pc wont boot, power supply? (1 Viewer)

[James Spraggs]

hi everyone. was hoping to get some suggestions here.

I was playing a game the other day, and went to the menu to quit. upon clicking quit, the machine shut down on me, and now it will not power up.

When I press the power button on the front of the case, the fan on the cpu starts for a splitseconf, and the front power light comes on then goes off. I was wondering if it could be the power supply?
In case it helps the specs on the computer is a 3.2 p4 ht, with 1 gig of ram, 2 sata hard drives, and a bfg geforce 6600 gt oc. The power supply was only rated at 350 watts. Could all of that have killed the power supply?


thanks in advance

james

 

[StevenFC]

Well, it could certainly wear it out faster. It could be that you're just pulling too many watts for your PS. Unplug something and see what happens.

But it just sounds like your PS went kaputsky. It's a fairly common occurence. It could be something else like your CPU, or even your MB, but the fact that it shuts off so quickly tells me it's your PS--but it doesn't rule out something else. The fact that your system will start to power up worries me a little. In my experience when a PS goes dead, it goes completely dead. If you replace it and you still have issues, then I would say you have an expensive problem. At the very least get a bigger PS. 350 watts is not really sufficient for modern, multi-device systems.

Make sure to check for other things before you buy a PS. Loose wires, bad power cable, faulty outlet, dead mouse in your case and the like. All the usual suspects.

Whatever you do, Do NOT take your PS apart and try to fix it. It will kill you.

 

[Paul Padilla]

Personally I've never seen a PS be the cause of that kind of symptom. Like Steve notes, when the PS is the problem you get absolutely nothing...no lights...no fans...not even for a second. And yes, even if the PS might be the culprit, there is far too much voltage stored in capacitors (regardless of whether it's plugged in or not) to work safely. A decent PS is only $40 or so anyway.

Unplug everything but the motherboard, RAM, CPU, PS and power switch and see what happens. If it powers on and stays on then you might have lucked out. I've seen Zip drives and PS2 keyboards cause similar problems. Worst case would be you lost your motherboard.

 

[James Spraggs]

okay, tested out the power supply with a power supply tester. it works fine. Guess it s probaly something else. Thanks for the answers, hopefully its not a mobo issue or processor isuue, but we'll see/


thanks again

james

 

[James Spraggs]

okay guys, figured it out, pulled the video card, and replaced with the one that came with everything booted up fine. So i guess I get to see how good bfg tech is with there lifteime gurantee.

thanks again

james

 

[Paul Padilla]

Glad to hear is was as simple fix.

 

[James Spraggs]

Just got off the phone with tech support. There going to replace my card for me, so that is wonderful.

I definately am pleased with them.

james

 

[StevenFC]

Wait a minute, are you sure the card is defective? I believe the minimum requirement for that card is 350 watts. Don't depend on a tester to give you a full accounting of your PS.

I hope you're correct about the card, but if you put the same model card on that same PS, you may end up with the very same problem.

 

[James Spraggs]

well I put a different power supply in the pc a 600 watt one and the card still wont work so im pretty sure it is a defective card.

 

[StevenFC]

Oh, I didn't know you had installed a different PS. You should be rockin' and rollin' with 600 watts.