PSU Probllem?

SentrySteve

Typing this on my ps3 (with a keyboard thankfully) but check this problem out.

External HD does not power up and makes clicking noise (FreeAgent Desk - Seagate)
Through googling I learned that usually this means the case's chip/ability to power the hard drive has failed but the drive should be okay.
I remove the drive from the case, clean out my computer with air, stick the drive in to an open slot, boot up.
Computer boots normally but the drive still make sthe clicking noise and windows 7 doesn't reconzgine it. lame.
I remove the drive but now my computer doesn't power up.
I make sure the little connectors that go from the power button to the mobo are connected, try a second time, still no power.
My PSU has a manually on and off switch. I flick that and get no response at all.

Pretty sure my PSU is dead but I'm shocked that it could be. It (850 watt) was nowhere near compacitiy and when the extra drive was it there were no signs of it being overloarded. Really strange.

Do any of you techies think it could be something else?

Thaldarin

The only thing I suggest is you somehow managed to touch, breathe or what not and short the mainboard? Although I don't see how, anyone's theory here could be WAY off.

I recently have had this problem with my external HD :( A WD one, I always do dodgy stuff plugged in to my laptop though, I may let you know how it works out for me this weekend.

Oh and an easy PSU test for you, take the 12V? (the smaller power connector nearer your CPU normally) out of your motherboard. Fire up your PSU, normally if your PSU is fine, it will run and this indicates a problem with your setup/mainboard.

SentrySteve

Thanks for the heads up about the possibly mobo short. When I cleaned it I did it outside so it may have been possible for something small (bug, pollen, etc) to call on to it. Thankfully when I disconnected the recommended power cord from the mobo the PSU still did not repond (fans didn't move). Hee's hoping it's just the PSU. Time to find out how easy the RMA process is for Corsair.

That_Annoying_Kid

I just replaced my PSU after the fans finally quit and things started overheating

2nd psu I've killed on this mobo

Rob

PSUs can die for many reasons, and only one of them is overloading. Usually you'll see odd behavior in that case: only a couple of your USB ports work, or they work when you're not running a game, but not when you do, video card complains about power even though all the cables are plugged in, things like that. It's definitely bad, but not as bad as a half defective PSU giving inconsistent power.

That said, Thaldarin is correct. Especially these days, it's difficult to debug hardware. What you really need is a bunch of extra stuff on hand that you know is good so you can swap things out piece by piece. The poor man's alternative is to keeping sending things back until you find the culprit and hope newegg doesn't figure it out. :)

GWAR

<!--quoteo(post=1852963:date=Jun 15 2011, 06:27 AM:name=Rob)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Rob @ Jun 15 2011, 06:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1852963"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The poor man's alternative is to keeping sending things back until you find the culprit and hope newegg doesn't figure it out. :)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I had a friend of mine who did this and never got caught. RMA'd a entire computer except for the case.

Jiriki

Watts tell nothing. You could have 1000 watts but if the capacitors are crap or railings don't provide enough amperes, then you are out of luck. Buying power supply by watts is like buying audio speakers by watts, they tell you nothing of the quallity.

I buy Corsair HX series usually, expensive but high quality. There is massive difference between vendors (and even models, some vendors make both cheap and crap psu's). I could paste you a list from a Finnish OC'ing site but their site is not responding atm. :(

You could use this to calculate the necessary watts and railing amperes needed: <a href="http://www.raptoxx.com/calculator.php" target="_blank">http://www.raptoxx.com/calculator.php</a>

Beware though, those numbers are educated guesses at best. What is important is not the maximum wattage but if the specific railings have enough watts.

I'd just return it via warranty.

Crispy

Sometimes (new) hardware breaks. It's even more annoying when it breaks in subtle ways, causing dodgy bugs in a game you're trying to test that can only be reproduced on an individual piece of hardware. That's why I always try to rule out hardware issues early on in the debugging process.

See if you're able to swap in an old GFX card and an old PSU (it's usually a good idea to keep the last set of hardware you had before you up-graded knocking about for this reason).

TychoCelchuuu

Hardware testing is super annoying unless you've got enough redundant parts. I'm staying over at my parents' for a little bit and building them a new computer because their ~8 year old one is sort of a lost cause, and after I put it all together, it wouldn't boot up (CPU fan would spin for a couple seconds then spin down, then it would repeat). I swapped the PSU and that's not the issue, so I've RMA'd the mobo to Newegg. I'm hoping the replacement mobo fixes things, because if not, I'm not really sure where to go next. Meanwhile when I had an issue on my computer, I was able to swap my video card into a friend's computer to see what the problem was.

The lesson here is to get super rich so that you can buy 2 computers and just swap stuff between them to test.

Sops

If you are rich you could just use the Apply method of computer repair, throw it out and buy a new one.

Sorry, had to say it.