PSU died. Has it killed my motherboard too?

[Wandy]

Hi, newbie here...I dont know a lot about P.Cs and really need help

My 8 week old P.C, custom built from a (supposedly) reputable Eba
store has died on me and I am distraught.

The PSU has died on the machine. I know this because I have mad
'progress' by fitting a new PSU. When the original PSU failed th
machine would not power up at all, but would momentarily stutter i
to life as I pressed the case power switch but would then die as
let go of the switch

By fitting a new PSU I can get the machine to power on. The processo
fan starts to run but nothing else happens. There is no 'beep' soun
that is normally heard as the machine boots up. The large LED ligh
on the front of the case that used to illuminate green when th
machine was switched on now illuminates red

My friend says that the PSU has probably blown my motherboard and tol
me to check the capacitors to see if they look swollen. I have don
this but they look ok

My machine spec is as follows:- Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, ASRock 77
VM800 motherboard, 80Gb HD, 450W 'Win Power'??? PSU, X-Blade case

To be honest I have had my doubts about the machine since I got i
because when I think about it now there has always been a strang
smell eminating from it. Also whenever I was using the machine an
running programs the tone of the fan running inside the machine use
to dip up and down. Is this normal

The machine is under warranty but I am livid about the prospect o
sending it back after only 8 weeks, espacially when I have to cove
the courier costs. If I send it back I am concerned they will simpl
replace the damaged PSU with one of exactly the same type, because m
hunch is that the PSU is a poor quality one

So what do you think? Has the PSU ruined my machine or is ther
something that I have missed

Your help would be very much appreciated!!!

 

[Paul]

Hi, newbie here...I dont know a lot about P.Cs and really need help.

My 8 week old P.C, custom built from a (supposedly) reputable Ebay
store has died on me and I am distraught.

The PSU has died on the machine. I know this because I have made
'progress' by fitting a new PSU. When the original PSU failed the
machine would not power up at all, but would momentarily stutter in
to life as I pressed the case power switch but would then die as I
let go of the switch.

By fitting a new PSU I can get the machine to power on. The processor
fan starts to run but nothing else happens. There is no 'beep' sound
that is normally heard as the machine boots up. The large LED light
on the front of the case that used to illuminate green when the
machine was switched on now illuminates red.

My friend says that the PSU has probably blown my motherboard and told
me to check the capacitors to see if they look swollen. I have done
this but they look ok.

My machine spec is as follows:- Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, ASRock 775
VM800 motherboard, 80Gb HD, 450W 'Win Power'??? PSU, X-Blade case.

To be honest I have had my doubts about the machine since I got it
because when I think about it now there has always been a strange
smell eminating from it. Also whenever I was using the machine and
running programs the tone of the fan running inside the machine used
to dip up and down. Is this normal?

The machine is under warranty but I am livid about the prospect of
sending it back after only 8 weeks, espacially when I have to cover
the courier costs. If I send it back I am concerned they will simply
replace the damaged PSU with one of exactly the same type, because my
hunch is that the PSU is a poor quality one.

So what do you think? Has the PSU ruined my machine or is there
something that I have missed?

Your help would be very much appreciated!!!!

A new motherboard of the same type, would be about $50.
How much would the shipping costs be, to get warranty service ?

What you could do, is send it back, have them repair it. When it
returns, immediately pull the cheap PSU and put something better in
its place.

Fan speeds on equipment can go "up and down", if the voltage
fed to the fan is temperature controlled, or if the voltage
being used is not regulated very well. The human ear is pretty
sensitive to pitch, and in fact it doesn't take a lot of
voltage change, for the fan pitch to change enough for your
ear to detect it. The computer I'm typing this on, one of
the cooling fan slows down when the CPU is at 100%, and in
fact that is an easy way for me to tell if some task has the
machine running flat out.

ATX power supplies are not tightly regulated, because on at
least some of them, there is only one control loop controlling
all the outputs simultaneously. Some of the voltage relationships
are established by the turns ratio of the output transformer.
Other power supplies have independent regulation. So, in fact,
not all ATX power supplies are designed the same way. It is
fair to say, that the cheapest supplies use one control loop.
And it is not possible to tell how it is designed, by reading
the advert for the PSU.

Smelly PSU ? The last three I bought smelled, and they were not
the cheapest ones you could buy. One smelled like an organic
solvent was still in the box. The odor in the others, lingers
for years afterwards. Smelly product seems to be a side effect
of offshore manufacturing. And the funny thing is, the majority
of users seem to be oblivious to these smells.

Paul

 

[Vaughn]

Hi, newbie here...I dont know a lot about P.Cs and really need help.

My 8 week old P.C, custom built from a (supposedly) reputable Ebay
store has died on me and I am distraught.

The PSU has died on the machine. I know this because I have made
'progress' by fitting a new PSU. When the original PSU failed the
machine would not power up at all, but would momentarily stutter in
to life as I pressed the case power switch but would then die as I
let go of the switch.

By fitting a new PSU I can get the machine to power on. The processor
fan starts to run but nothing else happens. There is no 'beep' sound
that is normally heard as the machine boots up. The large LED light
on the front of the case that used to illuminate green when the
machine was switched on now illuminates red.

My friend says that the PSU has probably blown my motherboard and told
me to check the capacitors to see if they look swollen. I have done
this but they look ok.

My machine spec is as follows:- Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, ASRock 775
VM800 motherboard, 80Gb HD, 450W 'Win Power'??? PSU, X-Blade case.

To be honest I have had my doubts about the machine since I got it
because when I think about it now there has always been a strange
smell eminating from it. Also whenever I was using the machine and
running programs the tone of the fan running inside the machine used
to dip up and down. Is this normal?

The machine is under warranty but I am livid about the prospect of
sending it back after only 8 weeks, espacially when I have to cover
the courier costs. If I send it back I am concerned they will simply
replace the damaged PSU with one of exactly the same type, because my
hunch is that the PSU is a poor quality one.

So what do you think? Has the PSU ruined my machine or is there
something that I have missed?

Your help would be very much appreciated!!!!

I was very stupid in that I spent loads on the system, and used one of
these very cheap power supplies, it died, and so did the mother board.

All I had to do to check this was pop in a working power supply, not
sure if it is the correct way to do things but it did ok for me.

Hope this helps

Vaughn

 

[bgd]

Hi, newbie here...I dont know a lot about P.Cs and really need help.

My 8 week old P.C, custom built from a (supposedly) reputable Ebay
store has died on me and I am distraught.

The PSU has died on the machine. I know this because I have made
'progress' by fitting a new PSU. When the original PSU failed the
machine would not power up at all, but would momentarily stutter in
to life as I pressed the case power switch but would then die as I
let go of the switch.

By fitting a new PSU I can get the machine to power on. The processor
fan starts to run but nothing else happens. There is no 'beep' sound
that is normally heard as the machine boots up. The large LED light
on the front of the case that used to illuminate green when the
machine was switched on now illuminates red.

My friend says that the PSU has probably blown my motherboard and told
me to check the capacitors to see if they look swollen. I have done
this but they look ok.

My machine spec is as follows:- Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, ASRock 775
VM800 motherboard, 80Gb HD, 450W 'Win Power'??? PSU, X-Blade case.

To be honest I have had my doubts about the machine since I got it
because when I think about it now there has always been a strange
smell eminating from it. Also whenever I was using the machine and
running programs the tone of the fan running inside the machine used
to dip up and down. Is this normal?

The machine is under warranty but I am livid about the prospect of
sending it back after only 8 weeks, espacially when I have to cover
the courier costs. If I send it back I am concerned they will simply
replace the damaged PSU with one of exactly the same type, because my
hunch is that the PSU is a poor quality one.

So what do you think? Has the PSU ruined my machine or is there
something that I have missed?

Your help would be very much appreciated!!!!

Was temperature monitoring visible?
My guess is that its cooked.
450 cheap watts on a "p4 electric frying pan" (3.0 /800fsb and up)
Send it back, and complain about cooling problems
;o)

 

[Robbie McFerren]

Hi, newbie here...I dont know a lot about P.Cs and really need help.

My 8 week old P.C, custom built from a (supposedly) reputable Ebay
store has died on me and I am distraught.

The PSU has died on the machine. I know this because I have made
'progress' by fitting a new PSU. When the original PSU failed the
machine would not power up at all, but would momentarily stutter in
to life as I pressed the case power switch but would then die as I
let go of the switch.

By fitting a new PSU I can get the machine to power on. The processor
fan starts to run but nothing else happens. There is no 'beep' sound
that is normally heard as the machine boots up. The large LED light
on the front of the case that used to illuminate green when the
machine was switched on now illuminates red.

My friend says that the PSU has probably blown my motherboard and told
me to check the capacitors to see if they look swollen. I have done
this but they look ok.

My machine spec is as follows:- Pentium 4 3GHz, 2GB RAM, ASRock 775
VM800 motherboard, 80Gb HD, 450W 'Win Power'??? PSU, X-Blade case.

To be honest I have had my doubts about the machine since I got it
because when I think about it now there has always been a strange
smell eminating from it. Also whenever I was using the machine and
running programs the tone of the fan running inside the machine used
to dip up and down. Is this normal?

The machine is under warranty but I am livid about the prospect of
sending it back after only 8 weeks, espacially when I have to cover
the courier costs. If I send it back I am concerned they will simply
replace the damaged PSU with one of exactly the same type, because my
hunch is that the PSU is a poor quality one.

So what do you think? Has the PSU ruined my machine or is there
something that I have missed?

Your help would be very much appreciated!!!!

You have to be careful about cheap power supplies. I read a review once
about a 520 watt power supply. It was in fact 520 watts, but it was 520
Watts INPUT! I thought my power supply died recently (it was almost
dead anyway). The actual problem was a stop error causing windows to
reboot (found later when I disabled auto reboot) due to a bad sound
driver. I'm still glad I replaced it as the +5V rail was droping below
4.6 V. That reminds me, I need to connect the power to the firewire
card (finally found out what that connector was for) and change a few
jumpers to prevent an overload on 5VSB.

 

[Wandy]

Thanks for the replies, the broken-down PSU spec (of which I have n
real understanding!) is as follows :

"Win Power" switching power supply, model ATX-450. Ma
output power = 450W. Input : 115VAC 10A max, 60Hz 230VAC, 5A ma
50Hz. Output : +12V 20A max, +5V 40A max, +3.3V 28A max, -5V 0.5
max, -12V 0.8A max, +5V/SB 2.0A max

So was this good enough to run my machine?...because no doubt th
dealer will just replace it with like for like. If anyone recommend
a particular PSU what is it, and how much will it cost in the UK

From what I described then does this sound like my motherboard ha
gone too?...or can someone suggest why the machine wont boot

 

[Robbie McFerren]

Thanks for the replies, the broken-down PSU spec (of which I have no
real understanding!) is as follows :-

"Win Power" switching power supply, model ATX-450. Max
output power = 450W. Input : 115VAC 10A max, 60Hz 230VAC, 5A max
50Hz. Output : +12V 20A max, +5V 40A max, +3.3V 28A max, -5V 0.5A
max, -12V 0.8A max, +5V/SB 2.0A max.

So was this good enough to run my machine?...because no doubt the
dealer will just replace it with like for like. If anyone recommends
a particular PSU what is it, and how much will it cost in the UK?

From what I described then does this sound like my motherboard has
gone too?...or can someone suggest why the machine wont boot?

Before tossing the motherboard use standard motherboard troubleshooting
procedures. (erase CMOS if that does not work remove battery and unplug
power for 15 min, if that does not work do over but boot without
battery to see if it will boot that way).
I deal with substandard equipment all the time so send me an email (the
address is valid).

 

[Wandy]

Robbie McFerrenwrote
Wandy wrote

Thanks for the replies, the broken-down PSU spec (of which I hav n
real understanding!) is as follows :

"Win Power" switching power supply, model ATX-450. Ma
output power = 450W. Input : 115VAC 10A max, 60Hz 230VAC, 5A ma
50Hz. Output : +12V 20A max, +5V 40A max, +3.3V 28A max, -5V 0.5
max, -12V 0.8A max, +5V/SB 2.0A max

So was this good enough to run my machine?...because no doubt th
dealer will just replace it with like for like. If anyon recommend
a particular PSU what is it, and how much will it cost in the UK

From what I described then does this sound like my motherboard ha
gone too?...or can someone suggest why the machine wont boot

Before tossing the motherboard use standard motherboar

troubleshootin
procedures. (erase CMOS if that does not work remove battery an
unplug
power for 15 min, if that does not work do over but boot without
battery to see if it will boot that way)
I deal with substandard equipment all the time so send me an emai
(the
address is valid).[/quote:e8eae32d23

Hi..."erase CMOS". What is that and what does it involve

Cant see any link to email you

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies, the broken-down PSU spec (of which I have no
real understanding!) is as follows :-

"Win Power" switching power supply, model ATX-450. Max
output power = 450W. Input : 115VAC 10A max, 60Hz 230VAC, 5A max
50Hz. Output : +12V 20A max, +5V 40A max, +3.3V 28A max, -5V 0.5A
max, -12V 0.8A max, +5V/SB 2.0A max.

So was this good enough to run my machine?...because no doubt the
dealer will just replace it with like for like. If anyone recommends
a particular PSU what is it, and how much will it cost in the UK?

From what I described then does this sound like my motherboard has
gone too?...or can someone suggest why the machine wont boot?

That supply is actually adequate for an average system. I didn't
sit down and do a detailed calculation, but the bare minimum these
days would be about 12V@15A. You have 12V@20A, and the processor
gets its power from the 12V output. (The 12 volts is converted to
a much lower voltage, by a circuit on the motherboard.) The bare
minimum number assumes one hard drive and one CD, and if you
have a bunch of hard drives, then you'd need more +12V. (Power
numbers are available for disk drives, on the manufacturer's
web site.)

If the cost of shipping (to get warranty service) is less
than the $50 to replace the motherboard, then send it back
and have it repaired. The place that built the computer should
put it right. (Note - if you have valuable files on the hard
drive, back them up. Even if it means taking the drive to a
friend's house. Repair facilities just _love_ to reformat
disk drives, whether it is needed or not. Even if you put a
label on the computer, saying "don't erase my files", they'll
still do it.)

When it comes back, you can always put your own power supply
in there. Just take note of where the wires go, and you can
put the new one in.

Your "Win Power" supply could be the equivalent of a Powmax.
I tried to trace it down, but all the hits in the search engine
I looked at were stale, implying perhaps Win Power has
disappeared as a product name. I was hoping to trace it to
a supplier. (If you see your computer case on the Powmax web
site, that would point to Powmax being one in the same with
"Win Power".)

This thread might give you a few suggestions on some brand names.
The information on models ages rapidly, and there will be new
models by now, to replace the old ones.

"The PSU thread"
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56231

Paul