Computer Power Problem (1 Viewer)

[Gary Burdick]

During a recent thunderstorm the power in my house dipped down a couple times, like a large limb was pulling down a line, the lights fading down till black then came back up over about 1 or 2 seconds. This happened twice within 30 seconds. I went back to check my desktop pc and it was off. Now it will not cut on at all. Nothing else in my house was affected. Could the power supply, mobo, or something else have been affected? Are there any breakers within a computer or power suppply? I built it myself, it has an Enermax PS. Also, is there a name for when the power dips down like that? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[John_Berger]

Could the power supply, mobo, or something else have been affected? Are there any breakers within a computer or power suppply?

Aboslutely. Whether or not anything other than the power supply was affected is dependent on other factors, however, so I can't answer that.

Power supplies have their own protections built in with their own collection of fuses and other preventative measures. It's very possible that the surge blew out the power supply's internal protections. If you're not getting ANY power at all, I would say that this is the case.

A way to tell is to look inside the case and see if any of the fans move ever so slightly when you attempt to turn the power on. It's not unusual for the motherboard to stop the power-on process because something is wrong, but not before a slight amount of current goes through the system, which would result in a tiny movement on the fans. If you get absolutely nothing, then the problem is most likely the power supply.

I've used this method to troubleshoot systems in the past and it's been nearly flawless.

This should also be a lesson to go out and buy a UPS. APC has a six-outlet UPS (three UPS/surge-protected, and three without UPS) for $39. You might end up paying that much or more for a new power supply.