PSU replaced, and let me install xp!

[Trikzy]

Just wanted to thank everyone who oferred their opinion and advice on my problem. stupid powmax psu's, i took it out it weighed no lie not even two pounds.

So thank you guys.

 

[Vertigo Acid]

Cool, I love to hear threads like this, makes me feel like the time I put in here is worthwhile. Good luck

 

[Ice Czar]

Good Luck Trikzy
Im glad to hear you upgraded

now you might want to read these

*everything on my computer is hooked up to surge protectors....which i don't trust at all..but i guess it's better than no protection.

Power Conditioning 101

The plain surge/spike filter powerboards you can buy at various electronics, electrical and hardware stores are, arguably, worse than nothing. This is because they give you the impression you’re protected, when you probably aren’t - well, not for long, anyway.

The chief surge-clamping component in a basic filter-board is a Metal-Oxide Varistor (MOV). MOVs pass current only when the voltage across them is above a set value, and they react very quickly (in a matter of microseconds, against the tens of milliseconds a circuit breaker takes). That’s the good news. The bad news is that MOVs wear out - they’re only good for a few uses, and the bigger the spike, the more damage is done.

Cheap power filters seldom give you any indication whether your MOV is alive or not. If the powerboard has an illuminated power switch, the switch light often goes off when the MOV has died. The switch lights generally last for decades, so no light almost definitely means no MOV - but since the light only shows the status of a fuse, and the fuse won’t blow if the MOV has been killed by lots of smaller surges, the light can keep glowing merrily when the MOV has long since kicked the bucket.

Anti-spike gear may also include gas arrestor tubes, which are far more durable than MOVs but too slow for computer applications, or silicon avalanche diodes, which give much of the robustness of gas tubes with the speed of a MOV. The best spike suppressors have all three components, but you won’t find those at the hardware store. Standard MOV-equipped powerboard suppressors sell for around $50 (Australian dollars).

and DIY UPS both at dansdata
and a none MOV surge protector > http://www.brickwall.com/

the PSU is just an important link in the chain
but its still a chain