Do I need a new PSU?

Post by **DRuM** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:06 am

My pc keeps rebooting itself every few minutes, and I notice the grill at the back of the psu is hot to touch when it does that. It's about 3 years old and is a cheap 350w one that was installed into the case. The fan seems to be working on it. The unit tends to buzz and creak quite a bit, at least I think it's the psu doing that. My cooling is not great, I've had the side cover off for ages with a desk fan blowing in it. But that's been fine for months. That fan has packed up and I'm using another fan, not quite as powerful. Earlier today, the temperatures were reaching 72C, and I thought that was the reason for it rebooting, but now, the temperatures are ony reaching early to mid 50C's and its still rebooting. So I'm not sure it's the cpu fan but rather the psu. Played a few minutes of Q3 and the graphics started artifacting madly and then it also rebooted. The body of the psu is staying cool with the fan blowing onto it. What do you think then, new psu?

Post by **primaltheory** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:12 am

its not the outside that counts, it could still be faulty wires and such

I'd say yea get a new one (like 450, just cause it says 350 doesn't mean it can do 350

Post by **DRuM** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:27 am

I suppose wiring could have become faulty, but all leads seem to be intact. I'm trying something else now. I've moved the fan and it's blowing cold air right into the back grill of the psu and it's keeping the psu grill really cold. If it still reboots, then I dunno. It rebooted a few minutes ago where the cpu temp was 53C and the case was 30C. Those aren't critical temps, right? Without the fan blowing onto the cpu now as I moved it to the psu grill, the cpu temp is 61C but that's still fine. High, but not dangerous. I'm using MBM5 to monitor the temperatures.

Post by **primaltheory** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:38 am

I hate the idea of using extra fans, it costs way more money then a new psu (electricity wise), is noisy, big, and it moves alot of dust.

Post by **DRuM** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:45 am

It rebooted on me again, yet the psu is cold to touch. The temperature of the cpu was around 68 to 69C when it rebooted. Why would it reboot before getting closer to 80 or 90? I have an athlon XP2000+ which can go up to 90C. But this time it booted into windows easily, no messing around. Could it be to do with fluctuating voltages from the psu?

Post by **SOAPboy** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:47 am

primaltheory wrote:I hate the idea of using extra fans, it costs way more money then a new psu (electricity wise), is noisy, big, and it moves alot of dust.

Way more money

Kiddo, my last machine had 9 fans and a 600watt psu.. my computers, NEVER get shut off.. my electric bill when up nothing..

And fans use dick for power off the psu anyways..

Christ, out of T&T please

Drum, go check your bios for saftey features.. its possible that your machines hitting the 70C mark and the "saftey" feature is kicking the computer down.. *shrug

Post by **primaltheory** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:47 am

I'm saying house fans, not casefans, If you have extra casefans plugged in go right ahead!

Post by **Tormentius** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:32 am

primaltheory wrote:I'm saying house fans, not casefans, If you have extra casefans plugged in go right ahead!

w..t..f..

:icon6:

Post by **SOAPboy** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:43 am

Tormentius wrote:
primaltheory wrote:I'm saying house fans, not casefans, If you have extra casefans plugged in go right ahead!
w..t..f..

:icon6:

Exactly..

Post by **YourGrandpa** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:50 pm

Your problem could be any number of things. The PSU is a good place to start. That's what I usually find wrong with most of the PC's I've fixed. Go down to your local computer store and pick up a new one and test it. You can always return it if you don't need it.

If it's not the PSU, I'd look at the video card next.

Post by **FragaGeddon** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:00 am

MY PSU did that also. I checked out one of the connectors and one lead was putting out 4.2 when it should have been more than 5 and the other was putting out 11.6 when it should have been over 12.

Post by **primaltheory** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:20 am

FragaGeddon wrote:MY PSU did that also. I checked out one of the connectors and one lead was putting out 4.2 when it should have been more than 5 and the other was putting out 11.6 when it should have been over 12.

PSUs never output their marked ampage or w/e (I hate electricity I need to go learn it :icon32: ) Go check tomshardware they have good reviews on everything!

Post by **Tormentius** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 2:05 am

primaltheory wrote:
PSUs never output their marked ampage or w/e (I hate electricity I need to go learn it :icon32: ) Go check tomshardware they have good reviews on everything!

They are supposed to put out very close the the appropriate power per rail or else it will cause system instability.

:icon27:

Post by **FragaGeddon** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:21 am

A battery is considered dead after it drops below it's recommended volts.
If it's a 9 volt battery, and it drops below 9 volts, than it's a dead battery.
A new 9 volt will be about 9.6 volts.

Post by **FragaGeddon** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:32 am

I have two computers. The one with the bad PS wouldn't even boot the comp. I switched it over to the one that was outputting the better volts and it booted right up.

Post by **YourGrandpa** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:12 am

Frag is right. Listen up.