wtf happened to my computer????

[Tower]

Thank God I have a backup laptop.

Went upstairs last night to take a break from work, came back to the basement office to see my dot matrix printer on constant carriage return and the computer not on. (It's on a UPS so no power problems). Tried restarting, even clicking on and off the switch at the back and I get absolutely no response!!

Could it be the power supply?

 

[antlerman]

if you have tried different plugs and determined it is not the wall power.....and that nothing is running.....not even the case fan.....then $10 says it is the power supply...and if that is the case...when you do get one...upgrade....most power supplies are under rated for the equipment most people have in thier PC's.

 

[Tower]

No, I know it's not the wall power, and you're right not even the case fan is running.

A buddy of mine is looking at it tonight. We're going to take out the HDD and insert it into a USB housing so I can access my work files. He'll then take it and give me a better idea.

 

[Radio_Shack]

yup, power supply in computer....no big deal fortunately..

 

[Whisperwolf]

I would be inclined to agree that the power supply is the most likely candidate. They don't last forever. You may like to bear in mind when buying a new one that the wattage should be able to cope with your system. A 2.5Ghz with fast hard drives and a CD will probably need 450W or above. Dual core or 64bit and you're best going with a 500w.

It's not unknown if you upgrade your machine for it to stress the power supply out because the processor is faster or the drives demand more juice. This might have caused your power supply to expire early. Something to bear in mind.

 

[tboy]

And a word of advice: buy one with a built in short protection circuit. I blew a cpu and mobo because one I had didn't.....doesn't cost much more and could save you $$$ in the long run.

 

[Whisperwolf]

They all SHOULD have that. If there's a short the power goes into a slow discharge capacitor. Until that capacitor empties, the power supply should not turn on, meaning it forces a gap of between 3 and 5 minutes before it will turn on again in the event of a short.

If you blew a motherboard through a PSU that didn't have one, then either the PSU was a knock off or it was faulty to begin with. Current safety laws require some form of protection cutoff.

 

[tboy]

While I agree they all SHOULD have one, they don't...believe me. I thought it was just the cheapy ones at Factory Direct that didn't so I went to ......umm.....AGP? ASP? whatever their name is on Queen and saw one for $75.00 600 watt that also didn't have one. In fact, all the ones at (insert name here) didn't have any short protection. I ended up buying one at Canada Computers (where I should have gone to begin with).

 

[l69norm]

Is there an easy way to test a power supply without having to plug it into a motherboard?

 

[Terminator2000]

Anyone that goes to Factory Direct is asking for it. I swear. Everytime I went there. There was somebody at the counter of the return counter, asking for a refund for some piece of equipment they bought there. A piece of equipment that was brand new but the guy was returning it because it was defective or stopped working for whatever reason.

Everytime I went there, there was someone at the return counter, threatening to file a lawsuit and promising never to buy anything used or new in the store again. Some guy bought a whole laptop and another guy bought a whole computer and it stopped working, when it was brand new. And if you look at their return counter. You see their tables full with a dozen or so computers waiting to be fixed, repaired.

One customer was at the counter saying, I just bought it brand new. Why is it malfunctioning?

And they were like, "We don't know. It could be anything. And the guy is punching buttons and looking like he's trying to figure it out.

The guy demanded to see a manager for a full refund. And the whole time, these two guys working behind the return counter are looking at him, like they really didn't care. You could see in their faces that this happens everyday and they know the stuff, that is sold there, is shit. So they're shrugging their shoulders, pretending to care and staring at the guy.

And he's pissed off as hell.

They said the manager was busy, couldn't see him now. So the guy demanded that one of the guys behind the return counter go and get him, because he was going to file a lawsuit. So the employee behind the return counter goes upstairs to "fetch" the manager and comes back like 5 minutes later to tell the guy that he can't have a refund and do whatever you want.

I swear. I went back to get my wireless router card fixed TWICE and I saw this happen BOTH times I went there.

Also, a cheap 500 bucks computer they had on sale was totally fried. THe motherboard was cheap material and it went dead shortly 4 months that I bought it. I had to get a whole new motherboard and total makeover. Powersupply, EVERYTHING. The original motherboard ended up in the trash.

Don't ever go there. Everything is cheap and totally poor material.

I'm surprised they're still up and running, selling and in service with all the shit they sell there.

 

[tboy]

Well, all that may be true Term but they DO make you sign the receipt saying all sales final......

I've bought a number of things from them with no trouble actually. But would never buy anything like a whole PC. For the record, the PSU I bought from them was the exact same make and model that Canada Computer sold as their bottom end units. I just went with a better unit because of the anti-short protection.

The way to check to see if the PSU is working is to check each of the leads coming out of it. You will need a voltmeter to do this.

There should be a wiring diagram on a label on the PSU. It will show you which lead is positive and which is negative, and what all the other wires are for. It may not be just that it isn't producing current to the mobo, but one of the signal wires could be messed up as well.

The thing about it is: just buy a PSU for $50.00. Takes about 10 minutes to install and if your PC doesn't start right up? Take it back for a refund.

 

[Terminator2000]

That's all nice and good, Toby. But you forget. Not everyone is as computer-savvy and computer-genius as you. So, what you're saying is, that you have to be computer-genius to shop there to make sure they don't pull the rug out from where you stand.

Well, all that may be true Term but they DO make you sign the receipt saying all sales final......

This is what makes them shit compared to Future Shop, Best Buy and The Source which stand by and back up everything they sell with a refund, if you aren't satisfied...

 

[tboy]

That's all nice and good, Toby. But you forget. Not everyone is as computer-savvy and computer-genius as you. So, what you're saying is, that you have to be computer-genius to shop there to make sure they don't pull the rug out from where you stand.




This is what makes them shit compared to Future Shop, Best Buy and The Source which stand by and back up everything they sell with a refund, if you aren't satisfied...

I'm not saying that you have to be a computer genius but you do have to have some modicrum of intelligence. I mean, when a store makes you sign a waiver stating that you know all sales are final, wouldn't that be a clue that you might not be satisfied with your purchase?

Yeah, f/s BB etc will stand behind their products but they will also charge you through the nose for that service. Put it this way: they were selling a Canon Rebel for $1200.00 and FD was selling it (refurbished) for half that. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that refurbished ain't new....and this applies to everything, not just computer equipment.

 

[Terminator2000]

I'm not saying that you have to be a computer genius but you do have to have some modicrum of intelligence. I mean, when a store makes you sign a waiver stating that you know all sales are final, wouldn't that be a clue that you might not be satisfied with your purchase?

Yeah, f/s BB etc will stand behind their products but they will also charge you through the nose for that service. Put it this way: they were selling a Canon Rebel for $1200.00 and FD was selling it (refurbished) for half that. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that refurbished ain't new....and this applies to everything, not just computer equipment.

I like the way they use the word "Refurbished"

It sure sounds alot better than "Used"

 

[tboy]

I like the way they use the word "Refurbished"

It sure sounds alot better than "Used"

I buy a lot of my power tools refurbished and they are basically brand new. The manufacturer has to mark something refurbished if it was returned for any reason. For eg: apple sells refurbished Ipods for about $100.00 less than new. They still come with a full warranty however.

FD is great if you want cheap stuff at a cheap price. With them, you pays your money and you takes your chances. I bought an optical mouse from them once and it didn't work. I took it back the next day and they gave me another no questions asked. Even with the "sales final" statement the item has to operate correctly at least once lol.

As I said before, I wouldn't buy anything like a laptop, or a PC, from them. Too much to go wrong.

 

[l69norm]

Is there an easy way to test a power supply without having to plug it into a motherboard?

Found the answer:
http://www.duxcw.com/faq/ps/ps4.htm
Q. How can I "trigger" an ATX power supply to test it?
A. Do this at your own risk...