Ok, this is gonna be a bit long as I want to be sure to post all the details. To start, my CPU burned out. I was running an Athlon XP, and I let the sink get pretty dirty and overheated it. Strapped for cash at the time, I bought a cheap Sempron and motherboard. Moved everything over, and all was fine. One day not too long after, the PSU fried. I wasn't surprised, I've had them go out before. I just bought the biggest one I could get locally, which was only 300 watts. Enlight is the brand. A couple of days later, it wouldn't start up. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Heard a pop from the plug, and it worked again. Went on for a month like that until it burned out. I too it back to get it checked, and the guy there said it was defective and replaced it. That PSU burnt out the next day. I knew then it was my problem w/o a doubt. Thought I would figure out by process of elimination what wwas wrong. I had three old PSUs, so at the risk of hardware damage, I ran the PC off of them. I plugged a 90 watt into the mobo, and an old AT 150 into the two hard drives and two DVD drives. After a few days, the 150 burned out. Then, I plugged just the two hard drives into another 90. Ran like that for awhile with no problem. Then I plugged one DVD-Rom in also, leaving only my DVD burner out. No problems. I let it stay like this for three weeks, as I wanted to be sure before buying another PSU. The fan on the one plugged into the mobo started grinding. It is about six years old, so no surprise. One day, it popped. My wife went down and bought another 300 watt Enlight. I plugged it into the mobo and two hard drives. The next day, it made a loud popping noise and stopped working. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. It worked, but I knew it wouldn't last. Today it fried out. As I type this, I'm running the mobo and one hard drive off of ninety watts. I have the before mentioned Sempron, one stick of RAM, and an ATI 9600 card. What is causing this? How can I figure it out? Why didn't the crappy little PSUs burn out?I have it run through a surge protector. I can't figure it out, and I can't afford to keep buying PSUs. Yes I know I nned more power, but I can't believe two drives and the mobo is overloading a 300 watt supply. Thanks in advance for any help. You guys have always come through for me before. JC
I'm surprised that you're system is still running after all you've put it through. You really need to buy a good PSU for your system. If I were you, I'd get a 400w. Check out this thread http://www.hardwareforums.com/power-supplies-you-why-you-dont-want-cheap-psu-updated-9-2-05-a-5218/ I honestly dont know what would cause all of the PSU's you've tried to "burn out" but judging by what you were using, they were probably underpowered. Like I said, It would be a very good idea to get a good brand PSU and try that. You can get a good 450 watt PSU for around 40 dollars and it will definetly give you the power you need.
Holy crap, they are some pretty nasty problems. Did you break a mirror or something? My guess is what Fred said and they just aren't powerful enough. But it's possible that your surge protector is faulty or even that your power running through your house is 'dirty'! Do you suffer from voltage spikes/surges regularly?
I know what you mean by what I've put it through, heh. The 300 watt PSU is the biggest I can buy locally, and I was in a pinch. I find it hard to believe that 300 watts isn't enough to run two hards drives, a sempron, mobo, one stick of RAM and an old video card. Thats all I had powered when the last one fried. The real question is why the 90s don't burn out. I have no power spikes I have ever noticed. The mobo and CPU is new, as is one hard drive. I never had these troubles before, but...just thought of something. We bought my wife a computer, and the PSU went out on it. It is being sent back to be repaired, as its under warrenty. I never even connected this as the possible source. How would one go about testing the power input? It was plugged into a separate surge protector...
If this happened to both computers, then it's likely that it's the power running through your house i'd say, or even the power points they're connected to. It's not advised to check it yourself, but if possible, get your power company to run some tests for you!
