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psu heating up, other issues

R

Riddleofsteel

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2007
Messages
1,983
I have to first mention that my room is hot due to weather and poor insulation, but not unbearably so. Even after just a few hours of use in my room, my power supply is getting quite warm to the touch. Is this normal or safe for a Silverstone Decathlon 750w psu? I don't remember this being a problem in summers past, but I feel like I can "smell" it getting hotter this time. It's about 3 years old or more.

My next question is, would having my UPS overloaded starve my pc of power or cause the PSU to heat up more? My UPS is an APC Back UPS XS 1500 (model BX1500). I have a 26" lcd and my pc connected, as well as some small speakers and an xbox 360.

And finally, if it is the case that my PSU is overloaded and/or dying, how much higher should I go for a replacement? I've been eyeballing an XFX 850w power supply but I don't know if only going up 100 watts is going to be sufficient.

Thanks for reading, and for any help on these questions.
 
It's normal for the PSU casing to warm up. If you're concerned, take it out of your PC and blow it out with compressed air. If it's 3 years old or more, chances are there's some dust buildup in there that's raising the internal temperature.

Generally, a UPS will start beeping or just shut down when overloaded. Otherwise, it will probably fail after a while. In any case, it's a bad idea. If your UPS is insufficient, then disconnect it, replace it with a more capacious model, or unplug unnecessary loads (I don't see any reason to keep your speakers or Xbox 360 connected; they use a lot of power and it is not critical if they lose power).

You're going to need to list some specs if you want a PSU recommendation. Though I doubt you're running anything that a DA750 can't handle.
 
Q9550 @ 3.6ghz
8gb DDR2-1066
dvd-rom
pci sound card
radeon 5970
1 x 64gb ssd
3 x mechanical drives (640gb, 1tb, 2tb)
4 x 120mm fans

I have been getting a 'power kernel failure' in windows 7 event manager. My pc has been getting to the point of windows loading but before I get to the windows logon screen, I just get a black screen with no response from the pc. I have to hit the reset switch. I should have mentioned that in my initial post, but I thought it might have been an unrelated matter.

I thought the failed startup was caused by having my 22" crt plugged in as well, but when I switched to LCD it still happens from time to time. My UPS appears to have support for 850w, I am thinking of getting a refurb Liebert that supports 1050w. Sound like a good idea? Also, I just cleaned my PSU last month. Still looks clean. Thanks.
 
If you switched from a CRT to an LCD and the problem is still occurring then overloading the UPS is most likely not the cause of the problem, though that is easy to check simply by connecting your PC straight to the wall. As for the error in Windows, I don't think that has anything to do with the PSU.
 
That's weird. I've been looking at the error message in google search and what could cause it and it looks like it could be numerous things. I really want to fix it but I'm at a loss.
 
Any more thoughts about the power kernel failure? I thought I fixed it by removing a duplicate audio device in device manager but it still happens.
 
I would do a fresh install of Windows. If it is still happening, then you most likely have a hardware failure somewhere. At startup, most computers will not even use up 300-400 watts, so even if your PC is underpowered by your power supply, it won't matter at startup. It only matters when benchmarking/playing games, and even then, the power supply will not cause a blue screen. It will simply just shut down your entire computer if it is overloaded.
 
Well, it isn't causing me a blue screen. I don't even see any visible problem, it's just that I have to hit the reset switch after a cold boot to get to windows. Then I see the report in event viewer. Sometimes it doesn't happen, which is why this is such a strange problem for me to diagnose. Thanks.
 
I've been looking at this the wrong way. The kernel power error isn't referring to the black screen, it's referring to me pressing the reset switch after I see the black screen. I need to figure out why I can't boot properly in one try. Still no luck with a solution.
 
Two more things, this problem also happened to me when I used my last 5970 (which is what I have currently). The other thing is that something might be preventing my pc from shutting down correctly and that is possibly causing the startup error.
 
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