Power Supply? Brands?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nicholas
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Nicholas

A friend bought a machine a while back that has been shutting itself
down. Of course the warranty just expired. At any rate, what he says is
that as he starts it up it begin to run and then quickly shuts down. It
will not re-start unless he unplugs it, and then goes through the
process again. For the brief moment it is switched on the PS gets very
hot. Is this a problem with the PS, and if it is, is there a
recommended replacement brand? There are so many types and price is no
guarantee for quality. Suggestions?
 
Nicholas said:
A friend bought a machine a while back that has been shutting itself
down. Of course the warranty just expired. At any rate, what he says is
that as he starts it up it begin to run and then quickly shuts down. It
will not re-start unless he unplugs it, and then goes through the
process again. For the brief moment it is switched on the PS gets very
hot. Is this a problem with the PS, and if it is, is there a
recommended replacement brand? There are so many types and price is no
guarantee for quality. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Antec. Seasonic.

-- Bob Day
http://bobday.vze.com
 
Price IS a guarantee for quality if you get one like an Antec. Raved about
in the computer press, widely available, and I've been using them
exclusively for many years. And, yes, it sounds like his PSU has failed.
 
A friend bought a machine a while back that has been shutting itself
down. Of course the warranty just expired. At any rate, what he says is
that as he starts it up it begin to run and then quickly shuts down. It
will not re-start unless he unplugs it, and then goes through the
process again. For the brief moment it is switched on the PS gets very
hot. Is this a problem with the PS, and if it is, is there a
recommended replacement brand? There are so many types and price is no
guarantee for quality. Suggestions?
Click to expand...

Yes if the PSU gets very hot it's a problem. Is the PSU fan
spinning or has it failed? Regardless, at this point PSU
has been overheating for an extended period and it is best
to replace it.

You have not mentioned the system so it is a bit difficult
to recommend a replacement. Choose a name-brand
manufacturered unit of ample wattage, amperage on the
voltage rails most loaded by the system. Common examples of
such brands are PC Power & Cooling, Sparkle / Fortron /
Xalman, Antec, Enlight, Seasonic. This is not a
comprehensive list but many vendors offer something and it
can depend on where you choose to buy it. Online there are
some that are better values than others but we know not what
the system needs at this point.
 
Might use this link for help in choosing a new power supply....

http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/200507111/index.html

ray
Click to expand...

Those can be useful tests but Tom's tends to rate the higher
capacity units which "might" be overkill, and aren't
necessarily applicable to lower wattage units from same
manufacturer. For example, there's a bigger difference in
construction quality between an Enlight 300W and 340W, than
between their 360W and 420W. Same goes for many
manufacturer's lower-wattage units in any given era, they
often optimized one of the lower wattages for inclusion
free-with-cases.
 
DaveW said:
Price IS a guarantee for quality if you get one like an Antec.
Click to expand...

What if you don't? Lots of people don't know the good brands from the
bad ones, and even some bad ones have high prices.

Getting something made by Fortron-Source, i.e., has a model number that
starts with "FSP", is probably a better guarantee of quality.
 
Nicholas said:
A friend bought a machine a while back that has been shutting itself
down. Of course the warranty just expired. At any rate, what he says is
that as he starts it up it begin to run and then quickly shuts down. It
will not re-start unless he unplugs it, and then goes through the
process again. For the brief moment it is switched on the PS gets very
hot. Is this a problem with the PS,
Click to expand...

One way to find out is by trying another PSU, but it's also possible
that there's a short somewhere, such as between the mobo and case
(around mounting holes or near the corners). What brand PSU does your
friend have? Better yet, what's the Exxxxxx number printed under the
UL (RU) symbol or the Lxxxxxx number undr the CSA symbol?
and if it is, is there a recommended replacement brand? There
are so many types and price is no guarantee for quality.
Click to expand...

Stick with PC Power & Cooling, Antec, Astec, Zippy-Emacs, Lite-On,
NMB-Mineba, or Fortron-Source. Of these, only Fortron-Source is both
widely available on the retail market and isn't costly. In fact, it's
one of the cheapest makes -- see www.newegg.com (several F-S brands,
including Hi-Q, Sparkle, PowerQ, Powertech, Trend, and some Powerman),
$40-50 for 400-450W.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have had similar symptoms with other machines
and reseating the memory did the trick. However, I had never checked the
temp in the PS so I'm not sure it the problem was really the same. At
any rate, I lent him a powersupply from one of my machines to test with.

Thanks again.
 
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