Author Topic: Power problem (Read 7411 times)

Axelvold · « **on:** July 24, 2009, 12:37:52 PM »

Is there a thermostat in the power supply in a pc?
My pc shut down and then it wont start for half houer or more.

Lautermilch · « **Reply #1 on:** July 24, 2009, 12:43:00 PM »

Quote from: Axelvold on July 24, 2009, 12:37:52 PM

Is there a thermostat in the power supply in a pc?
My pc shut down and then it wont start for half houer or more.

I am a long time computer tech.

Power supplies are known to die here in Florida within 2-3 years as the power here is not that good. By that I mean the voltage flucuates and that kills motors and power supplies.

If it is dead, the good news it most of the time there is no other damage. Just remove it carefully and take note of the colors of the wires and take it to a computer store and they can match it. there is some differences with 20 and 24 connectors to the motherboard and 4 or 5 connectors for the CPU power so it pays to match it in person.

W3DRM · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2009, 12:48:46 PM »

Get yourself an inexpensive UPS system that will isolate your PC from the line voltage variations and spikes. If it is heat caused though, look into why the PC is running hot. Could be a bad fan or simply a dirty PC too. Open it up and CAREFULLY vacuum out all of the dust that has collected. You may be surprised at how much dust gets inside your PC.

Make sure you turn-off it off AND unplug it BEFORE you do any vacuuming or open up the case.

wxtech · « **Reply #3 on:** July 24, 2009, 02:37:21 PM »

Quote from: W3DRM on July 24, 2009, 12:48:46 PM

and CAREFULLY vacuum out all of the dust that has collected. You may be surprised at how much dust gets inside your PC.

Make sure you turn-off it off AND unplug it BEFORE you do any vacuuming or open up the case.

Blow don't suck. In electronics eqpt it's better to blow the dust out instead of vacuuming. It's amazing the tiny parts that will come off and you hear something traveling up the hose. Take the unit outside and use compressed air to clean it.

The dust in a dirty machine will also absorb moisture on humid days causing unreproducible malfunctions on dry days.

Cienega32 · « **Reply #4 on:** July 24, 2009, 03:26:19 PM »

+1 on Lautermilch and wxtexh.

The first 6 months of living in Las Cruces had me replace 3 different power supplies (one was less than a year old) thanks to their "great" line voltage. The extra humidity and an evaporative cooler on the house combined with frequent dust storms gave me some random auto-shutdowns and I had to step up my "blow 'em out" schedules. The shutdowns were all heat and dust/dirt related. So much more dust than I had been used to and because of my higher inside humidity giving it a nice sticky surface to attach to.

The power supply is a magnet for dust collection as are the CPU and video card fans and heat sinks. Blowing the dust out of those areas is a preventive maintenance item. And like wxtech stated - do it outside - you would be surprised at what comes out of the power supply alone. That extra dust weight and friction on the fan blades can slow them down will prematurely wear them out, believe it or not. So will an accumulation on their shafts.

Garth Bock · « **Reply #5 on:** July 24, 2009, 05:02:55 PM »

Most of the modern computers (such as Dell) have a built in 'crowbar' circuit in the power supply that will trip on a surge or brown out. The Dell Optiplex line usually changes its green power button to the orange button of death. Unplugging the computer for about 10 minutes or so allows the capacitors to discharge and the 'crowbar' circuit to reset. The Optiplex's power button comes back to its usually greeness. However, when the computer does the orange button of death a second time, that indicates that the surge has damaged the power supply and we replace it, even though the above trick gets the computer running again.

SlowModem · « **Reply #6 on:** July 24, 2009, 06:47:17 PM »

Quote from: Axelvold on July 24, 2009, 12:37:52 PM

Is there a thermostat in the power supply in a pc?
My pc shut down and then it wont start for half houer or more.

Is it possible there's a thermal overload type device? A 30-minute reset sounds like that.

port1 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 24, 2009, 07:32:34 PM »

Thermal overload is correct. Sign of failure soon.
Might be good idea to replace, or have a replacement handy.
Blowing the dust out is an excellent idea, as that might be the only real issue to begin with.

BTW: do you know what's in that dust, mostly?
Skin cells...that's right.
Kind of an unpleasant thought, but that's the truth.

Henry

tomcj2 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 25, 2009, 01:09:11 AM »

Quote from: wxtech on July 24, 2009, 02:37:21 PM

Blow don't suck. In electronics eqpt it's better to blow the dust out instead of vacuuming.

Is air from my garage compressor OK, or should I use the canned air?

Arthurhh · « **Reply #9 on:** July 25, 2009, 01:31:25 AM »

Quote from: Axelvold on July 24, 2009, 12:37:52 PM

Is there a thermostat in the power supply in a pc?
My pc shut down and then it wont start for half houer or more.

Over temp does indeed seem the probably issue, just check that the fans are all running. if it is the PSU just replace it (or CPU fan, but that one tends to produce BSOD)

wxtech · « **Reply #10 on:** July 25, 2009, 01:56:02 AM »

Quote from: tomcj2 on July 25, 2009, 01:09:11 AM

Quote from: wxtech on July 24, 2009, 02:37:21 PM

Blow don't suck. In electronics eqpt it's better to blow the dust out instead of vacuuming.

Is air from my garage compressor OK, or should I use the canned air?

Spray the compressor air at a paper towel to see if it contains oil/water. If it has contamination, install a separator. Never, never aim compressed air toward your hands or anything vital. The compressed air will impregnate your skin with rust, liquids or debris from the compressor.
Use safety glasses when blowing stuff around. Glaucoma from an eye injury changed my life.

mackbig · « **Reply #11 on:** July 25, 2009, 08:58:58 AM »

I know you are supposed to blow, not suck. Here's an extra variation. Depending how old your box is, it might have a lot of dust (even a little this will help). Get your vacuum or central vac hose, and turn it on...leave it several inches from your pc. As you use your compressed air can or compressor and the dust it blown into the air, the vacuum will suck it away. Tons of dust is put into the air, this cleans it out of the area quite good, and prevents sneezing....

Andrew

port1 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 25, 2009, 09:27:37 AM »

Wxtech is correct. Many compressors have contaminants in their air discharge. Best to use canned air if uncertain, but that doesn't have the capacity of your compressor, of course.
I also do as Andrew suggests, but I use a HEPA vac to capture all that tiny, minute stuff.
It's amazing how much accumulates, in a short period of time, inside the PC.
Another good hint is to install filters on your intake fans.
They're small and resemble the same media as an air conditioner foam filter. And you can get a clip on bracket that holds the media on the face of the fan.
They save the bearings on the PC fans, and you can simply rinse the filter in the sink and air dry it when it gets dirty.
No matter what you try, dust will accumulate eventually inside the PC, but routine maintenance is important.
I have to vacuum away the accumulations on the radiators of my water cooled PC's quite often, and I monitor the temperature to alert me it's time to clean.
Good luck...have fun too.

Curly · « **Reply #13 on:** July 25, 2009, 02:13:58 PM »

There are many good tips posted!

Usually the first fan to fail in a PC is the (flimsy) CPU fan. They have bushings instead of bearings and are subject to a lot of heat. Dust will eat the bushings over a period of time, start to make noise, slow down the air movement, and will eventually fail. If the fan isn't whisper quiet, it's wearing out.
The worst place to have a PC is on the floor, especially on a carpeted floor and even more so with a cat or dog in the house.

Another problem with blowing air or vacuuming is creating static electricity. When particles are moved with high velocity, static is generated and zaps all kinds of sensitive circuits.
Dirt Devil has a PC cleaning kit for vacuum cleaners that limits the suction and has two mini brush attachments. This is a great tool to have for yearly PC maintenance.

Axelvold · « **Reply #14 on:** July 25, 2009, 02:36:51 PM »

Thanks for all the tips that you have posted.
I think the power supply did get over heated so i did install one extra fan so the will be a bigger air flow.
I did also check if there was a lot dust, there was no dust in the box.

wxtech · « **Reply #15 on:** July 25, 2009, 02:42:13 PM »

Quote from: Axelvold on July 25, 2009, 02:36:51 PM

........ there was no dust in the box.

Praise your housekeeper! Clean box - - clean house.

SlowModem · « **Reply #16 on:** July 25, 2009, 02:49:21 PM »

Quote from: wxtech on July 25, 2009, 02:42:13 PM

Quote from: Axelvold on July 25, 2009, 02:36:51 PM
........ there was no dust in the box.
Praise your housekeeper! Clean box - - clean house.

Once upon a time, Lars said: "I am cleaning the house because my wife is coming home today after 10 days in Ireland.

This is just a waste of time, when you can do so much else."

If there was no dust in the box, then it was not a waste of time!

Greg

Axelvold · « **Reply #17 on:** July 25, 2009, 04:46:10 PM »

Quote from: Slow Modem on July 25, 2009, 02:49:21 PM

Quote from: wxtech on July 25, 2009, 02:42:13 PM
Quote from: Axelvold on July 25, 2009, 02:36:51 PM
........ there was no dust in the box.
Praise your housekeeper! Clean box - - clean house.

Once upon a time, Lars said: "I am cleaning the house because my wife is coming home today after 10 days in Ireland.

This is just a waste of time, when you can do so much else."

If there was no dust in the box, then it was not a waste of time!

Greg

the reason why there was no dust in the box is because I mounted it together for only 3 weeks ago

mackbig · « **Reply #18 on:** July 25, 2009, 06:25:12 PM »

Did you notice Lars' post count rate went down substantially after the 10 day trip house cleaning post?

Andrew

Quote from: Slow Modem on July 25, 2009, 02:49:21 PM

Once upon a time, Lars said: "I am cleaning the house because my wife is coming home today after 10 days in Ireland.

sam2004gp · « **Reply #19 on:** July 26, 2009, 03:53:40 PM »

Quote from: mackbig on July 25, 2009, 06:25:12 PM

Did you notice Lars' post count rate went down substantially after the 10 day trip house cleaning post?

Andrew

Quote from: Slow Modem on July 25, 2009, 02:49:21 PM
Once upon a time, Lars said: "I am cleaning the house because my wife is coming home today after 10 days in Ireland.

Yes I did notice that. Maybe he was glad to see her, it had been a long 10 days. So perhaps he was busy with other things besides the weather station, if you catch my drift.

port1 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 26, 2009, 04:42:53 PM »

That's what Andrew meant. He's sure a character

We should leave Lars to his privacy, eh?

Henry

Axelvold · « **Reply #21 on:** July 26, 2009, 06:17:46 PM »

My holiday is running out and there is so much need to do in the garden so there is no time to sit inside and play with the weather station.

wxkpt · « **Reply #22 on:** July 26, 2009, 06:45:03 PM »

Lmao Lars you do have it bad dont ya.....lol

Axelvold · « **Reply #23 on:** October 07, 2009, 03:57:16 PM »

At last the problem has been solved.

I did switch place on the memories and now has the computer been running more than a month in a row $\:D/$

so it was probably a kind of bad connection.

Chris H. · « **Reply #24 on:** October 10, 2009, 12:35:16 AM »

Compressor air should be fine, just don't use extended amounts of pressure, just quick short bursts. Canned is okay, but I don't like using it as sometimes the freon (or whatever is inside) escapes, hitting the surface of whatever I'm shooting air at. I've ruined a PlayStation 2 because of that.

News:

Author Topic: Power problem (Read 7411 times)