Iceberg

My computer won't boot after a few bad storms here through the Chicago land area. I even turned the damn thing off and turned off the surge protector (but didn't think to unplug the sob). I go to turn on my PC when I got home from work this evening and nothing. I reset the surge... nothing. I unplug the PC and put it to the wall outlet... a brief 3 seconds of power, fans kick on... then nothing. I try again... nothing. I unplug and wait a few minutes, try again and another 3 seconds of would-be-booted pc then nothing.

I have a 4 or 5 year old Altec 400 watt PSU, does this sound like the PSU has gone bad or does it sound like the MB (MSI Neo 4 Platinum)? I'm hoping it's just the PSU, and it's my guess it is.

Worst case scenario, I use this as an excuse to buy my dream machine. Best case scenario I just replace the PSU and everything is hunky dory.

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stickyjeans69

if you have a spare PC put the power supply in that, or even an old PC see if it powers it, I had a bad PSU and had no idea wtf was wrong so i

Grabbed my Emachine took off the cover and unplugged the power supply and "Piggy backed" my 1000W Enermax on it. the Enermax wouldnt power it 'twas fried. I brought it back for a PC power and Cooling 750 Watt Silencer. imo best PSU i've ever owned. if you don't have a spare PC see if you can use a friends or something to test it and make sure it works. if the PSU works fine then it's your motherboard.

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Iceberg

Don't have a spare , otherwise it would have been the first thing I did. Damn Damn Damn.

Not a happy camper.

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stickyjeans69

not really any way to test it then, you could bring it to a computer store and they would probably check it for you, Call them first and ask about it.

The good thing about having a spare PC is it's always there for testing if a part on your new PC craps out

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Iceberg

I'm going to try and kick it. I hear kicking helps.

Money on the PSU being the blame though. Need to find a mom and pop store that doesn't sell crap hardware.

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stickyjeans69

yeah, It really depends on what you buy i think, alot of people have their preferences however the ONE company that constantly gets great reviews and constant Positive feedback from customers is PC Power&Cooling their PSU's are top notch. go grab their 610Watt model

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boudreux

I'm a huge fan of Corsair's line of power supplies. Seasonic makes them, and Corsair brands them for $60 less than Seasonic. Even though i've built a nice rig, my most proud part is that power supply, it's THAT good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139002

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Iceberg

That Corsair looks really nice. I hope I find one today, I'm kind of in a pinch to get that machine back online.

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Iceberg

I actually think I'm going to lean on the BFG 650 Watt, can't beat their warranty and I love their cards.

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kin3

Here is a link to a website that the talks abouts psu's.

http://jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=32

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Acreo Aeneas

First thing first, use the good old "Paper Clip" test. Use a paper clip or wire to "connect" pins 3 and 4 (black and green). Be sure to have your PSU plugged in and the switch flipped to "|". You won't get electrocuted.

Secondly, if the PSU works, strip your system down to barebones (VGA card, 1 stick RAM, CPU, hard drive, PSU, monitor, keyboard, mouse. Disconnect everything else. Try booting your system. If it still faulters or fails. Disconnect your hard drive. Try again. Same thing? Disconnect your vid card. Try again. Same thing? Most likely your motherboard went bad (or a chip fried or a cap blew).

The system next to mines had the same symptoms. The motherboard went poop during one of the night storms (here in Chicago). And now I'm replacing it next week. Pain.

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Former 9th MID Member

Iceberg

Good news, it's not the PSU. Bad news, it's not the PSU.

Not a happy camper. Time to go find a 939 pin pci-e board for cheap

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Acreo Aeneas

, so you have the same bad part as my other system.

Good luck with that Squeak.

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marstein

I got a kill-a-watt recently and hooked it up to my PC and the two monitors (23" + 20" LCD panels). When running at 15% overclocked with both panels on and on high load plus the graphics card maxed (8800GTS) out it takes ~400W. My PSU is 550. The panels alone use ~100W. I wonder if we really need those huge PSUs. I know that the PSU supplies different kinds of power (12V, 5V, etc) so you want a safety margin there, but even with SLI it doesn't seem to go that high.

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Gigabyte P35-DS3R, 2GB, 8800GTS 640MB, Core2Duo E8400

Iceberg

Ok, I've got it to boot into safe mode!

Reset the bios and pulled the battery, waited, put battery back in and we have POST! Had to then go into bios software and reset there (weird) and then we have located my HDs! Finally got windows to load in safe mode.

Casualties: Case has an LCD display that shows temp... it's dead. South bridge fan is dead.

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