PSUs blowing up! Tearing hair out! Please help!

[TechHead]

Guys, help me! I've been having a LOT of problems with my PSUs right now. I have 2 HDDs, a new Radeon 9800Pro video card, DVD writer and CD writer. Also, a 15" monitor and an SBLive soundcard. In the last 5 days, 4 PSUs have blown up! The power supply was a no-name Taiwanese 300W unit.
I purchased a 400W unit today, and I'm pretty sure that the power line is alright, as a big-screen TV, AC, DVD player and music system are also on the same phase and are not exhibiting any problems.I had stripped down my system to the basics, no overclocking, old GF3 video card,1 HDD and 1 stick of RAM. This new unit just blew up too, and I'm at my wits' end! All these PSUs are under warranty, but my dealer is getting mad at all the replacements he has to get for me, and I don't blame him. What else should I check up? Can the motherboard (Asus A7N8X-X) be causing the problem? Can there be a short inside the case somewhere? The PSU was connected through a spike-guard , and that damn thing is still ok. The monitor is connected directly to the main line, not through the PSU. The blow up of this 400W unit occurred after about 6 hours of continuous light use, net-surfing, GetRight usage, FlashGet and JewelCad. No games.

The onboard LAN I'm using is still flashing. WTF is going on?
As I'm using the computer, the screen suddenly goes blank, and monitor goes into standby. Main power LED on the cabinet remains ON, and then when I press the power button for 5 secs, it goes off.. never comes back on. On one or two of the PSUs, when I pressed teh power button, there was a flash of flame from the back of the PSU. Very brief.

1)Can a faulty motherboard cause all this?

2)Can a faulty HDD cause this? It runs off the +12v line, right? These problems started after I got a new 120GB HDD in January.

Any and all suggestions welcome. I have RMA'd my mobo, should be getting a new one today. Will that help?

[Bad_Boy]

wow 4psu's in 5 days, thats gotta be a record.

wish i could help but i can say i know alot about psu's. but see if you have atleast 18A on your 12+ line.

[Elledan]

If you open up the dead PSUs, is there any visible damage? If so, around which components?

Because the PSU doesn't blow up immediately it seems unlikely that it is due to a shortcircuit. Since the only components which are still the same in this system are the mainboard and CPU, I would take a very hard look at the mainboard. Somehow it may be doing something to the PSU after a certain amount of time.

Just buy/borrow/steal another mainboard and put the other (minimal amount at first) components back in. At least this will help to narrow things down.

As for HDDs, I've never heard of HDDs harming PSUs unless they were seriously broken. You can use a known good HDD at first, just to be certain.

[ycchan]

Im sure Vertigo Acid will post later on lololol

[zupadupa]

I would suspect the motherboard too. What kind of 400W PS did you get? This might sound naive, but you might want to stick to known brand name for power supplies in the future. Might save you from going bald.

[gee]

I'm gonna finger the power supplies you're buying in this case. Any *reasonable* power supply has decent overcurrent and thermal protection, and won't blow up no matter what kind of load you put on it.

Cheap chinese power supplies are a completely different story... I recently bought a $20 case and had its "400 watt" power supply fail while powering a Pentium 2. Opening the supply up afterwards was pure comedy - I'm an EE and power supply design is part of my job, and realistically I don't see how the thing could be any more than half of that...

If your 400W supply is a no-name supply, I'd return it and buy an Enermax, Antec, or some other known brand of supply. We use Enermax supplies in a lot of embedded stuff at work and are extremely happy with them.

And don't forget that power supplies don't always fail "nicely" - I've seen more than one cheap power supply blow and destroy everything in the attached computer...

[Vertigo Acid]

Im sure Vertigo Acid will post later on lololol

Whats that supposed to mean :p

<3 again to Kyle for making this forum, i'm loving it :D

Anyway, you're main culpret I would suspect would be the el-cheapo PSUs you are buying and more specifically the +12v rail because the A7N8X powers the CPU off of it.

Devil's advocate: Thermal expansion after a few hours of use may be causing a short, but *very* unlikely, it's just an absurd thought I had reading this post.

Get a real PSU, like one from Antec, Enermax, Fortron, Zalman, Enlight, Sparkle, Thermaltake, Vantec, PC Power and Cooling, Topower, HEC/Heichroi, Tagan

Any of those are great brands

[Ice Czar]

Id agree on the "real" PSU front

in addition, replace the surge protector
strip down to a single HDD nothing else
and run the mobo unmounted for an extended test period
on an anti-static bag

if its still blowing there is probably a problem with the onboard voltage regulation

most surge protectors are based on MOV and they can go bad
and yet still keep that damn LED brightly lit
Power Conditioning 101 (http://www.dansdata.com/sbs9.htm)

consider that when it is blowing, first its shuts off
(possibly too much draw on one of the rails)
and its hot (which reduces the actual amps\watts its capable of delivering)
and then when you restart it blows
(and HDDs require 4 to 5 times as many amps to spinup as they do when running)

[Vertigo Acid]

on an anti-static bag

:eek:
Anti-static bag = Highly Conductive!

Made that mistake once, except it was an anti-static workpad.

I've used cardboard boxes before to test mobos in, they're fairly safe static-wise and won't conduct like an anti-static bad or mat.

[felix88]

cardboard boxes or that pink foam stuff that used to come with motherboards always worked for me. the smokey, shiny colored bags that motherboards come it are VERY conductive like Vertigo said, and i don't suggest using them.

TechHead, it sounds like a short, but it could be something else. in my experience a short will fry your PSU instantly, and will usually cause lots of smoke too(generally from the insulators melting).

[TechHead]

Hey all, thanks for the replies. I'm posting from work, so I'm sorry for the delay (aside from the 9.5 hour minimum time difference, of course :p ).

1)I'm getting a new motherboard and PSU tomorrow. I know the PSU is cheap, but heck, even a no-name PSU should be able to handle the AXP 2400+ at stock, 1 HDD and an old GeForce3, right? The kicker is, I got this system (in sig) in August last year, it overclocked like crazy, was VERY stable with the GF3,2HDDs, 768MB RAM and the monitor connected through it for 6 months.No-name 300W PSU came with the case.These problems started cropping up in the January-February timeframe. And it's not as though all the PSUs fail straight away. I had a second-hand 250W no-name PSU work for 3 weeks with the 9800Pro, 2HDDs, DVD writer, and 300Mhz OC. It only crapped out when I tried to run 3DMark 2001.All games and 3DMark 03 worked fine on it.

2)I opened up a couple of the failed PSUs (Me=EE too :p ), and the components seemed okay, caps and stuff looked alright.No component was showing any outward signs of damage.

3)12V line was 22-23A under load.

4)Antec,Enermax etc. are virtually unknown here. An Antec TruePower 330W will run me about 8000 rupees, which is 180$ US. And that kind of money.. no tengo dinero :(

5)I think I'll have to wait until tomorrow, I'm getting a replacement motherboard and PSU. If this fails too, I think I have a bum HDD, I'll try your HDD suggestions on it.

Thanks, and keep the ideas coming!


4)

[Vertigo Acid]

Didja smell any of the magic smoke get let go? If not, then it very well might be a short, which the supply is correctly clamping down on. ATX supplies will stay in that clamped down state until the AC is removed and they discharge the remaining juice. That's usually pretty quick bc of mobo standby features, and you'll hear it when it discharges. The onboard LAN is a sign that the PSU is still providing +5vsb to the mobo, which means it isn't totally toast.

[TechHead]

Didja smell any of the magic smoke get let go? If not, then it very well might be a short, which the supply is correctly clamping down on. ATX supplies will stay in that clamped down state until the AC is removed and they discharge the remaining juice. That's usually pretty quick bc of mobo standby features, and you'll hear it when it discharges. The onboard LAN is a sign that the PSU is still providing +5vsb to the mobo, which means it isn't totally toast.

Yeah, but after removing the PSU from the mains, it never works again :( No smoke either, and where will the short be? On the motherboard? We took out the mobo and replaced it on the mounting, avoiding all shorts there.

[awdark]

Shorts blow up power supplies?!
When I short it.. (bad insulation) it just shuts down. I would unplug it, wait a few seconds plug it back in and power it back up.. never had a psu start smoking from shorts.

[Wixard]

Brand x power supplies get an underserved bad rap. No you cant put 16 raptors on them, but they should in most cases serve their purpose.

Ive seen bad drives kill power supplies, never a bad motherboard though. But it sounds like the culprit in this case.

[TechHead]

Darn :( . So the consensus seems to be a bad motherboard? I'm getting a replacement today.PRAY FOR ME!!
:(

[mtbaird]

Darn :( . So the consensus seems to be a bad motherboard? I'm getting a replacement today.PRAY FOR ME!!
:(

err, from what im readin the consesus seems to be bad, no-name PSUs

[HvyMtl]

erm, that many psu's going does not seem to point to cheapo psus (tho dont buy them anyway) it sounds like you have some sort of short somewhere. Make sure your psu cabling doesnt touch anything - are you using a splitter cable to get enough connects? Stop using things like that to remove the possibility that they are creating the problem. Make sure the motherboard is not making any contact with the case - except thru its proper placement on its posts.
check all other parts (fans, cdroms, lights etc.) and make sure they are not shorting you out...
check your home power - swap to a different power outlet in the room, you may have a bad outlet - if you keep burning things like that move to a different circuit in the house to ensure it is not bad voltage from your outlets (bro lost two psu's that way, he had to buy a line conditioner, or whatever you call those things, before he could keep a system up & running...) I suggest having a professional check the wiring out (dont want you to fry yourself accidently, or intentionally for that matter...)
DO try the other things first as electricians are expensive...

[Gruntled Employee]

All fingers are pointing to the cheap power supplies, I wouldn't spend another dime on that system until you get a good brand name PSU. eventually these failures WILL damage other components so get on it.

[Elledan]

All fingers are pointing to the cheap power supplies, I wouldn't spend another dime on that system until you get a good brand name PSU. eventually these failures WILL damage other components so get on it.
I've used and seen people use lots of cheap, no-brand PSUs in a wide variety of systems, with no problems whatsoever.

To have a number of cheap PSUs blow up in this single system, one after another, seems to exclude the possibility that the PSU is the culprit. I'm willing to bet that even with an Enermax, Antec or better PSU the same thing would happen.

The most likely suspect is still the mainboard, as this is the component which was the same in all configurations, although a bad HDD can not be ruled out at this point either, as well as a number of other (small) errors.

[HvyMtl]

yeah, again I say it looks like a different culprit than the cheapo psus -
I cannot stress how easy it is to have a poor electrical outlet in a room - swap to another outlet (preferably on another circuit) and see if that helps - worst case senario (like after blowing up your brand name, higher dollar, psu) have an electrician test the outlets in your home - a line conditioner might help

[Elledan]

If you value your hardware, you have it connected to an UPS :)

[jamestime88]

i have blown 3 psus in a 2 day period, it ended up being a crappy motherboard. first was a raidmax 450w whatever, second was an antec truepower 380w, third was an antec smartpower 400w

[TechHead]

yeah, again I say it looks like a different culprit than the cheapo psus -
I cannot stress how easy it is to have a poor electrical outlet in a room - swap to another outlet (preferably on another circuit) and see if that helps - worst case senario (like after blowing up your brand name, higher dollar, psu) have an electrician test the outlets in your home - a line conditioner might help

Oh,I tried that too. Heck, I even took the machine to my dad's office, 2.5km away. Burned up in 3 hours, surfing the 'net. Got a line conditioner, the entire circuit there seems to be okay.Also, an AC, big screen TV, DVD player and music system are working off the same circuit just fine(but never all at the same time), so I highly doubt it's the circuit there. I'm getting a new mobo today, hoping it works *fingers crossed*.

[TechHead]

Pretty sure it was the motherboard.I swapped it out for an old KT266A motherboard, and it's been running fine for the last 48 hours. RMA of my A7N8X-X will be coming by next week, stupid Asus.

[Elledan]

Good to hear you found the (likely) culprit :)

[TechHead]

BAH! Gone again. Zounds! Took out the 80GB Seagate, only running a 120GB right now. Seems fine.. oh God I hope I found the culprit now :(

[Elledan]

Damn... sounds like the computer gods really hate your guts :eek:

At this point I would suggest stripping the system down to its core components (PSU, mainboard w/ CPU and RAM, videocard, FDD/CD-ROM drive) and let the system run Memtest86+ or similar for a while.

Anyway, I think that it can be said that the culprit is not the PSU, nor the mainboard. It'll probably take a while until the real cause is found, though.

Good luck.

[TechHead]

I did that earlier. Stripped it down to CPU, 1 stick of RAM, PSU, both HDDs, no optical drive, old video card (GeForce 3). Ran Prime 95, worked ok for 3 hours, then the PSU blew. Took out the 80GB, running some games and stuff.. seems ok.

[Vertigo Acid]

!

For the love of hardware stop running your machine!

Do you have back up system to run in the meantime?

[TechHead]

!

For the love of hardware stop running your machine!

Do you have back up system to run in the meantime?

Not until Monday :(. Laptop arrives then. Right now, it's been up 14 hours and counting...

[dandragonrage]

Hey, here's an idea. Put an ammeter in series with your drives..... You should have done this a while ago!

Edit to stress: Ammeters go in SERIES. Do NOT put it in parallel with the measured thing like a voltmeter!

[gee]

Ammeter in series with your drives? that would involve dismantling a molex connector and fitting ammeter probes in place, and probably wouldn't tell you a whole lot. If a properly designed power supply fails because of the load it's connected to, then 99.99% of the time it's due to the dynamic response of the load and a regular ammeter won't tell you a thing; you really need a storage scope with a DC current probe for that.

I'm still putting full blame on the power supplies that this guy is buying... *NO* power supply should ever fail because of the load attached to it. Hell, the load has been more or less completely replaced!

Are you buying the same cheap brand of supplies? try buying another cheap brand...

[dandragonrage]

Of course a scope is better, but I highly doubt he has one. The only way a drive could possibly kill a PSU is with a short or somehow by putting out voltage spikes of its own (extremely unlikely)

[gee]

Of course a scope is better, but I highly doubt he has one. The only way a drive could possibly kill a PSU is with a short or somehow by putting out voltage spikes of its own (extremely unlikely)
A dead short would shut down almost any power supply right away. Then again, lots of power supplies can put out 40-50 amps on the 12V and 5V rails, and a dead short could result in a burnt connector or melted wire, while the supply keeps on working. We had this experience with an Enermax supply at work. :D

You won't see "spikes" on a regular ammeter; the response time is too slow. This is why you need a scope.

edit: In reality, the drive could be doing transient loading (pulses on the 12V rail while it seeks) but the control loop and bulk capacitance of the power supply should have absolutely no trouble taking care of that***. Computer power supplies have to handle enormous transient loading conditions; eg. shutting down a CPU intensive program could spontaneously cause 10 or more amps of load to suddenly disappear off the 5V or 12V line.

*** - assuming the power supply isn't a cheap piece of garbage.

[dandragonrage]

I'm skeptical that it is the drive. But good luck in making it work, TechHead.

[Mike2002]

I just read over this topic and was wondering if you had found the problem or if another power supply has experienced any more problems. Just wondering and I hope this past one is the last one that you lose with this computer.

[plur]

I heard those pink mats that come with mobos are slightly capacitive.
Can anyone shed any light on this...?

[dandragonrage]

Plenty of people place motherboards on them without issue. I don't have an LCR meter to test it out, but I'd say negligable if any. However, I CAN tell you that the anti-static bags are quite conductive.... Very bad to place components on those!

[Gruntled Employee]

What a bizzare problem....I wonder if the power recepticle is approaching the maximum limit for the circuit breaker...not tripping the breaker but causing such an amperage draw it might in effect be "Browning Out" your feed for the power supply....did you try running it on a different power circuit? I could be shooting in the dark but we are all stumped so far.

[dandragonrage]

Nah, if it was the circuit, it would just trip.

[Gruntled Employee]

LMAO sell it as a WELDER and buy a new tower!

[Gruntled Employee]

You know in this case I think your best bet is to take it to a shop and let them blow up stuff looking for the problem...this has to be hard on the ol' wallet.

[TechHead]

Hi, sorry for the late update, I'm posting from my laptop. I took out the Barracuda 80GB, and installed only my 120GB Samsung. Computer worked fine for 5 days, right upto Tuesday morning 4AM, at which time I put the machine off and went to sleep. Went to college the next day, dad calls up on my cellphone and says it's gone again. Returned home, and whaddaya know...another one bit the dust. I think I'll go shoot myself now...
All these PSUs are under warranty, so it's fine monetarily, but the guy who has to do the replacing is mad at me, and I don't blame him.

[TechHead]

Oh, and the guy who I bought the computer from, I suggested that he do exactly what Gruntled Employee suggested.. he claims he's too busy to keep it there. Idiot :mad:

[gee]

this is terrible!

how much does it cost to mail a package to india? everyone on this board should get together and do a PIF or something...

[Gruntled Employee]

Buddy....if your tower is on warranty take it back and tell him you want it replaced or the next time he gets to work on it it will be a solidified pool of metal and plastic. don't get him to replace a part, GET THE WHOLE THING REPLACED...if he has no time to fix it then demand moneybsack or you'll phone the better business beurau and bitch.....play hard ball OR dump your wallet out and light it on fire cause either way it's going up in smoke.

[Gruntled Employee]

Further on that note it helps to talk to him IN PERSON and with someone intimidating with you.... :D

[HvyMtl]

if you have a friend that is a police officer or bouncer for a nite club or an attorney - take him with you and get your money back - and buy from SOME PLACE ELSE - as it could be a bad supplier...
I do hope you find a computer that doesnt cause you so much pain in the future...

[Beowulf]

Antec True550

Best power suppply I have ever owned. Period.

I usee it in everything I build. (servers, friends computers, etc..)

[TechHead]

Buddy....if your tower is on warranty take it back and tell him you want it replaced or the next time he gets to work on it it will be a solidified pool of metal and plastic. don't get him to replace a part, GET THE WHOLE THING REPLACED...if he has no time to fix it then demand moneybsack or you'll phone the better business beurau and bitch.....play hard ball OR dump your wallet out and light it on fire cause either way it's going up in smoke.

You think it's the case? It ought to be easily replaced, but will it do me any good? It's probably the last thing remaining to be changed, so...

[dandragonrage]

Well, you could try running it out of a case, but unless the case is shorting something, it wouldn't be the problem.... GE meant to replace the whole computer.

[Gruntled Employee]

Well I couldn't tell you if he is a bad supplier but anyone who seels you a tower and then comes up with a lame excuse like that is by no means an ethical buisness so chances are you are getting shafted possibly on purpose...if he is SOOO busy then he must have a LOT of people bringing him warranty work....I am proud to say I rarely ever have to look at towers I built usually just to wipe a virus out....so what you do is up to you...if it were me I would get money back and deal somewhere else right away.

[FLECOM]

this is a weird one but try running it ouside your case... like on your desk or something...

my friends pc just died one day, and i tested every single component... and everything was ok...

but as soon as we put everything back in his case, everything stoped working agian...

nothing was touching the bottom of the board, case was grounded ok and everything...

he got a new case and all his problems went away...

this was one of those "its better not to ask" situations :D

[Gruntled Employee]

I can't see a case being the problem...perhaps the power switch is on its way out and contacts are sticking.....A new case might just do it.

[GlobalFear]

Buddy....if your tower is on warranty take it back and tell him you want it replaced or the next time he gets to work on it it will be a solidified pool of metal and plastic. don't get him to replace a part, GET THE WHOLE THING REPLACED...if he has no time to fix it then demand moneybsack or you'll phone the better business beurau and bitch.....play hard ball OR dump your wallet out and light it on fire cause either way it's going up in smoke.


I don't think the BBB is international, is it? HE is in india.

[Gruntled Employee]

LOL oops I guess not eh....well they must have someone to take the issue up with like a BBB.

[TechHead]

LOL oops I guess not eh....well they must have someone to take the issue up with like a BBB.

Lollers, forgot to point that out :p. I'm assembling it again right now in a new case, HOPE it does the trick.

[Gruntled Employee]

good luck man.

[Th3KrawL3R]

somebody with spare cash please ship this guy an Antec 550 or a Pc Power and Cooling 510.... :)

[_G_]

Had a friend In the same boat( had 3 Achieve 550w psu burb out a nice size fireball
thru the rear fan) he then got a $20 turbolink(CWT) 420w and all has been good since.

I also had a cheap aluminum case(the one with the M shaped vent holes in front)
that the front usb/firewirre/sound connection was shorting to ground and frying psu's.
hope this helps.

[Spetsnaz Op]

i have blown 3 psus in a 2 day period, it ended up being a crappy motherboard. first was a raidmax 450w whatever, second was an antec truepower 380w, third was an antec smartpower 400w

Wow..thats a lot of money gone :D

I have been satisfied with my Allied 350W....You don't HAVE to get a brand as expensive as Antec to have a quality unit (although they do perform better under load)

[dream caster]

What happened?

[Vertigo Acid]

Wow..thats a lot of money gone :D

I have been satisfied with my Allied 350W....You don't HAVE to get a brand as expensive as Antec to have a quality unit (although they do perform better under load)haha.lol, allied are the same as deer!

[Gruntled Employee]

I was reading another thread about a guy with an almost identical problem....he pulled his cpu out and tuned it on for a while and it was ok...with CPU in it fried PSU's and blew breakers in his building, he still isn't sure if it is the mother board or CPU but you already changed the mobo so your CPU could be shorting out inside, you did try a new case too right?

[TechHead]

It was the HDD. Old Barracuda ATAIV, out of warranty.Removed it, working fine for 10 days straight now (touch wood).

[SportyGuy220]

you said you can get a 330w antec for 180$????????? I bought my 430w antec for 69$ at newegg. If ur looking alittle cheaper get a Tt Xaxier 480w PSU for 53$.

ps. im not sure how many rupees that is. GL

[wayne]

haha.lol, allied are the same as deer!
my sisters college computer broke... my dad drove 800 miles to get it back to me during thanksgiving... i took a look at it...DEER powersupply... i tested stuff out, switched around... that deer psu died taking along the motherboard.... stupid POS

[wayne]

you said you can get a 330w antec for 180$????????? I bought my 430w antec for 69$ at newegg. If ur looking alittle cheaper get a Tt Xaxier 480w PSU for 53$.

ps. im not sure how many rupees that is. GL
i think he meant 330w for $80 although that is still pretty expensive...

i bought a generic Turbolink 350w (and its stable like a rock) for $25 at a local computer store

heck, i bought 3 Raidmax 420w for $7.50 each during xHour sales

[TechHead]

Yep,330W for 80$.

[machofairy]

Can't believe I found this thread!! I got got an identical problem, except, all my parts are new, so I guess here we go again!

I am just building a new PC consisting of the following:

AMD XP 3.2ghz
512mb DDR 333 Ram
Asus A7N8X-X mobo
ATI 9800 pro
200gb HDD
Akasa cheapo HS fan

I put it in a new case and everything was runnung fine. Then after about 20 - 30 mins, my 400watts PSU popped and died. There was a burning smell.

Then I took the old 300 watts psu from my old PC, which was working fine for 1 year. All the components seemed undamaged. But again, after 20 - 30 mins, the psu blew up with a burning smell.

Please help as I bought the parts from various places and do not know which item to return.

Thanks in advance.

[TechHead]

Can't believe I found this thread!! I got got an identical problem, except, all my parts are new, so I guess here we go again!

I am just building a new PC consisting of the following:

AMD XP 3.2ghz
512mb DDR 333 Ram
Asus A7N8X-X mobo
ATI 9800 pro
200gb HDD
Akasa cheapo HS fan

I put it in a new case and everything was runnung fine. Then after about 20 - 30 mins, my 400watts PSU popped and died. There was a burning smell.

Then I took the old 300 watts psu from my old PC, which was working fine for 1 year. All the components seemed undamaged. But again, after 20 - 30 mins, the psu blew up with a burning smell.

Please help as I bought the parts from various places and do not know which item to return.

Thanks in advance.

Weird, in that your motherboard and videocard are the same as mine. That A7N8X-X, it's beginning to smell fishy. First step, take out the 200GB HDD and put in an older one and see. Which make is your 200GB?

[Nano_PC_Solutions]

This is pretty weird. I just had a system fried (motherboard, graphics card...)...motherboard? A7N8X-X.

How can you test a CPU to see if it's fried if you don't have a spare mobo? Can you even?

[TechHead]

This is pretty weird. I just had a system fried (motherboard, graphics card...)...motherboard? A7N8X-X.

How can you test a CPU to see if it's fried if you don't have a spare mobo? Can you even?

We may be onto something here. Any more A7N8X-X users have any system component(s) flake out on them?

[TechHead]

Okay, Nano_PC_Solutions and machofairy, read this thread :
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026262036#post1026262036

I'm following it closely, let's see if this is a trend :p

[machofairy]

Here's the latest.
Bought a "decent" - ie. not the cheapest PSU - 400watts with 2 fans inside.
Then, I dismantled the whole PC an built it again from scratch.

So far after 5 hours, touch wood, no problems yet! :-)

My HDD is a Maxtor

Thanx for all yer inputs so far! I will post here again if anything differnet happens.