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Bad wiring?
Not good at posting from my phone,sorry! But here goes...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. I've tried various outlets in the room, swapped power cords, and the HP was not plugged into the same outlet as my regular comp. Does this sound like bad wiring? We've had some monster thunderstorms and a recent lightning hit nearby, but they came after my first PSU went. Any help would be really appreciated!
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#2
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Bad wiring?
Thip wrote:
Not good at posting from my phone,sorry! But here goes...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. I've tried various outlets in the room, swapped power cords, and the HP was not plugged into the same outlet as my regular comp. Does this sound like bad wiring? We've had some monster thunderstorms and a recent lightning hit nearby, but they came after my first PSU went. Any help would be really appreciated! If the computer is old enough, there were some computers long ago, where the PSU fan has a cable which runs outside of the power supply. The PSU fan is actually powered by the computer motherboard fan header. That allows the motherboard to adjust the fan speed. If the cable happens to be disconnected, then you see what looks like a PSU fan failure. It's also possible for a fan to stop turning. Inspect the fan, to see if the bearing is friction free. With power off, use a pencil tip, to see whether you can easily turn the fan or not. While you're inside the computer, see if you can locate a two or three wire fan cable, that leads inside the PSU. That could be the cable that needs to be plugged into the motherboard. If the fan is not turning, the power supply will likely switch off on overheat, after enough time passes. A good design, has a thermistor on one of the heatsinks, to detect a lack of cooling, or an overload situation. It's usually pretty easy to get a PSU casing open and look inside. Just remember that there are a couple big caps in there, that can be charged to 300 VDC. Normally, the caps have a bleeder resistor across them. A safety conscious tech, never assumes the bleeders work, and that the caps continue to be dangerous. (In this diagram, the bleeder resistors are R2 and R3, near the top center of the diagram. C5 and C6 are dangerous.) http://www.pavouk.org/hw/en_atxps.html On some fans, the cabling is modular, and the fan can be unplugged without touching other stuff. I've replaced one fan on a PSU. It required removing the screws that hold the fan in place, unplugging the cable, and installing a new one. I had to remove one transparent piece of plastic, to complete the repair, but otherwise, didn't even get close to the big caps. You must be careful to put any insulation back in place, the way you found it. Plastic is used to prevent the component leads, from touching the chassis metal. (The big caps inside the PSU are not candidates for the "screwdriver technique". Maybe someone suggested in the past, to stick a screwdriver tip across the two leads on a big cap like that. If a cap is big enough, *don't do that*. The noise can be so loud, you'll be deaf for ten minutes. Any time you work with big caps, work out 1/2*C*V**2 and the number of joules involved. There is a lot of energy stored in those caps. They're not to be trifled with. The same kind of danger awaits you inside a microwave oven. Nasty nasty cap.) Paul |
#3
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Bad wiring?
"Thip" wrote in message
... ...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. . . .Does this sound like bad wiring? Sounds like a bad PSU. I had PSUs die four times in 28 years of home computing. One occasion was within a month of installing a new PSU (replaced free by the vendor.) -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
#4
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Bad wiring?
Don Phillipson wrote:
"Thip" wrote in message ... ...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. . . .Does this sound like bad wiring? Sounds like a bad PSU. I had PSUs die four times in 28 years of home computing. One occasion was within a month of installing a new PSU (replaced free by the vendor.) Probably all that year-round ice plays a role there. ;-) |
#5
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Bad wiring?
"Don Phillipson" e925 SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca wrote:
"Thip" ksbwhite gmail.com wrote in message news:3a478351-3f13-4d06-b70e-6c4b7a5e1301 glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com... ...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. . . .Does this sound like bad wiring? Sounds like a bad PSU. I had PSUs die four times in 28 years of home computing. I have had better luck than that, using quality name brand power supplies. I used one Antec for ages, through several upgrades. -- One occasion was within a month of installing a new PSU (replaced free by the vendor.) -- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) Path: news.astraweb.com!border6.newsrouter.astraweb.com! news-out.octanews.net!indigo.octanews.net!news.glorb.co m!feeder.erje.net!xlned.com!feeder3.xlned.com!feed er.news-service.com!94.75.214.39.MISMATCH!aioe.org!.POSTED !not-for-mail From: "Don Phillipson" e925 SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt Subject: Bad wiring? Date: Mon, 30 May 2011 19:18:38 -0400 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Lines: 22 Message-ID: is2iih$inb$2 speranza.aioe.org References: 3a478351-3f13-4d06-b70e-6c4b7a5e1301 glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 71QMD6P1FxvG6Xy828/mtA.user.speranza.aioe.org X-Complaints-To: abuse aioe.org X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.5931 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.6090 |
#6
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Bad wiring?
Yes an outlet may "work" even when it is wired incorrectly or is now
faulty in one way or another. In the USA the easiest way for someone to do a quick test on the 3-prong wall outlets is to use one of these little testers. Many companies make them but I usually find one at large home centers like Lowe's or Home Depot when I need a replacement. http://www.lowes.com/pd_292767-12704...ser&facetInfo= or http://www.lowes.com/pd_292761-12704...ser&facetInfo= Both of them can do a basic test of a 3-prong outlet parts but if it was me I'd buy the second unit or one like it. The kind with the little button on it will also test the GFCI outlets/breakers used for possible wet locations. For what it's worth I've seen a local building inspector walking around with one checking the outlets at new or remodel jobs from time to time. I have found outlet strips, surge protectors, extension cords, and many outlets wired incorrectly with mine. |
#7
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Bad wiring?
On Mon, 30 May 2011 14:26:12 -0700 (PDT), Thip
wrote: Not good at posting from my phone,sorry! But here goes...comp is in the den, had one here for 8+ years. I blew out a fairly new PSU 2 months ago. Replaced it, and today the comp died again. I set up an old HP to use, and now it's not booting. Fans turn but not on the PSU. I've tried various outlets in the room, swapped power cords, and the HP was not plugged into the same outlet as my regular comp. Does this sound like bad wiring? We've had some monster thunderstorms and a recent lightning hit nearby, but they came after my first PSU went. Any help would be really appreciated! Hi Thip You should buy a UPS. It is better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. A good UPS will tell you if you have bad power. The power went out over here a week ago and I was web surfing in the dark for about 30 min on my laptop. |
#8
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Bad wiring?
On Tue, 31 May 2011 15:28:23 -0400, Metspitzer
wrote: You should buy a UPS. It is better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. A good UPS will tell you if you have bad power. The power went out over here a week ago and I was web surfing in the dark for about 30 min on my laptop. Yeah. It's amazing how often mine cuts in for a moment. Most of the time it's so short the power supply capacitors would hold it but at least once a month in the summer it's long enough to blink the lights and reboot an unprotected PC. |
#9
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Bad wiring?
On 1/06/2011 1:25 PM, Loren Pechtel wrote:
On Tue, 31 May 2011 15:28:23 -0400, wrote: You should buy a UPS. It is better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. A good UPS will tell you if you have bad power. The power went out over here a week ago and I was web surfing in the dark for about 30 min on my laptop. Yeah. It's amazing how often mine cuts in for a moment. Most of the time it's so short the power supply capacitors would hold it but at least once a month in the summer it's long enough to blink the lights and reboot an unprotected PC. Mine cut in not ten minutes ago. I didn't see the lights flicker but something upset my UPS. I have my computer, monitor and 3 NAS devices on it. This particular computer was prone to crashing, with or without lights flickering. Since I acquired the UPS, no more crashing. Definitely good value. Krypsis |
#10
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Bad wiring?
On Thu, 02 Jun 2011 23:55:05 +1000, Krypsis
wrote: On 1/06/2011 1:25 PM, Loren Pechtel wrote: On Tue, 31 May 2011 15:28:23 -0400, wrote: You should buy a UPS. It is better to have one and not need it than to need one and not have it. A good UPS will tell you if you have bad power. The power went out over here a week ago and I was web surfing in the dark for about 30 min on my laptop. Yeah. It's amazing how often mine cuts in for a moment. Most of the time it's so short the power supply capacitors would hold it but at least once a month in the summer it's long enough to blink the lights and reboot an unprotected PC. Mine cut in not ten minutes ago. I didn't see the lights flicker but something upset my UPS. I have my computer, monitor and 3 NAS devices on it. This particular computer was prone to crashing, with or without lights flickering. Since I acquired the UPS, no more crashing. Definitely good value. Krypsis Mine comes on at all times during the day for a brief second maybe twice a day. I haven't bothered to verify it, but I think it is because I have an CFL in the desk lamp. |
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