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Power Supply failure?

O

Omnigamer

n00b
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
61
I left my main desktop on campus for thanksgiving break (doing some folding), and returned to find that it was off. It powers on for about 3-5 seconds now, but after that the entire system shuts off. I tried a variety of tests and other things to get it to work, but the results are the same every time so far (changing the cable and outlets, removing most devices from the rails, etc). This would be the first time I've had a PSU fail on me, so I'm not sure if that's a classic sign or not. All of the mobo lights stay lit, so it's not as nothing is getting through at all. Just when all of the devices start to become live is when it shut down.

The PSU is a 600W Xion. The rest of my system should be well below the max wattage, as I haven't experienced any problems in the year or so it's been running. Can I be fairly certain that this is the PSU that's died out and not some other system component?

For completeness's sake:

Core 2 Duo e6600
MSI P6N Sli Platinum
4x1GB Geil DDR2 800MHz
XFX 8800GTS XXX edition
6 HDDs of varying size and brand
 
I'd say it's pretty likely considering that it's a very bad quality PSU. You could try removing the PSU from your system and connecting the green pin to one of the black pins on the 20 or 24-pin motherboard power connector to see if the PSU will start up or not. However, either way I strongly recommend that you purchase a better one. Here are a few good options that are all high quality and will handle your PC fine:

BFG ES-800 - $70 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817702007
Corsair VX450 - $60 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
BFG LS-550 - $60 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817702008
Antec NeoPower 500W - $55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103940
Antec EarthWatts 500W - $50: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007
Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W - $60 AR:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171024&CMP=AFC-C8Junction
 
I actually got everything to start back up after an hour or two of cable switching and unplugging. All it seems like right now is that the computer only shows the above symptoms when I have my 500 GB Seagate EIDE drive plugged in via Molex. Whenever I disconnect it, everything starts as normal. This could still be an issue with the PSU (current drop on one of the 12v rails) or maybe the drive developed a short somewhere and the PSU shuts off to protect itself. I'm not as familiar with that aspect of the system, so any insight would be appreciated.

I'm going to extract the drive later and see if it works in my external enclosure. Previously though, it was sharing one of the 12v rails with the optical drive, which still seems to run fine. At the very least, I do have another PSU on the way, so I'll have a backup.
 
Hard drives operate primarily on the 5V line, so poor voltage regulation for that output could be the issue. It could also be that your drive is overdrawing past your PSU's ability to provide power on the 5V line, so it's shutting down through OCP. Since you're using 6 HDs on a cheap PSU, it's very possible that it just isn't capable of providing that much power. You could try disconnecting one or two other drives and leaving that 500GB one plugged in, to see if it is a power issue.

Anyway, regardless of the reason, you're still using a poor quality PSU and it's probably just a matter of time until it takes out some of your hardware. I reiterate my suggestion for you to upgrade to a quality unit.
 
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