Power Supply Unit Problems

[russellclow]

Hi there,

I hope you lot can help. I am having major problems with my PSU. Basically, I loaded up my game, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II after updating it with a patch (downloaded from OFFICIAL site). Now, I load the game up, get to a certain point - and BAM! My whole machine instantly shuts down. It doesn't crash to the desktop, or even tell me its shutting down, everything just instantly stops.

I try and press the power button, but there is NO power going to the Motherboard at all. I deplug the machine, flick the switch on the back of my motherboard, replug it all in, and press the power button...The fan for my Chipset moves very slightly, but then stops... There IS power going to my Motherboard, because the green light on my On-Board LAN comes on when I plug in the wire, but the actual machine doesn't load.

I then take the whole PSU out, and swap it with my another PSU from one of my other PCs. The PC loads up fine. I load the game, and at exactly the same point in the game, the same thing happens. So now I have 2 PSU's that aren't working, with no apparent reason for it. I have tried all sorts, swapped the PSU's around between my 3 PC's, unplugged and replugged them. There is definitely power going to the motherboard when its all plugged in, but when the power button on the front of my case is pressed, the fans move very slightly, then do nothing... If I then press the power button again, nothing happens at all, untill I deplug it.

Is there anything I can do to the PSU to "reset" it or something? Or has it blown out? I didn't think a game could kill a PSU like that.

Any ideas would be extremly appreciated.

 

[Ian]

That is very strange, are you 100% sure that the old PSU's don't work? It does seem very strange that a game could cause that problem, but it may be that the power requirements are far too high when using your 3D card + everything else.

Do you get any beeps when you turn your PC on with the broken PSUs?

Most importantly, do you know the power rating of both the units? If they are 250W that may be the problem.

 

[russellclow]

Thanks alot for your reply

The PSU that was originally in there was a 400W. I have never had a problem with it, untill this game (I've played more demanding games, no problems). The PSU that I replaced it with was a 350W. I now have a 300W in there, that is working, but I dont dare load the game up again and destroy another PSU.

The original PSU does not work in any of my 3 PC's now.

I swapped a PSU that WAS working into the PC, and it worked. When I played the game again, the same thing happened. THAT PSU does not work in any of my 3 PC's now. Like I said, there IS power coming from the PSU's, but they won't boot up.

There are no beeps at all, the PC doesn't it even boot up, the fan moves ever so slightly then doesn nothing. I have a blue LED on one of the fans, which also turns on when the button is pressed, but turns off within about half a second.
:/

 

[muckshifter]

Thanks alot for your reply
the fan moves ever so slightly then doesn nothing. I have a blue LED on one of the fans, which also turns on when the button is pressed, but turns off within about half a second.
:/

That is caused by a short on your motherboard ... sorry.

 

[russellclow]

That is caused by a short on your motherboard ... sorry.

What is the solution then?

My motherboard works FINE with my 300W PSU, it worked fine with my 350W PSU as well before I ran the game.

The PSU's that broke from the game do no work on any of my 3 PC's, which all have differant motherboards :/

Is there a way of "resetting" the PSU's or something? Like I said, I dont think they have "blown" because there is no burning smell, and there is still power going to the motherboard lights and fans (For a second) when the button is pressed.

 

[muckshifter]

oops sorry missed that ... however, it is still 'shorting' somewhere, may not be the MB, what make is it by the way.

Would help me if you can name some of your kit ... I have seen 300W PSU units out-power a 400W

Look on the side of the PSU for the lable and tel me what it quotes for the 3.5v+5v combined ... and the make of your MB

 

[russellclow]

The motherboard make is a

VIA KT400A

I think.

The original PSU is:

Mercury Model: KOB AP4400XA

400W

3.5v+5v is: 220W

The other PSU that cut out is:

Power Master Model: PM-350

Can't see a 3.5V+5V combined on the label, its got colours like

Orange Red
+3.3V +5V
20A 23A

etc going along, but there is no "combined" number on that one... :s

It says "All output is extend to 350W MAX."

Is there no way of stopping it from shorting out?

 

[muckshifter]

Kt400 is the chipset ... is it a ASUS A7N8X-X?

OK, lests go back a step here ... all those PSUs are crap and are what I would find in "any" case for under £25 only the 400 stood any chace of holding its own with its combined 220v, and that is its max loading by the way.

It is not the game, but the power drain needed to run it that has posible 'blown' a moffet in the PSU ... I had 8 out of 10 PSUs all fail within the same month after nearly a years use ... ****ed me right off but my own fault as I was using a MB that needed a better PSU than the one I used.

Add up all your attached devices ... HD, CDrom, DVD, internal Fans, USBs and Graphics cards are the pits for power dranage.

I can't say how long your 300 will last but I would be looking to buy better replacements to the 'fauilty' PSUs

There is nothing you can do to 'fix' a PSU ... except buy a better one.

 

[andy j]

Hi Russell


Use this
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/