A couple days ago, my PC shutdown all of a sudden. Now I'm exactly helpless when it comes to diagnosing computer parts, but this issue has me stumped. What I first did was disconnect all components from my power supply except for the motherboard. I also removed all the components from my motherboard, such as the processor, video card, etc. So all I was left with was a psu, motherboard, and the power switch connector all connected to each other in an isolated environment. So I plug the power cord into the psu and the LED on the back of the psu turns on. So then I try to turn on the power to the unit by way of the power switch, and nothing happens. Well actually, the LED on the psu shut off. I try this process a couple more times, and every time single time, the only thing that happens is the LED on the psu shuts off. After a while, a breakthrough happens, upon plugging in the power cord and turning on the power switch, the lights and fans all turn on. However, I could not turn off the power by way of the power switch, I had to unplug the cord. After this single incident, the computer returned to not powering up regularly whenever I would use the power switch.
I then decide to test out the power supply by itself by shorting out the 24-pin connector with a paperclip. On the first try, the fan to the psu powers up. However on the subsequent attempts, the fan did not power on.
So my question to you guys is: do you think my power supply is no good, or is it my motherboard?
Test the Power Supply first.
If you have a multimeter, use the Positive (Red) probe lead to connect to the power wire to be checked.
The Negative (Black) lead connects to ANY ground wire. (ALL Black wires are Ground wires)
Three main voltages are produced by a personal computer Power Supply.
1) Orange insulated wires are 3.3 Volt
2) Red wires are 5 Volt
3) Yellow wires are 12 Volt.
(Again, ANY Black wire is a Ground wire)
Or use an economical power supply tester.
One example,
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5250576&CatId=5471
You are making a connection from the green Soft Power On wire, to any Ground (Black) wire with that jumper wire.
Using an HP Pavilion A1330E desktop computer for an example,
we can see that the main power cable is a 24-pin ATX main power cable.
This is readily shown by looking at the motherboard,
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00496280&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=1829044
Scroll down to the motherboard illustration, and the motherboard photo underneath the illustration.
This is the pin-out for a 24-pin ATX main power cable, and connector,
http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html#atxmain24
The Green wire (Pin 16) is the Soft Power On wire. The other end of the jumper can touch ANY Black ground wire.
1) ALL the lights use less than 1 Watt of power.
2) EACH fan uses 2 to 3 Watts.
3) A typical Processor can use anywhere from 51 to 125 Watts. Depends on what Processor it is.
The three Processor options for the Pavilion A1330E are, (Socket 939 style),
A) AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
B) AMD Athlon 64 4000+
C) AMD Sempron 3200+
The Sempron 3200+ can use up to 62 Watts
Athlon 64 X2 4800+, 110 watts, and Athlon 64 4000+ can use up to 89 Watts.
Point?
You have nothing but the motherboard plugged in, and the Power Supply takes a 'nose dive'.
Power LED turns off.
Bad Electrolytic Capacitors in the Power Supply.
Replace power supply.
What causes this?
1) Most computer failure can be attributed to the inside of the computer is dirty, as well as the Power Supply.
When the cooling components of the Power Supply, (Fan, and internal Heatsinks), are clogged, the cooling capacity drops tremendously.
Heat = Wasted Energy
The Power Supply tries to keep up with the call for power, and eventually components inside the Power Supply fail.
A can of compressed air for computers, used on a regular basis as needed could prevent this. (Observe Anti-Static precautions Before placing hands inside computer)
2) Cheap quality power supply.
Saves the computer manufacturer money.
Testimonial: "Very helpful."
You are most kind itslikewhoa, thank you for the rating, and the kind words.
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I assume you mean shorting pin 16 to ground to simulate switching on the power supply by the front panel switch on the computer.
The power supply should have a load on it otherwise it may not power up properly.
I suggest you connect a hard disk to a power lead and other drive devices to provide a load. Also after powering up the power supply then check a 4 pin power lead with a multimeter to see if you have 5 volts and 12 volts.
Also check the voltages on the motherboard power connector.
Pins 1, 3 & 11 =3 .3 volts
Pin 9 = 5 volts (standby)
Pin 12 = -12 volts
Pin 18 = -5 volts
This will help you determine if the power supply is faulty or the motherboard.
One bad or faulty lead connection can cause a computer to continue restarting on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect your hard drive
WARNING: Before you start troubleshooting remember that you are dealing with electricity that can KILL.
http://www.kitchentablecomputers.com/static.php - rules
Test all power and data leads that attach to your hard drive IDE,SATA
the leads from your (motherboard to your hard drive) make sure they have secure dust free connections and are not faulty
if its a 40 pin flat ribbon type it will be the first to fail
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty
even something as small as a faulty electrical fan and its lead can cause you problems
computers need all power and data to continue through every working device and to have an end so any faulty leads will end up with a computer error
make sure your graphics card is securely seated with no dust built up or in the socket
if you remove your graphics check the socket to make sure its dust free
restart your computer then reinstall it this should activate found new hardware wizard
hope this helps
desktop or laptop computer
Test your PSU or replace it if your power supply units fan is not working your PSU is faulty
One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect/ boot up a computer hard drive
Test all leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions EIDE SATA
the leads from your ((motherboard to your hard drive)) make sure they have a secure connection and are not faulty or just replace them they could be faulty
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty even the electrical extensions or just replace them they could be faulty
computers need power and data to travel through every working device and to have a finishing point to continue its cycle and have an end so any faulty leads will end up with a computer error
even something as small as faulty fan and the fans electrical lead can cause this problem
if this fails to fix the problem
another possible reason could be a memory dump you might be running to many programs at the one time placing to much strain on the CPU also you might not have enough RAM random access memory
hope this helps you
One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect/ boot up a computer hard drive
Test all leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions,IDE,SATA
the leads from your ((motherboard to your hard drive)) make sure they have a secure connection and are not faulty or just replace them there probably old and faulty
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty even the electrical extensions or just replace them they are probably old and faulty a computer needs its connections to continue its cycle and have an end so any faulty leads will end up with a computer error
hope this helps
One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect your hard drive
Test all leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions,IDE,SATA
the leads from your ((motherboard to your hard drive)) make sure they have a secure connection and are not faulty or just replace them there probably old and faulty
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty even the electic extensions or just replace them they are probably old and faulty a computer needs its connections to have an end so any faulty leads will end up with a computer error
hope this helps
don
One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect/ boot up
Test all leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions,IDE,SATA
the leads from your ((motherboard to your hard drive)) make sure they have a secure connection and are not faulty or just replace them there probably old and faulty
make sure all leads that are attached to your drives dvd\cd 3 1/2 inch floppy have secure connections and are not faulty or just replace them they are probably old and faulty ?
hope this helps
One bad lead can cause a computer to continue on a cycle or to shutdown or fail to detect your hard drive
Test all leads that attach to your hard drive including electrical extensions,IDE,SATA
the leads from your motherboard to your hard drive make sure they have a secure connection and are not faulty or just replace them there probably old and faulty
hope this helps
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