Power Supplies Keep Going PooF!!

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eljefe98

Geek Trainee
system has been working fine for months.

abit motherboard / 3.2 proc / 2 gb ram

6800 ultra video card (requires power)

600 watt dual fan power supply

multiple hard drives / 1 dvd burner

additional network card

additional ide raid card

audigy 2

-----------------------------

everything has been working great for a couple months now. I hopped on a ETF server and went to the kitchen to grab a soda and came back and the PC was off. I played with a few things and couldn't get the system to power on.

I had a backup case/power supply I was going to use for another system. I pulled the power supply and put it in the box. The system booted to the OS and within 2 minutes.. POOF. 400 watt power supply (new)

I pulled out all my neon, extra fans, etc.. and put a new 450 watt power supply and was able to run the machine for about 2 hours and then POOF. The thing smoked (literally). I powered it right off/unplugged it.

I'm out of power supplies now.. but i'll take the new one back and get another. I'm going to pull the board from the box, install just the video card and 1 hard drive and see what happens. unfortunately.. it takes a couple hours to see if anything will happen.

question.. anyone seen anything like this before? It just started happening..

What items in the food chain have enough power to kick back enough juice to cause the power supply to short out?

If the P.S. fries tomorrow with just the basics in it.. do I start with the motherboard?

I don't think I have anything touching that would cause it to short out. Either way.. I'll know tomorrow.

Any suggestions? anyone seen anything like this? I'm using name brand power supplies with good high voltage ratings.

post here or email me directly if you have suggestions. All hardware is pretty new.
 
i've already mailed out 2 of the power supplies and the third is still in the box. If one or two popped I could see that being a problem, but three? And I've had older boxes with weaker power supplies drawing a lot of power go bad.. and they usually just go bad.. not smoke. Something is causing these power supplies to short out and I don't think it's load. I personally think it's either the motherboard or case or I'm getting some weird juice coming in. I'm going to test both of those things tonight and i'll post my findings.
 
Yes but what bradn power supplies are you using..many can go bad if you just keep buying cheapo ones
 
it seems pretty obvious its not the brand.. if all three of them did it and smoked. sure one of them could be crap but i highly doubt all three are just sucky brand.

i would test with just mb, video, and hd. if those three work then you know its probably not just one piece of hardware. but put each piece in one at a time. if it happens again then start over with mb, vid, hd and that one piece that set it off. if it works fine slowly start adding hardware.. then if it happens you may just need bigger psu. but if it happens again on that piece of hardware then its prob that piece.

i run 9800pro
asus k8v se deluxe w/ 64bit 3000+
2gb ram
audigy 2
4 hd's (3 internal, 1 external)
toshiba dvd/cd burner
Samsung Cd burner
internal Zip drive
3 1/2 in floppy
9 fans
Temperature control panel
wireless mouse. (usb powered)
scanner (usb powered)

all on 420w psu.

so i dont think its an overload problem.
 
I'm going to pick up a couple extra power supplies and test the box super bare bones today. I'm even going to pull the board out of the case and just do board/video/hard drive (last 2 require power) and see what happens. I'll let it burn in for a while, then I'll put it in the case and repeat and see what gives. It's just really strange..

i'm going to get a power surge bar too.. I have old power in the house but i've had a computer on this circuit for over a year now without problems. I'm also using a UPS which should help protect against surges.. but who knows. something is shorting out so extreme that it's causing the power supply to physically burn out. (big P00F!) It might be a hard drive.. but i've never seen one do that before. It might be the video.. but once again.. never seen a video card that still works cause a PS to short out.

motherboard?? maybe.. but just seems strange.

dunno.. but i'll keep you posted.
 
24 pin motherboard / 20 pin power supply - no converter. I haven't used one for months without issue.. this is one of 3 similar configs I have at home and the other 2 boxes are running stable.
 
Sorry if someone already said this but if you've got a 6800 Ultra you'll need at least a 480wt PSU right there, not to mention you've got everything else sucking away from the same PSU too. The 600wt is great, but with 400 I'm surprised it worked at all. Again sorry if I missed something here.
 
yea and brand does matter, or else you're gonna be completely ripped off, because a company might accuse their product of being great but never mention that its that good at 0 degrees
 
Point-blank: quality does matter. With the power requirements of the computers today, you do NEED a good, quality PSU. Now, someone already linked the sticky I made regarding this.

For your system stick with the following brands:

Enermax
Fortron/Sparkle
Tagan
OCZ (save the PowerStream 520)
PC Power & Cooling
Zippy/Emacs
(last two if you're really rolling in dough)

Stay the hell away from:
Q-Tec
PowMax
Ultra (especially the 2005 built units)
OCZ PowerStream 520W (other OCZ PSU's are fine)

You want at least 25A on the 12V rails, or through a total combination of the 12V rails for any mid-range to high-end system for starters.

We're not trying to get you to keep blowing money, but you're going through power supplies like scotch through Ted Kennedy.
 
I also suggest that you test everything outside the casing first. There's a possibility that a screw is grounding the 12 volt or 5-volt rail when the mobo temp goes up. A case of matter expanding when heated.. other than that, my experience with this kind of trouble was an AGP Video Card (ELSA Brand). It worked, but was drawing way too much current than it was supposed to. Good luck.
 
I'm sending this email from this box.. don't want to push anything so no digital pics just yet.

the motherboard is sitting on a anti-static bag.

sound and video cards are installed (video card is drawing power from power supply also)

1 hard drive

no additional fans / system is running at all default speeds. nothing oc'd

box is up and running but it ran last time for about 2 hours before it died. i'm going to let it burn in like this for 24 hours to see if it dies. if it doesn't i'm going to mount the motherboard in a new case i have sitting here and repeat. i'll re-add parts one at a time until something makes it go poof. personally i have a gut feeling it's either the video card or a hard drive shorting it out. hopefully i'm wrong.. but we'll see. i'm getting tired of returning power supplies. worse case.. i'll take it somewhere were they can test voltages, etc.. and troubleshoot it for me. but building systems for over 10 years i hate to give in.. i've never seen a box chew through power supplies like this.

btw.. the original 600 watt power supply was a great power supply. ($139.00 via a pretty good websearch for prices).. it's not a quality issue. I had the same hardware in a p3 800 with a cheapo 350 watt ps and didn't have any problems. i think something has failed and is causing a fault which is shorting out the power supply.

anyway.. i'll keep ya'll informed.. :)
 
you can test power supplies by getting an old hard drive or cdrom and shorting the green and a black pin on the 20pin connector. This turns the power supply on.
 
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