Power Supply DYING? (follow up)

[JacksonVFR]

Thanks to everyone for being patient. As to why I'm not posting this in my "Motherboard DEAD?" thread, it's already got too many replies to shift through and lots of confusion!

Anyhow, for a short background for those not familiar. My main computer went down Tuesday after about 30 minutes of run-time. Suddenly I got no picture/a black screen and then it froze. I rebooted and got a "frozen" activity light and no start-up beep. It's probably not the video card because of the other unusual activity or lack of activity. The motherboard has no bulged or "leaking" capacitors. As for power, my fans all power up and you can hear the hard-drives running too.

NEW INFO - now I think it's my power supply. The 7-year-old secondary computer I'm on now only has a 150w power supply while the new one has a 350w. I found it reasonable to trade the 350w into this old system I'm running now and it powered up, allowing me to run windows. So, appears to not be the power supply? I threw the 350w back into my main system hoping for some luck and shortly after being in (plugged to just the motherboard, 1 fan and a hard-drive) it gave off a foul smell and was hot to the touch. It was definitly coming from that PSU. I just now need to know if I've narrowed it for sure as the PSU, or if something can be overheating it for some reason. Maybe it's another failed component?

So, how can it work fine in my old system, but not the new? I've had that PSU for a year now, came installed in my custom made computer from CyberPower. Maybe I should mention that a month ago my computer rebooted on me as if the power had went out and came back on, but it didn't. I don't know if that tells anything. I would test the 150w power supply in my main computer, but I don't know if I could even do it with minimal components running.

Here's what the 350w PSU runs regularly---
motherboard: Asus A7N8X, ram: 256MB, fans: 3 lighted
videocard: ATI 128MB, soundcard: Creative Labs 5.1
cd drives: Sony CD-RW, no-name DVD-RW
hard drives: 2 x 80GB Maxtors

 

[G0AOZ]

It's possible to get fatigued components in a PSU which will work with small current demands, but fail as soon as significant power requirements are made of them. Your secondary computer apparently worked with the 350W PSU probably because it wasn't "pushing" it hard wih a high demand for current. The main PC was demanding much more power and the PSU just put its hands up and gave in...

I would NOT try testing your 150W PSU on the main PC in case you blow that one up - you'd be snookered then...

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[garebo]

You can almost bet its the power supply. One thing to keep in mind. Most new pc mfgr's have to build pc's at a certain price point as people will gravitate to low prices.
In order to give you this great vid card and large hard drive or some other nice feature they tend to skimp where they can. One notorious place where they can skimp and get away with it is the ram, case, and the power supply.
I dont buy computers, build my own. But if i were to buy one, a standard, low-price, high-feature computer then the first thing i would do is replace the power supply and keep the original for backup.
To hear of a person with a one year old computer with a failing power supply is very common. Failing is the right word as a power supply can work sometimes but the computer will reboot periodically or other odds things can happen and then the power supply just gives up. Looks to me like thats where you are.
You can simply go and buy a new one. If it doesnt work then you can just return it, so i believe this is the way to go. Consider yourself lucky, too. Some people lose their mobo and other parts to a bad power supply.




Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[JacksonVFR]

Thanks for the replies so far guys! It gives me confidence in thinking it actually is the power supply. I stated earlier that I don't think it's the motherboard, more like I HOPE it isn't. I don't know for sure, but physically it doesn't show any bad signs.

Last night I went crazy and hooked up the 150w PSU from my secondary computer to just the motherboard (ram and processer) and videocard of my main one. I got nothing on the screen, would this be normal?

I'm going to try to borrow a higher wattage PSU from somebody today and test it. If not, I will send it in to CyberPower for a replacement and hope it is all that's wrong.

 

[BadBigBen]

Last night I went crazy and hooked up the 150w PSU from my secondary computer to just the motherboard (ram and processer) and videocard of my main one. I got nothing on the screen, would this be normal?

Yes, that can be normal, as most PSU now are P4/AMD ready (the extra 4 pin Plug) and older PSU's don't have this one... without that plug the CPU doesn't get ebough, or no power at all, thus the mobo will not fire up (POST)...



Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[JacksonVFR]

Alright, nice to know BadBigBen!

Here's another crazy idea since I can't seem to find any friends/acquantences willing to let me test their power supply. Ok, take my secondary computer's 150w PSU and hook it to the motherboard like previously. Then, so as to not risk overloading the 150w, hook up my failing but still working 350w PSU to just the hard-drives, leaving the "motherboard connectors/wires" undone --- or will this harm something? I hope you all understand my idea. I'm sure I'm fretting too much, I should just send the PSU in now so I can have my replacement on its way already.

 

[BadBigBen]

I wouldn't do that, unless the Ground wires are interconnected, giving a common ground...

but, I would just go to the local store and buy me a darn 400w or better PSU new, as they aren't that expensive anymore (somewhere around $30/€25 and up)... that be the safer way to go...


Ben

If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...

 

[G0AOZ]

As far as I can see the A7N8X doesn't have the additional 4-pin power connector.

I'd agree with BadBigBen - not a good idea to connect two PSUs to one machine. In fact you don't need to. If the motherboard is going to fire up, it will give video output without having drives connected. With just a video card in place, and no drives attached or powered up, there's a slight possibility the 150W PSU would cope.

If, however, you are not prepared to do as recommended (i.e. buy another PSU), then I'd suggest removing the motherboard from the case to ensure you have no shorts to deck, wayward screw jammed underneath etc. Unplug all cards, remove CPU and RAM, and then clear CMOS. If necessary, remove battery as well to make sure all circuits are dead. Replace battery, replace CPU, apply a fresh smear of compound and affix heatsink/fan. Plug in video card and one strip of RAM only. Now check if it'll power on.

ROGER - G0AOZ.