PSU died - But Why and how?

[SirLonewolf]

Yesterday I was gaming and turned off my computer when I went to bed. As always I turned off the power socket on the wall, so there was no power to my computer.


Today when I came home I turned on my computer and nothing happend. I removed the side panel and turned on the power.
No I could see that for a second the was power to my rig.....Mobo led turned on and so did the PSU and all the fans, but only for a second or less. And with the power on the PSU put out a very high pitch shrill noise, which died over some seconds (like a fan coming to a halt) when I turned off the power.
I tried another PSU and the computer runs fine.


Has anyone tried something like that?
What can have caused that?

[SirLonewolf]

bump....

[LordVader]

Yesterday I was gaming and turned off my computer when I went to bed. As always I turned off the power socket on the wall, so there was no power to my computer.


Today when I came home I turned on my computer and nothing happend. I removed the side panel and turned on the power.
No I could see that for a second the was power to my rig.....Mobo led turned on and so did the PSU and all the fans, but only for a second or less. And with the power on the PSU put out a very high pitch shrill noise, which died over some seconds (like a fan coming to a halt) when I turned off the power.
I tried another PSU and the computer runs fine.


Has anyone tried something like that?
What can have caused that?

I had a similar experience last week... although it was becuase I was overloading my PSU, rather than it frying.
I plugged in my second 7800GTX, and ran with it for that night without any issues. At night I also switch off my PC at the plug, and when I switched it on in the morning it was dead. The LED's we're all on, but nothing started. Replaced the PSU with a higher spec unit, and it works perfectly. The old PSU is still fine, but it can't handle the load I'm throwing at it.

I have seen customer's PC's do that on various occasions. The PSU is fired, and can't supply enough to get the PC started, but It has enough power to run the LED's and Fans.

[jfitzw]

ive had 2 or 3 do that in the past. i quit using the switch on the psu and havnt had a problem since, but that really shouldnt have anything to do with it, unless you were constantly killing the power to the system with the switch on the psu, then i could see it causing problems.

[_user]

Overloading a PSU aside, consistently frying PSUs could typically be a result of bad hardware inside the computer or poor AC current through your home. A while back I was getting PSUs dying in different machines around my house. I've since placed them on multiple UPS setups and have yet to see a problem.

[SirLonewolf]

I had a similar experience last week... although it was becuase I was overloading my PSU, rather than it frying.
I plugged in my second 7800GTX, and ran with it for that night without any issues. At night I also switch off my PC at the plug, and when I switched it on in the morning it was dead. The LED's we're all on, but nothing started. Replaced the PSU with a higher spec unit, and it works perfectly. The old PSU is still fine, but it can't handle the load I'm throwing at it.

I have seen customer's PC's do that on various occasions. The PSU is fired, and can't supply enough to get the PC started, but It has enough power to run the LED's and Fans.

My mobo has a LED that light up when there's power on the system, even when the computer is not turned on. And after I turned on the power plug on the wall there was no light in it.

And when I push the power botton the LEDs on the mobo, PSU and videocard only light up for a second or less. And the fans spin for a second or less....Then all the the leds and fans die.

ive had 2 or 3 do that in the past. i quit using the switch on the psu and havnt had a problem since, but that really shouldnt have anything to do with it, unless you were constantly killing the power to the system with the switch on the psu, then i could see it causing problems.

Well I never use the power switch on the PSU. I only turn off the power plug on the wall.

Overloading a PSU aside, consistently frying PSUs could typically be a result of bad hardware inside the computer or poor AC current through your home. A while back I was getting PSUs dying in different machines around my house. I've since placed them on multiple UPS setups and have yet to see a problem.

I really don't think there's anything wrong with the hardware......Everything used to run fine and is running fine now with another PSU with much lower specs.
As for bad current in my house......Well I guess it could be but everthing else pluged in to the power runs fine.


But just in case, here's my hardware (when it happend):

XG-Vortec 600 PSU (600w, Amps: 34A (+3.3v), 36A (+5v) and 37A (+12v) ----> LINK
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard
P4 E 3.0 Prescott
CPU HSF with 80mm fan
2x512 + 1x1024 sticks of RAM
ASUS V9999GE, 256MB ram videocard (GF6800)
Sound Blaster Live 24-bit soundcard
1 160GB HDD
1 Nec DVD-drive
1 Floppy drive
1x120mm + 3x80mm case fans
1x50mm fan on the Norhtbridge heatsink


Let me know what you guys think


****** EDIT ******
Can I test the current in my home with a multimeter? And how do I do it?

[Uncle_Bob]

The other thing to consider is that if you have been pushing the system for a while the PSU itself will get very hot. If you power off the system immediately without letting it run at idle for at least a few minutes after a good gaming session or whatever then the heat will stay in the PSU because the fans will stop at power off. This can "cook" the components in the PSU - I personally always let my rigs run for a few minutes doing nothing after I've given them a battering - just to let everything cool down a bit.

[SirLonewolf]

The other thing to consider is that if you have been pushing the system for a while the PSU itself will get very hot. If you power off the system immediately without letting it run at idle for at least a few minutes after a good gaming session or whatever then the heat will stay in the PSU because the fans will stop at power off. This can "cook" the components in the PSU - I personally always let my rigs run for a few minutes doing nothing after I've given them a battering - just to let everything cool down a bit.

Thanks for the tip [thumbup]
Though my PSU never gets particularly hot....not even when gaming.


Any thought on testing the current in my house? Can I use a multimeter and how?

[maddog40]

I know that ever since I have a UPS it frequently shows surges and dips for which I had no idea, and that would be bad for a rig. Might be a bit off topic, but I would never cheap on this anymore, what' s 100$ to protect 2000$

[SirLonewolf]

I know that ever since I have a UPS it frequently shows surges and dips for which I had no idea, and that would be bad for a rig. Might be a bit off topic, but I would never cheap on this anymore, what' s 100$ to protect 2000$

What is a UPS???