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Identify my PSU. Power unit for PC


seeder

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Hi all,

Sorry to interrupt...

From your postings I would say your PSU is just fine. Your motherboard  is fried. Since the change to ATX PSUs and board's there is no real power switch. It is just a button that tells the board to power on the PSU. That is why since the change to ATX a lot more boards get fried then PSUs. If you want to try a new PSU you have to look for a few things...  What motherboard connection do you need, old PCs 12pin, new PCs 24pin an the really new even more. Do you have SATA Disks and Drives or the old 4pin connection, some of the new PSUs don't have the old 4pin connection. Does your graphics card need a PSU connection and if yes which one,  6 or 8 pin. And of course you need to know how strong the PSU hast to be, old PC 300W would be ok, newer PC 500 to 600W, really new PC with a strong graphics card 800W and more. You should also consider if you want a silent PSU, the cheap ones have a 120mm Fan and are pretty loud. Most of the cheap PSUs don't have the gold certificate which means if you buy a 300W PSU you get only about 250W and it gets less over time...

 

Hope I could help

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4 hours ago, seeder said:

 

The PC in question is at my desk.... I cant even remember the make without looking, Ive had a few different ones over the years!

So come the new week I shall just take the case off and unscrew the PSU.... looking for a sticker that states watts etc. If no sticker, yeh I will google the make/model to see what it should have inside

Skipped to the end to see if the PCU dunnit only to find out the episode ends on a cliffhanger.

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4 hours ago, ExpandMyMind said:

Skipped to the end to see if the PCU dunnit only to find out the episode ends on a cliffhanger.

 

No cliffhanger.....it will be done!   Having the laptop means Im in no rush.....so over the next few days I can let everyone know. I just want to get things right hence the thread...which has ONLY been up a week, plus remember the issue...which is NOT how to do the job...but HOW to choose the relevant psu....which, as seen from the responses....seems to ONLY be about the wattage

That was where my uncertainty was, as if you look on ebay for psu's...you will see a bewildering amount of choices

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11 hours ago, seeder said:

 

No cliffhanger.....it will be done!   Having the laptop means Im in no rush.....so over the next few days I can let everyone know. I just want to get things right hence the thread...which has ONLY been up a week, plus remember the issue...which is NOT how to do the job...but HOW to choose the relevant psu....which, as seen from the responses....seems to ONLY be about the wattage

That was where my uncertainty was, as if you look on ebay for psu's...you will see a bewildering amount of choices

It's not just about the wattage.  You need enough juice on the 12v rails and you need to have all the proper connections for your internal hardware.  It's also wise to choose a brand name or replace kind with kind if your rig was factory assembled.

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5 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

It's not just about the wattage.  You need enough juice on the 12v rails and you need to have all the proper connections for your internal hardware.  It's also wise to choose a brand name or replace kind with kind if your rig was factory assembled.

 

I understand about the connectors etc....but what is meant by 12 volt RAILS?

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Important fact when buying a new PSU: the loudness value.

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Every time I've had one do as you describe, it was hard drive failure.

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45 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

Every time I've had one do as you describe, it was hard drive failure.

 

and did it switch off at exactly the same time a lamp bulb blew?  Ive got a half dozen old and newish hard drives already to replace it with... if it IS that

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You said the pc, monitor, and a desk lamp were plugged into a 3 way adapter which is plugged into the electrical wall plug, is that  correct? If so I would check this adapter to make sure the side the pc is plugged into isn't dead. I would also check the power cord to the pc.

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1 hour ago, Hammerclaw said:

Every time I've had one do as you describe, it was hard drive failure.

Won't be this, or at least not only this. The fans would be spinning and the system would still attempt to boot.

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53 minutes ago, strunk64 said:

You said the pc, monitor, and a desk lamp were plugged into a 3 way adapter which is plugged into the electrical wall plug, is that  correct? If so I would check this adapter to make sure the side the pc is plugged into isn't dead. I would also check the power cord to the pc.

 

.the lamp had the bulb replaced within a minute of it blowing....and that came on straight away...as did the screen even tho there was nothing to see....but thanks for the tip I will check

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3 hours ago, seeder said:

 

and did it switch off at exactly the same time a lamp bulb blew?  Ive got a half dozen old and newish hard drives already to replace it with... if it IS that

 

1 hour ago, seeder said:

 

.the lamp had the bulb replaced within a minute of it blowing....and that came on straight away...as did the screen even tho there was nothing to see....but thanks for the tip I will check

I've had power surges, over the years, that have fried hard drives. I use a Cyberware surge protector now. A computer won't do jack with a bad hard drive.

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Use a multimeter to test your power supply, not a friggin paperclip.

If the computer doesn't go into POST then there isn't any power to the motherboard or the motherboard is dead or shorted.

You can find video's on how to check your power supply using a Multimeter on YouTube.

This is a fairly decent guide for troubleshooting but it's not comprehensive.

https://www.computerforum.com/threads/tech-guide-diagnosing-a-pc-which-will-not-post-or-start.209946/

Judging from your description of events I'd have to say a power surge may be responsible for your computers demise and you really should have a surge protector inline to prevent these kind of power surges. Just remember they will not protect against a lighting strike as they are not designed for that amount of voltage.

At any time you are working on electronics of any sort you need to be mindful of static discharge. Your finger can literally electrocute your motherboard.

 

Edited by Buzz_Light_Year
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  • 2 weeks later...

Most likely i am posting this after you have solved your issues but there is one important thing about PSU's. If you are going to use cheaper ones then all you can do on PC is things which are not power hungry and only on low spec machine.

Surely, with recent developments components as GPU's and CPU's ( highest power consumer parts ) are optimized and advanced so they do not draw too much power but any, even entry level gaming machine should have at least 550W, quality branded PSU. Unbranded, low quality PSU's get so overheated and low quality components simply burn out.

Depending on your configuration PSU can be recommended. Easy way to check if PSU is dead is to disconnect it from your mainboard and other components, plug power cable into it and short the green and black ( any black ) wire on the ATX mainboard power connector. If PSU's fans power up and start spinning then most likely PSU is not faulty.

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  • 1 month later...

if you want to discover how much PSU or power supply you need take the sum of all the components that have the need for power for example..    Graphics card-300 PSU and so on. and also having more power supply does not hurt your computer so just keep that in mind if you worried you need the exact power supply i'm pretty sure as long as you running a decent computer you would need a 500 PSU

Edited by Summerin1905
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Buy a good make PSU, if that is what the fault is.Cheap ones can cause fires- I know about this!

Edited by alibongo
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You could replace the fuse. But when buying take into consideration gpu 6 pin or 8pin, 4 or 8 pin cpu power, or floppy drive power.

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