Anyone ever smoke a power supply before?

unplug everything cept the motherboard, and if that gives you no troubles plug 1 item back in at a time checking between

if you have a radio shack near by ...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2286068
(which is a little steep, i paid 11 for mine)

or alternitavley if you have a multimeter you can stick the - probe on the case and probe out all the drive connectors, should be +- 12v and +-5v, its not going to be perfect, but if its way too out of line then you have an issue

Everything must be hooked up correctly because it works sometimes. So I would first focus on any possible intermittent connectors that got unplugged and plugged back in during the PS replacement. Especially look to see if any molex pins got partially pushed out of the back of the connector body. Does the replacement PS have molex connectors on the body of the PS case as well?

I'd also try pressing and holding the power button while wiggling the power connectors to the MB, to see if a connection might be intermittent.

I forget who suggested what in previous replies, but jumpering the power switch pins on the MB is a good idea.

If the easy stuff doesn't get you anywhere, you can disconnect everything except the power supply from the MB, including cards, and power it up, as I think Osgeld suggested. The CPU fan should at least start. If they don't, and assuming the power switch is good, it sounds like a MB or PS problem. You mentioned that the PS is a refurb, and it wouldn't be the first time that a tech was a little too quick to OK a reported intermittent PS.

Do you have an old working MB that you're not too attached to and would be willing to risk? You can lay that on a non-conductive surface without installing it into the computer case, connect your PS to it and momentarily short the power switch pins on the MB with a screwdriver and see if the CPU fan starts.

Good luck!

jem

As everyone who's worked with hardware knows, it's the smoke that makes stuff work.

Let the smoke out, and it stops working.

Don't do that!

Yep that's why I duct taped and silcon sealanted all the gaps, holes and grills in the computer case, 100% unbreakable now

Yhere's your problem then mate, real powers supplys use copper wire transformers and vacumn valve rectifiers

dipped in TAR

My PC behaves somewhat like that after some mains power failures. BIOS restarts the machine a few times half-heartedly.. i unplug mains.. plug it back in and then full power on and no further hassle for weeks...

what do you mean UPS and CVT? Linux has fsck...

Chosen,

Several years ago, my PSU blew up after I upgraded my video card. Luckilly, no damage to anything else.

The first replacement PSU exhibited similar symptoms to what you describe. Sometimes the computer wouldn't start and sometimes it would cut off for no apparent reason.

After googling my new PSU, I discovered that it was known to have an incompatibility with certain motherboards. Ultimately, I ended up returning it to the manufacturer for a replacement and the replacement worked fine.

So, yes, it definitely could be a problem with the new PSU. I'm not saying that it is, but it could be.

--Shack

Could be the power supply wasn't sending proper voltage after the problem.



Depends on what filesystem. If you're retarded enough to use reiserfs or XFS, no, you don't have fsck. At all. And if you use ext2 or ext4 right now, you're more or less asking for problems with that mentality.