviously cant test in dual channel...

how do i rule out ram over mobo error now?

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 19:04

What is full specs, ram, mobo.

Lemin · 29 Aug 2012 at 19:11

Using CPU-Z you can look in the Memory Tab, and see if the "channel #" is set to single.

alexx · 30 Aug 2012 at 15:17

I'm running a hackintosh (no windows installed so no cpuz)

full specs:

gigabyte z77 ds3h rev 1.0
2x8gb corsair vengence duel chan sticks
650w coolermaster modular psu
h50 cooler
gtx 260 gcard
128 m4 ssd.

tried with everything out, reset just using onboard graphics and ssd. works solid (on it now) with 1 stick - with 2 it wont get to bios...