I think my PSU died. Need help

[Slothenger]

Ok. Heres my story.

My PSU is a silverstone Zeus 750Watt.

This morning I went to turn on my computer to play gears of war - as you do.
Upon pressing the power button I noticed my CD player lose power - I had blown the fuse to my house power points. I went to the fuse box and tried to flick the switch back on but it blew straight away. I unplugged my computer and turned the flick the power back on.

I plugged in my computer and the fuse broke again, lost power.

I tried this a few times but always my computer (even with everything else in the house unplugged) broke the fuse.

I moved my computer to the kitchen (as this is a different power fuse). It poped that fuse too. I tried it one more time and the fuse didnt blow.

I think my PSU did. I plug my computer in turn it on and nothing happens.

The LED at the back of the PSU does not come on. The motherboard light does not come on.

I am very worried.

I then pulled out the 24pin motherboard connector and tried shorting pins 14 and 15 and no fans came on.

I would firslty like to know if this means my PSU is dead or if it could be the motherboard

2ndly I want to understand how this happened I thought they could handle surges.

3rdly will my motherboard or any other components be affected or will a PSU replacement fix everything.


*note* I had it plugged into a surge protector in my room but not in the kitchen



Thanks in advance for any help. It is greatly appriciated

[ordovician]

Weird. Try plugging a hairdryer into the same outlet and see if the fuse still blows. Some fuseboxes are sensitive to high-watt loads. Unplug the PSU and switch it off, and try waiting overnight. This will allow any circuit breaker time to reset.

[Oldie]

From your statements, I'd say it's extremely likely that your PSU is toast. As to your other components, you'll just have to toss in a new PSU and test them. It is possible that some were killed with it, but it's also possible they weren't; it depends on how it failed.

On a note of prevention, you said it's plugged into a surge protector. Could you define that? Your traditional power strip isn't much more capable of protecting your pc from voltage fluctuations than the wall jack. PSU's are capable of handling some up and down, but for real protection you want to at least get a UPS with AVR technology (automatic voltage regulation). They're able to keep the current to your PSU much more steadily, and will prolong the life of your PC.

[Gen.Ben]

Your power source sounds kinda iffy.

I would suggest buying a new power supply along with a UPS with AVR.

[Slothenger]

My power source has been fine since then. We have had 6 computers on in the house as well as the usual 2 fridges and a big chest freezer. I cannot see why it decided to crap out today other than somehow the PSU was trying to take alot of current/power which we it eventually recieved it fried or somthing. I didnt hear any sounds clicks or smell/see any smoke. The PSU (and computer for that sake) is only 1 month old.

fuck im hoping my other components are ok. In my room I have this little double adapter plug that says surg protection on it. it cost about $30 4years ago ahaha so i dont think it will be that high protection.

I didnt use it when I was in the kitchen however. But shouldnt the PSU failure just cut the power to mobotherboard and other components. I am very keen to buy a UPS and/or AVR if i can source the funds but can any 1 give me a rough idea of how likely it is that my other components could be fried.

Thanks

[Nenu]

Try just plugging the power lead into the wall and see if the breaker trips, it could be a short in the power lead.

If that didnt help, the motherboard couldnt cause what is happening, only the PSU in a PC can trip a circuit breaker.
If thats the case and you cant see any obvious short circuit, the PSU is toast.

Your other parts may be ok, it depends how the PSU failed.
What is encouraging is that it didnt go with a bang.
Hopefully everything from the mains side is now isolated from the DC feeds to your PC.
You will only find out when you try the parts with a new PSU.

[Slothenger]

yeh it no longer trips the fuse at all. But when I turn it on no sound. I have checked the case button connection on the mobo. Also no leds are present.

fingers crossed that when i replace the psu everything works again.

Thanks guys.

[Ron FTL]

I had sort of a similar situation. Two weeks ago I booted up to play Gears of War as well, and as soon as i loaded map Gridlock my FPS was like crap. I restarted the game, and got same results.

Restarted PC and surfed the web and now it would not stay on for more then 5 minutes at a time now.

I booted up and immediately loaded speed fan.
My processor load was going crazy. just idling it was anywhere from 30% to 90% on both cores.

Just idling the temperature went all the way up to 50c
When my ambient air temperature is at 20c
Then dies.

So I thought it was my processor or motherboard went bad.
Disassembled every part and inspected it with a magnifying glass. the cleaned everything off with compressed air.

Booted..same crap. power loss.
I got a brand new APC UPS. So I was sure that was functioning right.
Just to be sure I tried 3 different outlets in the room with out the UPS. But same crap happens.

Later I started thinking that it might be my PSU.
Over heavy searching in a old box was able to switched my GeFroce 8800gts out to try a lower power consuming old ATI x1600pro.

Same results. (dies)
Then I down clocked the hell out of my Processor to 2.6ghz (from 3.2 Ghz) (amd x2 3000+)

Same results, just dies.

So then I dusted off and got my old 200w PSU out and installed it and voila. it works. woot.

RMA'd the Thermaltake PSU. I should get a brand spanking new on one Thursday.
This whole week sucks because I been having to use my x1600 pro, and I cant run anything other than some source engine based games.
Stupid 200w cannot handle my 8800.
I have been missing Gears of War so damn much :'(


Anyways, my point is that personally I think your PSU went bad. I hope all goes well for you.

[ordovician]

I had a 480W Thermaltake PSU that blew up on me a few years ago. The connector melted itself to the motherboard, and the PSU billowed gray smoke until it flashed and died. It took out my mobo, my video card, and a sound card. Luckily, my hard drive was OK.