Need Help Diagnosing Failure

franks_geckos · Rated PG Joined: 18 Apr 2005 Posts: 4 Location: New Jersey

I had a system fail over the weekend. I suspect either Power Supply, CPU, or Motherboard (perhaps graphics card). I noticed the system was down as the monitor had no signal when I turned it on ( I usually leave the pc on) . When I depressed the power button to attempt to start it, the red light came on (solid) for approx 3-4 seconds along with all fans, and then the system shuts off. After this point, it could take several minutes before pushing the power button will even cause a light or fan power. When I opened the pc up after the first attempt at restarting it, the power supply was warm. My board is an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe Motherboard. I have a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Processor and an Nvidia 5600 Video Card with 256MB Video Ram. If anyone has any experience with this type of failure, I would appreciate any thoughts. The unit was sent back 2 years ago when it was new a week after I bought it under warranty for the same symptom, whcih the manufacturer said was a loose wire on the power switch. I checked that out this time and do not believe it to be the case.

LaTech · Posted: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 13:12:39 Post Subject:

Could be a number of things, but if the PS was warm, I would lean towards it being a bad fan inside the PS. If the PS overheats, you're going to have probs. Could also be capacitors or soemthing or even the fuse...who knows.

Another thing to check, look at the CPU heatsink and fan and make sure they are seated properly. If not, it could be overheating and shutting down the system too.

A loose wire in the switch? No...that sounds retarded. The power switch is a soft switch (not requiring a constant ground to stay on). If it would turn on sometimes but not sometimes, I could see that...but not on then turning itself off...

**JimBowy** · Moderator Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 1627

You could jump the PSU to see if it runs....

If the PSU turns on then remove all system components (memory, cpu etc.) and try booting and adding a component each time until the board gives you error beeps.

If you don't get any beeps... I'd guess the board took a crap.

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:01:59 Post Subject:

For details on what Jim suggested...

http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/196/1

And, welcome franks_geckos!! How you doin'? Evil Banana

franks_geckos · Rated PG Joined: 18 Apr 2005 Posts: 4 Location: New Jersey

I am doing fine, thank you. Turned out to just be the PSU. I did remove the old 360W PSU and tested it on an older PII board that the kids use and it worked fine, however, after swapping an Abit AN7 motherboard into my desktop I found that it (the ABit board)too would not even get past the POST. After much grumbling I went out and bought a 30 dollar 430W PSU and it worked, even with my original Asus board which I put back in. Now I have to return the Abit board, but at least I am up and running inside of 2 days with paying someone a bundle to fix it for me. Smile

**JimBowy** · Moderator Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 1627

franks_geckos · Rated PG Joined: 18 Apr 2005 Posts: 4 Location: New Jersey

Unfortunately, it will be hard to justify spending more than 30 bucks to my wife to get a "name brand" PSU if the one I bought in an emergency is doing the job. It will be even harder considering the fact that the generic 360W that was in there previously lasted 2 years. If I had mad cash and was single, I would certainly spring for the name brand. However, I will look into the price difference though just to see the potential benefits in the meantime. If this PSU lasts a couple of years I 'll be happy since at that time, I will probably be ready to upgrade to a 64 bit board and processor anyway.

BeerCheeze · Posted: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:33:06 Post Subject:

The problem is, many times the cheap PSU's don't have good enough voltage regulation and they start frying your high value components.

I would rather save up for an extra month and get a good name brand PSU then risk my PC on a cheap no name brand. Every PSU in every one of my systems is either a PC Power & Cooling, Enermax or Antec.

**JimBowy** · Moderator Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 1627

It's not much more money for a name-brand unit Frank and the slightly increased costs outweigh any benefits of the "cheapies."

Most importantly, you'll get a warranty. Major manufacturers guarantee their units for a minimum of one year, usually more. Antec for example gives no hassles if you have any issues with the PSU.... they'll take a damaged unit back no questions asked.

Your system will have guaranteed stability, you won't have to worry about poor power regulation and you'll have more piece of mind. Random reboots etc. should be minimized with the name brand units.

Finally, consider the efficiency of the "cheapies" vs. the name-brand units. You can be assured the Antec and Enermax units will be much more efficient than the non-brand units.

The costs associated with running a non-efficient PSU could far exeed the $40 your saving vs. going to the name-brand units in less than a year.
(You'll be wasting energy and on top of that the wasted energy [heat] will make it more difficult to cool your computer room in the summer, further increasing operating costs...).

Newegg has the Antec Truepower 430W for $70.00

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufact.asp?catalog=58&DEPA=1

**Doctor Feelgood** · Posted: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:49:31 Post Subject:

Well, he already bought the replacement, so no use grumbling about what he should do... Laughing

But, this one seems to score good marks with users, has just one big fan for quiet operation, and its pretty cheap!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-159-023&depa=1