Is my PSU dead?

[TimVB]

Hello,

How's it going? Hopefully good. :)

Here's the deal.. I was playing World of Warcraft yesterday (don't you judge me :P) and every 5 or so seconds the game slowed down to like 1-5 FPS, so I re-logged. Everything seemed fine then. Then I decided to turn on some music, so I fired up iTunes, and continued playing the game - a few minutes later my PC turned off by itself. At first I thought there must have been a power outage in my neighborhood, but that wasn't the case since the lights didn't turn off. So I decided to turn my PC back on, but after I pushed the power button I heard a loud noise coming from it (never a good thing :D). The fans seemed to be working, but that's about it. Nothing showed up on the screen. I did notice two things, though - the power switch for my PSU was blinking. Before this thing happened, it used to glow blue steadily. And there's a weird (not too loud) sound coming from it - electricity?

So.. is my PSU dead? I don't feel like spending $100 or so bucks on something that isn't broken.

Here are the system specs:
S.939 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
Western Digital 320 GB HDD
2x1 GB Kingston RAM
Some nForce 4 MSI motherboard
ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro (I used to have nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT, but it started showing artifacts, so I downgraded to this ATI card which, by the way, was acting weird when I tried watching 720p/1080p videos in full screen - is that another sign that the PSU was dying?)
FSP Blue Storm II (500W)

I think that's about it.

So.. what do you guys think? Is the PSU dead?
Let me know if you need any other info. :)

Best regards,
:D

[jonnyGURU]

Motherboard.

[TimVB]

Hey,

Thanks for the answer. :)

But woah, you just shocked me. :eek: Are you 100% sure? The sound coming from the PC isn't a beep, but more like a.. broken cooler, if it makes sense? But the coolers are fine. But yea, if this is true, then I might as well get a new motherboard/processor/ram.

[Zero82z]

Disconnect the PSU completely, attach a fan or two, and use the paperclip trick to see if it'll power up. If you have a multimeter, measure the different rails and see if they're in spec (see here: http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgpower/troubleshooting.html).

[RagingDragon]

every 5 or so seconds the game slowed down to like 1-5 FPS

That doesn't sound like a PSU problem - sounds like the CPU overheating and throttling. A simple CPU cooler failure might lead to the system shutting down on boot, but not the flashing PSU light... So I'd also guess motherboard. A CPU failure would also match the symptoms, but CPU's are generally *far* more reliable than motherboards...

I used to have nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT, but it started showing artifacts, so I downgraded to this ATI card which, by the way, was acting weird when I tried watching 720p/1080p videos in full screen - is that another sign that the PSU was dying?

A failing power supply can certainly kill other components. So can a failing motherboard - there'a alot voltage regulation circuitry on a motherboard, and if it that fails it could take out other components too.

[DvBoard]

the paperclip trick to see if it'll power up.

Sorry to hijack, but care to clarify this trick and how to do it?

[Zero82z]

Sorry to hijack, but care to clarify this trick and how to do it?
Use a metal paperclip or a piece of wire to bridge the green wire and one of the black wires on the ATX power connector coming from the PSU, and then turn the switch on the back of the PSU to the on position.

[TimVB]

Hey,

So I just tested the PSU using the paperclip trick, and yea - it seems like the PSU is broken. Sure, it powered up, but it made that weird sound that I was talking about, except a little more quiet. (probably because it only had to power up the cooler)
Oh yea, and for some reason I thought that it would be a good idea to remove the upper case of it and see what's going on inside. So I opened it up and saw that there was something white on those bronze things (like a whip cream or something).. :lol: I obviously have no idea what I was looking at, but yea.. It didn't look very "healthy", if you know what I mean. So I just ordered a new power supply (OCZ OCZ550FTY), so hopefully it'll work. :) I'll let you guys know.

Best regards,

[Zero82z]

That white stuff is just silicone glue; it isn't harmful. And I would recommend cancelling your PSU order if possible, since that OCZ unit isn't great. Post a budget and retailer that you'd like to buy from and we'll find you something better.

[TimVB]

Oh man, is it REALLY that bad? :wtf: I read a few reviews and they seemed OK. I could probably cancel it, but then I would just seem like a giant douche, since the computer store already took it from the warehouse or whatever they do. :(

Best regards,

[Stefan Payne]

yeah but wich Reviews did you read and wich OCZ did you buy??
There are some that are pretty decent but the actual lineup isn't that good...

[Zero82z]

It's a Sirtec-built PSU, probably around the same quality level as the ModXStream line. It'll probably do the job, but it isn't something that I'd recommend.

[TimVB]

Hello,

The model is OCZ550FTY.
And about the reviews - I just Googled them (Newegg, random sites, YouTube, etc.)

Edit: Ah, I see.. I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that it's PC Power & Cooling-built, but I guess I'm wrong. Anyway, I hope that it's at least decent. :)

Best regards,

[MrWicked1968]

PC Power and Cooling doesn't "build" PSU's so if you read that somewhere, you were reading incorrect information. OCZ owns PC P&C but they both continue to produce completely separate lines of PSU's. You would think that both could benefit from the merger, but all that's happened thus far is that PC P&C has released red and blue versions of the 750w Silencer.

the Fatality 550w is just a dressed up version of an already mediocre PSU and has nothing in common with a PC P&C.

[Zero82z]

You would think that both could benefit from the merger, but all that's happened thus far is that PC P&C has released red and blue versions of the 750w Silencer.
I'm pretty sure those are actually from before the buyout.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

You would think that both could benefit from the merger, but all that's happened thus far is that PC P&C has released red and blue versions of the 750w Silencer.

And a so-so quality UPS.

[HOOfan_1]

The Fatality 700W on the other hand should be good, it is designed by Impervio...presumably built by IS Quasar.

No offense, but I don't understand why I constantly see people admit to opening their PSU to "see what went wrong" when they don't even know anything about SMPS or electronics....there is a label on there that says "do not open", "warranty void if broken", "no user serviceable parts inside". If it is still in warranty...DON'T OPEN IT...contact the company and get a replacement.

[paul_h]

Fair point, if you aren't going to attempt a repair, don't open them up.
I guess people want to see of it's a dust buildup, replaceable fuse or faulty fan causing the failure though. But to those people, no it probably won't be, so don't open them up.

I did RMA an antec psu after it blew and destroyed my skt a nforce 2 system. Two months later I recieved a replacement PSU.
A year later that replacement PSU blew and stuffed up the RAM on my replacement nforce 3 system. edit: I would have been better off not getting a replacement unit free under warranty, but either buying a better PSU or opeing it up and getting someone to re-cap it or learning how to myself.
I hate fuhjyyu/asiax and capxon.

[Travis]

I did RMA an antec psu after it blew and destroyed my skt a nforce 2 system. Two months later I recieved a replacement PSU.
A year later that replacement PSU blew and stuffed up the RAM on my replacement nforce 3 system. edit: I would have been better off not getting a replacement unit free under warranty, but either buying a better PSU or opeing it up and getting someone to re-cap it or learning how to myself.
I hate fuhjyyu/asiax and capxon.

You have been really unlucky with your Fuhjyyu-ed Antec. Normally they just walked away quietly not taking anything.

[paul_h]

My antec was the cheap 450w ones that came with the sonata 2 case though, so maybe it's different. My brother bought the same case/psu and his stuffed up his mainboard too.

I bought the sonata 2 + PSU combo for the case as I already had better larger PSUs. But I thought the SP450 would be decent enough to do the job of running a low demand older system. I used a better PSU in the sonata case for my new system.
That's why it was only running a nforce 2 system when the antec PSU blew.
That old system was completely destroyed, nothing worked after that PSU died, no mainboard, not ram, not cpu.
Then after that I trusted the new antec as they came out with a longer warranty I thought they had improved it. And the fuhjyyu-ed tagan had blown as well.
So I put the replacement antec in the replacement PC (as I had to replace mainboard , CPU and RAM after the first antec failure). A year later that PSU blew as well, everything tested fine except for RAM.

[Stefan Payne]

Looks like somehting with the +5V and/or 3,3V Rail was wrong like on the Everest review here.
The Reason the newer system survived is may be that nothing of value is powered by the 3,3V or 5V rail.

[paul_h]

If that's in reply to me, yep I have two points of failure for the antec, a blown cap near the +5v and 3V rail, but also a 10V cap near the transformers.
I never saw the cause of the first antec, as I kept that sealed to send away for warranty.
I've always believed to keeping the PC running 24/7 or unplugging it from the power, as it seems so many PSUs fail on the standby circuit being energized but having no cooling. Is that a wrong way of thinking, it seems logical the amount of +5V failures I've seen.

The Tagan failed spectacularly, blown main cap and diode bridge by the way.

If I can find appropriately small enough diameter caps (which has proved impossible so far), I intended to i) recap the the antec 450w ii) replace the main caps and diode bridge and recap the tagan 480w iii) recap the working tagan so it doesn't blow soon, iv) bring a dodgey gfx and mobo with swollen caps back to life.

The main problem is OEMs used F-Us because they were in a smaller dia than most cap (as well as price), so it's impossible almost to recap when it just doesn't fit with larger replacements, but I'm working on it.

[Travis]

My antec was the cheap 450w ones that came with the sonata 2 case though, so maybe it's different. My brother bought the same case/psu and his stuffed up his mainboard too.

I bought the sonata 2 + PSU combo for the case as I already had better larger PSUs. But I thought the SP450 would be decent enough to do the job of running a low demand older system. I used a better PSU in the sonata case for my new system.
That's why it was only running a nforce 2 system when the antec PSU blew.
That old system was completely destroyed, nothing worked after that PSU died, no mainboard, not ram, not cpu.
Then after that I trusted the new antec as they came out with a longer warranty I thought they had improved it. And the fuhjyyu-ed tagan had blown as well.
So I put the replacement antec in the replacement PC (as I had to replace mainboard , CPU and RAM after the first antec failure). A year later that PSU blew as well, everything tested fine except for RAM.

Uhhh...

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article260-page1.html
SP450 is an OEM product from CWT, based on CWT's ISO-500 design which uses an inefficient obsolete topology(half-bridge using BJT as main switches), and also plagued by F-u caps. The lesson from them is that don't use inferior caps in a silent power supply.

Most tragic 5VSB failures (like the one on Bestec ATX-250-12E) are because the standby circuit uses an RCC self-oscillating topology (mainly seen in cell phone adapters, obsolete on state-of-art PC power supplies due to tight ATX12V spec requirements), which might become unstable when some key components malfunction, such as a failing 'lytic cap. The standby power based on an IC controlled flyback circuit can fail too if some certain cap fails, but it either doesn't turn on or outputs excessive ripple(which isn't really a problem to digital components on mobo).

A "lightweight" system isn't demanding a "large" power supply or an efficient (say 80Plus or EStar 5.0) power supply, but still a quality unit. Avoid units using this standby circuit, for its potential of failure and lack of juice.