R.I.P. my psu I think

[Abarbarian]

Went to fire up good ol ASGARD after giving up on the linux install on XXXX and , nothing , zero , nowt .
Swapped power lead for a working one so I know thats not the problem . The psu lights do not come on and there is no sound coming out of it at all . It has two light on it and two switches , fiddled and still nothing .
I get a green light on the mobo though , is this powered by the coms battery ? or is some power getting through from the psu ?
Is there an internal fuse in the psu that I can check or replace??
The psu is an Enermax 400 and has been running for about 18 months about 70% of that time has been spent Boinc'ing .
Bought the thing in April 2006 but did not get around to using it till August 2006 .
I'm guessing that it is out of warranty . I'm not very impressed , thats a very short life span for a pretty expensive psu .

So do you recon its dead and is there any way I can test it ??

Don't forget , if you are giving me instructions , to make em simple as I'm technophobicaly impaired .

 

[psd99]

oh dear sorry to hear of that me old china. When is the funeral?


Have you tried it in another machine?


I think that green light on your board comes from the ATX connection into your board which is of course powered by the PSU.

 

[Adywebb]

Best way to check is to attach another PSU and see if that works

 

[muckshifter]

I get a green light on the mobo ... is some power getting through from the psu ?

Yes!

Is there an internal fuse in the psu that I can check or replace??

No!

... is there any way I can test it ??

Take the PSU out of the case. Short the Green and any Black of the 20/24 pin power connector ... the PSU should respond with the fan spinning.

For the tech impaired, see attached pic.


Enermax usually offer a 3year warranty ...

 

[floppybootstomp]

Actually, some PSU's do have internal 20mm glass fuses, but very few.

Do what Mucks says, shorting green + black.

If you have a voltmeter to read ATX connector voltages, all the better.

 

[vaio]

DO NOT open the psu casing unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Residual current-dangerous.

Also, opening the casing usually means breaking the warranty seal thus invalidating the warranty.

 

[Abarbarian]

Ta fer speedy and super replies folks .

Knew about the dangers of sticking me fingers inside , similar to microwaves .

Have seen glass fuse in a very old psu I took to bits ages ago but did not know if it was possible to replace them ie where would you get one from etc etc .

Good tip about the shorting . I'm guessing that the psu does not need to be pluged into the wall socket for this ??

Drat , wrong make , bought from Quiet PC as a "B" grade and its an Elan Vital Greenerger not an Enermax . Don't know why I made that mistake .

I have another psu but it will be a pain to swap and try .

So I'll try the shorting , write to supplier to see if I can get a warranty jobby . Last of all try swapping . Will give a progress report in due time .

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well, of course you gotta plug the PSU into the mains to see if fan spins

It's true it's unlikely that you'll find a 20mm fuse but worth a look.

Most circuit boards now use cp's (circuit protectors) which are soldered into the pcb and look like a two legged transistor.

So unless you got a circuit diagram are fairly hard to locate and identify.

20mm fuses can be purchased from RS, Maplins, CPC/Farnell or any good Electrical Wholesalers. Pay no more than 25p (and that's a bit rich) per fuse.

Residual current is dc stored by big capacitors. This can take up to 24 hours to dissipate, so be careful.

I found this out the hard way when I used to fix tellies

Ouch.

 

[Abarbarian]

Ha ha of course it needs to be pluged in . Was just testing . Wanders of whistleing .

 

[Abarbarian]

Finally dragged myself away from the linux project and took a loook at Aasgard . Cor blimey what a lot of dust this thing gatheres up . It was only a month ago that it had a darn good clean . Its these pesky woodburners you know . So out came the hoover and the bike pump and the artists brushes . Job done time to try out Muck's tip . Found a paperclip and black and green wires , flicked the switch and hey presto fan spins . Good job I didn't take the psu out of the case , just disconnected the six cables . Put said six cables back in and powered up and away we go .
Thats the strangest thing .
Couldn't have just been the dust .
Oh well another tale from the outer limiits of human comprehension and the inexplicable machinations of the humble pc .

Thanks fer the help folk .