power problems

monkeysnapper

A couple of weeks ago all the power was off in computer room, i checked fuse box and sure enough it had tripped during the night, i flipped switch back on, everything worked but pc was dead, no power, i tried the usual, changed lead from pc to wall, fuse in original lead, checked board for any signs, none, ....sooooo i went out and bought a new power supply, i just fitted it .... :mad:

so i have a spare power supply, does it look like the mother board in peoples opinion, i bought this as a pc 5 years ago that was self built, huge metal case, its not your off the counter job... any advice pleeease people:)

yoyo

monkeysnapper wrote: »

A couple of weeks ago all the power was off in computer room, i checked fuse box and sure enough it had tripped during the night, i flipped switch back on, everything worked but pc was dead, no power, i tried the usual, changed lead from pc to wall, fuse in original lead, checked board for any signs, none, ....sooooo i went out and bought a new power supply, i just fitted it .... :mad:

so i have a spare power supply, does it look like the mother board in peoples opinion, i bought this as a pc 5 years ago that was self built, huge metal case, its not your off the counter job... any advice pleeease people:)

The power spike could have killed all the components in the computer, or hopefully just the motherboard . New computer time I think, especially if you ruled out PSU

Nick

Irish_Elect_Eng

Please provide some more information.

When you power it on is it totally dead?
Any reaction to pluging it in or pressing power button
Any sign of Life>
Do any HDs Spin-up?
Are any of the peripherals powered?
Does the PSU fan come on
Have you checked out the original PSU in another machine?
Do you have a multimeter to use for debug?

Also I take it that you have confirmed that you have power as far as the PSU?
Have you visually checked the components on the motherboard, shorts often leave visual or nasal clues.

Motherboard shorts on modern PSUs would not normally take out the circuit breaker, short circuit protection would kick in?

So paint a picture and we will try to help.

monkeysnapper

Please provide some more information.

When you power it on is it totally dead? (yes totally dead, not a sausage)
Any reaction to pluging it in or pressing power button ( none at all)
Any sign of Life> (none)
Do any HDs Spin-up? (no)
Are any of the peripherals powered?
Does the PSU fan come on (no)
Have you checked out the original PSU in another machine? ( i dont have any other machine other than a laptop)
Do you have a multimeter to use for debug? (n0)

Also I take it that you have confirmed that you have power as far as the PSU?
Have you visually checked the components on the motherboard, shorts often leave visual or nasal clues. ( i checked as much as i could to see if there was any visual problems, when originally i couldnt get power i had a sniff inside and i didnt smell anything.

Motherboard shorts on modern PSUs would not normally take out the circuit breaker, short circuit protection would kick in?

So paint a picture and we will try to help.


i had a look online for any help and it suggested the power on button but said it was unlickly, ive never used a mutimeter in my life so im a bit stupid there im afraid

monkeysnapper

one thing i should say actually is about 2 years ago it started switching it self off randomly and i had friend of mine to have a look at it as i bought it off his friend, and he changed the power supply on it then, so power supply is only 2 years old, i feel a little silly really, i had a gut feeling it wasnt the power supply.

yoyo

monkeysnapper wrote: »

one thing i should say actually is about 2 years ago it started switching it self off randomly and i had friend of mine to have a look at it as i bought it off his friend, and he changed the power supply on it then, so power supply is only 2 years old, i feel a little silly really, i had a gut feeling it wasnt the power supply.

What make/model is the PSU? And yep I would always reccomend people use a surge protector for their pcs

Nick

monkeysnapper

my brother in law works in IT and came around and said he couldnt figure it out. says he told me when i bought it to just go on dell web site and buy a normal computer, not some knocked up piece of ****e from some polish fellers, theres some hope buying parts for a dell.

Anyway its a salvage hard drives and hope their ok.

lessons learnt

1. Always use a surge protector
2. Dont buy 2nd hand computers that were self built by people that we dont know personally.

3. Listen to my brother in law more in future

if anyone can add any more lessons that be great,

thanks people for your time

yoyo

monkeysnapper wrote: »

my brother in law works in IT and came around and said he couldnt figure it out. says he told me when i bought it to just go on dell web site and buy a normal computer, not some knocked up piece of ****e from some polish fellers, theres some hope buying parts for a dell.

Thats a pretty ignorant suggestion, I would certainly advise a self build over Dell any day of the week, and I can't see a Dell PSU providing better resistance to a bad power surge. Granted the custom builders may have used a rubbish PSU (something which is a major issue with some budget builds) but for the most part a custom build will work out cheaper and be much more flexible than a factory build.
Also Dells have been known to use non standardised connectors/components in the past, and still do to an extent, so I wouldn't say its easier to get parts for a Dell, compared to a standard ATX based self build

Nick