Which bit is broken?

SlyReaper

SlyReaper

SlyReaper

Soldato
Joined
26 Apr 2008
Posts
6,653
Location
Bristol, Old Blighty
I've been having an issue with my computer lately. When I switch it on after a few hours powered down (PSU switched off), it lights up and the fans start spinning but before it posts, it switches off again. I then need to switch the PSU off and on again to get it working again. This doesn't ALWAYS happen, but it's becoming more frequent.

As far as I can see, it can be one of three things.

1) The power supply unit. It was pretty cheap at £35 for 600W.
2) The motherboard. I bought it second hand, so it might not be very sturdy.
3) The CPU. I've been overclocking the hell out of it with voltages pushing 1.57v. Maybe I fried something. I dropped the clock down to 3GHz with 1.425v but I still sometimes get the start-up thing.

So does anyone recognise the issue and know which part needs replacing?
 
All of it? Who knows. Sounds like the whole rig has been to hell.

That it doesn't always happen and requires the PSU to be hard reset makes me think the PSU is a likely candidate.

At £35 I doubt it outputs anywhere near 600 (more like 350, 400) and may not have been built well (with dodgy caps). That said, you could have got lucky with it and plenty of people have cheap PSUs running fine for years. The mobo also doesn't have power cut until the PSU is turned off.

Do you have a different PSU to try?
 
CPU's are sturdy. I'd go for 1, if forced to choose without any other evidence (which would be nice). You arent going to get your answer for sure until you start swapping out stuff.


SlyReaper said:
1) The power supply unit. It was pretty cheap at £35 for 600W.
Click to expand...


You might as well have just said you have a £35 psu :p
At sub £50, the claimed wattage is largely irrelevant imho.
 
I can't say for certain but I would guess the PSU is at fault. Are you able to test it in a mate's rig or something?
 
I DO have another PSU, but it's even cheaper and nastier than this one. It's the one that came fitted with my case. The case and the 450W PSU together cost £30. :o
 
OK I've ordered a new PSU. One of the Corsair 650W ones. This one had better bloody work properly.

Is there a possibility that I may have damaged some of my components by having a faulty PSU? (I'm more or less convinced now it's the PSU that's causing my start-up stutters)
 
It's hard to say, the power supply on my friends pc went and took out some components, the pc was 7 years old though!
Only thing to do is try it when you receive your new psu hopefully you will have better luck :)
 
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u could just put your clock speeds back to default to test it that way.
wouldnt take long and its 1 less candidate for the cause
 
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