I have an older (around 2006) Acer with an MSI mobo. PC went on the blink. Symptom: PC started, then immediately stopped (within a second or two). This problem started intermittently over the previous few months, then on Friday it just would not start.
Cause: Power supply. I fitted a new one and the PC has worked ever since.
MM
Absolutely classic symptom. That's happened more times than I can remember!
I learnt the same the hard way, I couldn't boot up past the motherboard boot screen and bios settings.
It was intermittent, but I never had a complete power failure. This lead me to all sorts of difficult diagnostics and costly as I bought a new mobo which the company refused to take back.
In the end after swaping out the memory and CPU with the wife's PC eventually found the problem was due to the PSU.
Intermittent voltage on one of the input leads can cause this, doesn't even need to be a complete failure which make diagnosis very hard.
You can get inexpensive PSU testers from dx.com. I have found them very useful.
My desktop system is 2007, so not much newer. That started crashing periodically, with the frequency slowly increasing. I reseated everything socketed, but it didn't help. I hadn't changed any of the software over this period. Eventually I changed the PSU a couple of months ago, and no problems since (touch wood;-)
There's nothing visibly faulty in the old PSU - no swollen or leaking caps for example. Given the new PSU was well under £20 from CPC, I can't be bothered to try diagnosing the old one.
I think this is where the recently mentioned ESR meter comes in. I tend to pay a bit more for PSUs these days - I go for the 80+ ones.
I will +1 Bob's suggestion.
I, being someone who loves a bargain, have, since the 80's, always preferred a cheaper PSU on the grounds that, if the package is rated high enough it will be just fine.
Over the years, some parts would fail, mostly hard drives but, that would be the hard drive's fault, wouldn't it?
About a year back 2 new hard drives, in a 4 drives system, blinked out. Totally functionless. My PC would shut down when switching from a low res' window to a higher res' window.
I looked for info as to what could be causing the problem and many would say, 'get a badged PSU; pay more for the quality' on the grounds that the manufacturer's ratings were more likely to be nearer the truth. So, I relented and did just that.
I have had no such problems since but, the thing the gives me more confidence than ever before is, just how cold the PC casing is above the PSU even when demanding 'simracing' graphics are in use. Oh, and a 6 year warranty came with it.
...Ray.
On 22 Apr 2013, you wrote in uk.d-i-y:
I had a less obvious problem. My PSU (fan) was still running when I shut down the PC. No matter how long I let it the fan would keep running. I eventiually found it was due to the PSU not responding to a signal from the Mother BOard. Changed the PSU and all is well now.
Perhaps I should have explained what I meant what I meant by 80+ - it occurred to me afterwards that someone might think I meant the price! These PSUs are claimed to be a bit more economical, and with the number of machines I have running...
(it redirects, but don't worry about it).
The way I figured it was this: Approximately two years ago I bought a new PC tower case complete with power supply in order to purloin the power supply for another PC whose PS had gone duff. Why buy a new case just for the power supply? Two years ago, the duff power supply was tiny. Its length is 105mm. I tried and tried, but could not obtain a new one to fit the extremely tight space in the other PC. However, on browsing around the Maplin shop in Peterborough I noticed the new tower cases and lo and behold, one had a power supply with the right dimensions! That's why I ended up with a new tower case.
After using the power supply to fix that other PC I put the brand-new tower case in the loft, thinking one day it would come in handy.
So when the Acer started playing up, I fetched the case down and planned on moving the whole "innards" of the Acer to the new case (which is larger, has more drive bays and is far more accessible than the cramped Acer design).
I reckoned with a new power supply, and if this doesn't fix it, then, well, I'd need a power supply anyway for the new tower case, and I worked out that a mobo, RAM and CPU from Amazon wouldn't cost more that £108. So if the worst came to the worst, I'd have bought the new power supply AND the new mobo, RAM and CPU.
Anyway, as "luck" would have it, the power supply alone has done the trick! I now have an "Acer" inside a no-name tower case working very nicely. Of course, the mobo is obsolete, but for "driving" my music apps for my digital piano, it's still got plenty of oompf.
Only prob: I'll have to keep the Acer case, because it has the official Microsoft certificate of authenticity (Windows XP) stuck to the side. (I bought the PC secondhand three years ago locally.) I don't know how to get that CoA off without damaging it.
So, the PC is back in the land of the living for £22.99, the cost of the new power supply. Sure, I could've got it cheaper online, but I bought it locally from a computer shop in Spalding and took the case along with me to make sure the new supply fitted.
MM
Indeed so. The only problem is disposal of the old unit, because you're not supposed to chuck it in the black bin bag, so I'll have to make a special detour next time I go to Spalding in order to drop it off at the council tip.
MM
LOL, OK, but, I didn't respond to the 80+. I was referring to 'any. PSU that fails is in general, due to poor quality. :-)
I've a collection of PCs of varying age, some of which are so old as to be irrelevant (apparently - myself I don't think so, partly because I don't run Windows so don't need speed) and I've had similar problems.
The difficulty though is that new PSUs are missing one supply line only needed by ISA cards, and they often (usually?) don't have a switched mains output socket which is invonvenient.
Even if building to a tight budget, £50 - 60 on a good PSU is a saving in the long term (and possibly even sooner). I've always used Seasonic as they get good reports and also make PSUs for other suppliers. My current PC (2007) has a 330W Seasonic that's never been above 120W input and is at 45W idling, so I hope it's got a few years in it yet.
This one turns out to be 80+, although it didn't say so anywhere before it arrived.
We use 93% ones at work, but we have them specially designed as they're not PC-shape, are much more powerful, and are hot swap.
I was thinking about getting a tester but was told that I would be as well buying another PSU and use that, in a substitution manner, to find if the fault was the PSU.
That reminds me of a comic strip (userfriendly) were the sales droid (Steff Murky),trying to make the old equipment they (a canadian ISP) were selling sound like it had a USP, said the servers had coldswap power supplies, this started a fad of everyone demanding they got the new cold swap power supplies.
It's a damn sight quicker using the tester, and it tells you which bit isn't working.
Reminds me of a reporter in the bible-bashing belt in the US interviewing about an upcoming election when gay marriage was in the news.
"Would you vote for a heterosexual candidate?" "Oh no. We don't want no heterosexuals around here, gett'n up to all sorts. Should all have been drowned at birth"...
Oh, how I laughed, whilst the rant continued...
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.