PSU BLown?

johnny_uk · 20 Dec 2006 at 21:18

Hi all

How do you tell if your power supply has blown?

I have a Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU and well, I thought my power button was going dodgy, but now I am not sure. I tried to switch on my machine the other day and it didnt power up. The power light was on the mobo saying it was on standby, but wouldnt power up. I decided to take the mobo out of the case and test it. But when I did, it powered up and then a diode burnt out in front of my eyes.
So now I got a new mobo and well it wont power up, but again the light is on saying it is in standby. hmm now I am confused :/

So how do I tell if it is the PSU?

jmc777 · 22 Dec 2006 at 17:44

Sounds exactly like what happened to my Hiper a couple of months ago (excluding the part where the mobo fried! :eek:

). Borrow a PSU from someone you know and see if everything works ok, if it does you should send the Hiper back for a replacement.

LoadsaMoney · 22 Dec 2006 at 17:54

If when you flick the switch and it goes BOOM, and you see sparks coming from it, i rekon thats a dead give away.

w3bbo · 22 Dec 2006 at 19:25

LoadsaMoney said:
If when you flick the switch and it goes BOOM, and you see sparks coming from it, i rekon thats a dead give away.

lol

this_is_gav · 22 Dec 2006 at 19:30

A worrying number of Hiper PSUs are going south at the moment, so even if you can't test, I think it would be a fair assumption.

pastymuncher · 22 Dec 2006 at 21:07

Yet another Hiper bites the dust. Mine was a bit more dramatic with a bang and smoke (and a change of pants) but that took a new motherboard with it too. The amount that are failing i would just go out and buy a decent one. Mine got replaced with a Seasonic S12 650w Energy+.

NeptuneUK · 22 Dec 2006 at 21:51

If the PSU has blown then smell it, you will be able to tell.
The fried electrical stench helps

Trigger · 22 Dec 2006 at 22:46

Sounds very much like the PSU has gone. Strange though, because the (suposedly) better PSUs are supposed to have a protection circuit in them to prevent them taking out other components if they go bang :confused:

Anyway, as mentioned- if possible try a different PSU and if that works, you shouldn't have much trouble getting an RMA on it

this_is_gav · 22 Dec 2006 at 23:34

Trigger said:
Sounds very much like the PSU has gone. Strange though, because the (suposedly) better PSUs are supposed to have a protection circuit in them to prevent them taking out other components if they go bang

Hipers, while generally considered good value for money 6 months back, really shouldn't be considered in the same league as a Seasonic, Corsair, FSP, Tagan or even Enermax. The Hiper was always a cheap way into the medium range bracket. It's not an enthusiasts PSU, more a PSU for the budget overclocker. It can't be compared to the premium PSUs.

The way they're going, they're going to be levelled at Qtec standards...

Trigger · 23 Dec 2006 at 00:08

this_is_gav said:
The way they're going, they're going to be levelled at Qtec standards...

No, they're not. Hipers are not budget PSUs, they had a good reputation although it seems as of late they are having trouble with some of their units failing. They should still have some kind of circuit protection on them to stop this sort of thing though as well as the other issues they evidently have to fix.

I'm not sure what you meant by 'or even enermax' either- I have an Enermax PSU in my machine and it's been solid as a rock since february now.

Far too many people over-estimate PSU requirements these days.

this_is_gav · 23 Dec 2006 at 03:26

Enermax, while very reliable, do have a recent reputation for 'doing a budget' and failing to meet their advertised ratings. I really can't fault how solid they are, and I've got 3 running in the various rigs I run to support that, and I'll happily advise them, but they really can't be considered along with the Seasonics or Corsairs in terms of sustained output. Don't get me wrong, they're no average PSU, but I can't put them in the enthusiast bracket given my own personal experience and that of reviews within the past 8-12 months - bit of a shame really.

Hipers on the hand have always been on the budget end of the mid-enthusiast scale - they've generally been the cheapest of all the mid-tier brands for self-builds. It was pretty inevitable in my opinion that the quality was going to go downhill if they wanted to stay in that bracket while maintaining profit margins. It wasn't more than a few months back that they were talked of in the same breath as Tagan, yet in Q4 2006 I've seen more reports of blown Hipers than any other PSU - that includes all the budget brands added together on the forums I visit. It's pretty hard to suggest there's at the very best an ongoing bad batch going around.

Cyber-Mav · 23 Dec 2006 at 03:47

if its the modular hiper psu that one that has those spinlock type connectors then its more than likley its gone dodgey.

very big thread about the modular psus having issues with dodgey connections internally to the modular sockets causing excessive resistance and overheating of components. its the main reason i did not buy a modular psu.

also some of the earlier modular hiper modular psus had the fan put in backwards. so they exhausted the heat backwards again causing overheat.
do some more forum hunting and you will see the news.