Bay 12 Games Forum
Finally... => Life Advice => Topic started by: Captain Hat on January 14, 2009, 08:26:08 pm
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Well, my old standby computer that I've upgraded three different times has died. I've got a new one now, but not only does it have less RAM, but the case is too small to fit my old graphics card in there, it's PCI, but I had to make do with what $200 will get you.
On the subject of my dead computer, when I try turning it on, the power light flickers and nothing happens, I don't see any damage on the mobo or any other components, but I opened up the power supply, and there was yellow goo on some of the things on there. I probably need to replace the power supply, but could the PCU dying have killed my mobo too? I just need to know how much I need to replace.
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Does the power supply have a toggle switch on it? I remember not being able to power on my computer because I accidentally turned the PSU off. When I toggled the power on/off, thinking I was turning it off/on, the PSU had just enough of a charge to power on briefly and flash the power light.
If you do look for a switch, make sure not to switch it from 110/220.
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Never mind, I've looked at it, the capacitors are definitely busted, so I'm throwing it away and going to see what I can salvage.
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RE: PUS damaging Mobo
It's possible, but mostly unlikely.
The busted caps usually fail too quickly for any significant surge to get through to the Mobo.
If a replacement PSU doesn't do the trick, then yea, you might want to consider a new Mobo.
Busted caps usually indicate an overheating problem.
The PSU should be cleaned out as often as the rest of the internals, once every few months.
Don't forget that the PSU has a far greater risk of electric shock than the rest of the computer.
Another reason for the busted caps: It might be under-rated for the load it's trying to power. Essentially this is overheating as well, but cleaning won't help.
If the PSU is less than 4 years old at failure, it's probably overloaded. If it's less than 2, it's definitely well overloaded.
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The busted caps usually fail too quickly for any significant surge to get through to the Mobo.
Nope, some power supplies are known from their unwilingness to die quietly and without making a fuss. No-names and some poor brands (Codegen for example) can fry both mobo and CPU, and in some cases also other components.
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Another reason for the busted caps: It might be under-rated for the load it's trying to power.
To be honest it's very hard to overload a psu. My quad-core, sli-ed gaming machine only draws 150w under full load. Despite the chipmakers estimations that it would draw upwards of 600w.
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Under full load, one modern gaming card draws more then 100 watts. And by that, I mean last gen's high range 55nm cards. It IS quite easy to overload a low quality 500-700watt PSU, as the 12v rail is more important than wattage. People seem to think they have the right to complain when they hook a GTX260 up to a 25$ PSU and it dies :P
To the OP, that does sound like the PSU. Had something similar happen to my old system, where the lights and fans came on, but nothing else powered up.
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Here's a good advice. Buy a surge protector. Saved my PC 5 times by now.
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Don't just buy a "surge protector". Buy an "uninterruptible power supply" from a GOOD manufacturer. It should have a lifetime warranty and some kind of insurance disclaimer thingy whereby if your computer gets damaged due to power surge/failure while connected to the UPS, the company that made the UPS will replace your computer.
A real UPS will allow your computer to keep running long enough to shut down even if the power goes out or the cord gets yanked out of the wall. A surge protector will should protect against surges, but won't stop your hard drive from crashing if the power suddenly goes out.
Hopefully this goes without saying, but don't get a so-called UPS from Wal-Mart, either. I tried to save money by getting one of Wal-Mart's UPSes and as it turns out the goddamn thing is as good of a UPS as it is a time machine.
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It's a question of how much money to spend on how much security:
A surge protector is basically a fast fuse built into a standard power cable. If a power surge comes through -- which, due to the outdated infrastructure most of the US seems to use, is said to be very frequent in the States -- you'll need to replace a small fuse that costs a couple of cent.
A UPS is basically a battery pack that stores enoough juice to keep your PC running for 10-30 minutes. These were originally used only for servers where a sudden power outage could destroy important data, and usually have some way of forcing the computer they're protecting to shut down. Yes, it'll also prevent surges from frying your PC, but IMO buying a UPS is almost definitely overkill.
Buy a brand-name power cable with a built-in surge protector instead, and spend the money you saved on a graphics card and, if you're into audio, an audio card.
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From what I gather, modern surge protectors work on digital fuses. Like a light switch that turns off once a huge surge comes through. Basically like this.
A small computer detects the amount of power going through a cable. That is possible as far as I can tell.
If too much electricity comes through, it cuts out the power on the end of the cable. The way it does that is like this. The cable connecting the measuring computer is MUCH shorter than the cable conducting the electricity through the surge protector.
Mind you, this is my logic talking. My surge protector has gone off about 7 times. My computer is still working fine.
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Wrong OS. Get a mac.