Thunderstorms and Cheap PSU's Rant

lee87 · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:21

Just a bit of a rant and a warning to other users who use generic/cheap psu's.

Last week we had a huge thunderstorm and my mum was using the family pc which has a 400W generic psu.
The storm passed and there didn't seem to be any problems, but when we restarted it we were getting a FDC failure error at bios or sometimes crashing at the auto detecting hard disk/cd drive screen.
I found out the FDC failure was a mobo problem so I ordered a new one. When it arrived I set it up and it now got to the windows loading screen, but then there was a BSOD with a UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME error. I tried formatting but it didn't make a difference, I got a very old 10gb hdd out and it worked fine on it, I used speedfan to analyse the broken HDD and found the Seek Time Performance and Power Cycle Count were below average nearing critical and it had 2 bad sectors.
I was using the 10gb hdd for a day without problems and then it started crashing on the bios screen again or not booting at all. When it did load up again I ran memtest and found the RAM had a load of errors.
Also the DVD RW is making wierd noises and sometimes the tray won't open.

This is the most annoying problem i've had as I now have to replace every component in the PC. :mad:

I was using my pc at the time which has a Antec 400W psu and that is working fine after the storm. I'm never getting a cheap psu again. The strange thing is, the generic psu seems to be working fine still. :confused:

quadboi · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:25

I say replace the generic one

But yes thats really bad

luminous · 4 Jun 2006 at 14:50

Terribly unlucky,is it an old machine? i managed to rma a hd from a pb from a shop that went under shortly after that was 2 years old,got a new one promptly,kudos to samsung.
The mobo may have a 3yr warranty,dvdrw may have one year,but with prices now its best to get a new one.You could always stick every duff part back in and claim on insurance.

lee87 · 4 Jun 2006 at 15:26

luminous said:
Terribly unlucky,is it an old machine? i managed to rma a hd from a pb from a shop that went under shortly after that was 2 years old,got a new one promptly,kudos to samsung.
The mobo may have a 3yr warranty,dvdrw may have one year,but with prices now its best to get a new one.You could always stick every duff part back in and claim on insurance.

I built the machine about 2 years ago with a Socket A 2300+, but upgraded it to a AthlonXP 3000+ about 6 months ago (from another machine I had). I don't think I have the warranty as I binned all the boxes and lost the receipts.

I might just leave it and not build another pc (just yet) and let my family use my gaming machine. I will probably wait for the prices of skt 939 chips to fall before building another one.

SiriusB · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:35

A good arguement for surge protectors

SiriusB

squiffy · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:40

I'd thought the majority of people switch off and unplug all unnessary electrical items?

Although a UPS would probably help unless direct sub station strike or something.

CurlyWhirly · 4 Jun 2006 at 18:54

SiriusB said:
A good arguement for surge protectors

Yes I wouldn't be without one, in actual fact I have recently upgraded mine and bought a better model from OcUK.

pcoltrane · 4 Jun 2006 at 22:11

Make sure you have as much info as possible to back up your insurance claim if you go down that route. I claimed for a lightning damaged pc - and it took 6 months of arguing (and 100s of phone calls) before i finally saw anything for the claim They tried to assuse me of defrauding them just because the pc weas self built from unusual components. Saying that - i have heard of other people who have had no trouble at all and a very generous settlement.

Marc