Is my PowerSupply dead?

W

Webberson

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 4, 2009
Messages
112
Please check my sig for hardware details. I do have 7 HD's, plus lots of other stuff - all listed in sig. For the last few days, one HD was falling out, I took the cover off tonight and checked all connections and the missing drive worked for awhile. I turned it off and when I came back, tried to turn it back on. There is a momentary flash, but will not start. The MB has a switch (thinking it might be the case switch) and that did the same flashing thing with no luck. I removed power to all HDs and removed the RevoDrive, video card and then tried to start up again. Same thing. Does this sound like the PS? I'm hoping it's not the motherboard. Anybody seen this before? BTW, the flash is from the power LED light on the case and it lasts about as long as it takes to blink.
 
Best way to figure that out is to put in a different, known working power supply. It can be either motherboard or power supply. It can also be a loose connection, try checking the motherboard connector.
 
Is 750 watts enough for what I have attached to it?
I may go to my local store and buy a PS that is returnable.
 
I can do that tonight. However, this is starting to make sense because I have had to go into the bios upon startup. Is it possible that was a warning that my power supply was starting to fail?

Also, in my previous post I asked if the 750 was enough power for all my HD's and other stuff.
 
750 watts is more than enough to power your system.

If you can get into your bios, then your issue is most likely not with the power supply, it's most likely the motherboard. However, due to the nature of electronics, the only way to be completely certain is to swap components and see what happens.
 
I bought a power supply today and will try it tonight. Sorry, I didn't make it clear about the bios. I meant that I experienced that a few days ago and that may have been an early warning sign that my power supply was failing.
 
Well, I tried the new PS, and it does about the same thing - so it's not a bad PS. The new PS was plugged into the MB (2 connectors). I had the CPU fans connected and then started it up. It does a power cycle. That is, it seems to want to start up for a few seconds, then shuts down for a few seconds, then starts back up for a few seconds.

After trying the new PS, I left it connected and then swapped out all the memory - no difference. Then I removed the CPU cooler and CPU, then reseated it and tried again - same thing. I guess it's either the MB or the CPU. I don't have good ones to swap, so am stuck.

Am I missing something here? Anybody see these symptoms before?
 
I "jumped" the power supply with nothing attached to it. With that, it works just fine. Then, I connected the two motherboard connections plus the CPU fan. Now, it just cycles. That is, when I hit the switch, it appears to start but then shuts down. In about 2 seconds it starts up again, then shuts down. This cycle of on and off will continue if I let it. Does this mean that the problem is a dead motherboard or a dead CPU?
 
Are you overclocked? I know my MSI Big Bang Xpower will power cycle like that if the overclock is too unstable to post.
 
Yes, I do have it OC. In fact, I thought this was the perfect answer, so I changed the jumper to reset the bios back to original new. This did not help, so the answer is to be found somewhere else.
 
You could have bad memory, try using only one stick at a time.
 
Just a note: Jumping the power supply will not tell you much except that it can power a fan off 12V. It will not tell you how the supply is under load or how the other voltages are. When a computer first boots up, it is usually running at full clock speed before throttling can take place.

I have had a power supply work when it was jumped however would not power the computer due to a bad voltage rail elsewhere (I suspected the standby voltage or other 3 or 5V rail for the motherboard). The replacement supply worked fine. The original was only a few months old.
 
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