Antec EarthWatt 380 died?

[KK]

I just picked up a NSK4480 case that came with the earthwatts PSU. I had it up and working for about 6 hours or so and all of a sudden it shut off. I tried everything to get the PSU to come back up. I came back about 3 hours later and notice that the light on the motherboard turned on when I gave it another try. I then turned it back off and plugged up the hard drives, and she booted up and was up and working for about 10 minutes or so, and then I noticed that the mouse nor the keyboard wasn't responding and that it was acting like it was locked up, I pressed the button on the front of the case and it immediately powered down, and now its back to not power on.

Couple of questions here. If I have everything unplugged from the power supply and try to turn it on should the fan spin a half turn or so? Since I bought a case that came with the PSU, will I have to RMA everything or will they just ship me a PSU to replace it. Also, should I deal with Antec or Zipzoomfly for RMAing. Antecs website says within 30 days deal with the reseller.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Retest outside the case. Clear CMOS and check for problem. You may have a bad PSU.

 

[Lunyone]

Originally posted by: KK
I just picked up a NSK4480 case that came with the earthwatts PSU. I had it up and working for about 6 hours or so and all of a sudden it shut off. I tried everything to get the PSU to come back up. I came back about 3 hours later and notice that the light on the motherboard turned on when I gave it another try. I then turned it back off and plugged up the hard drives, and she booted up and was up and working for about 10 minutes or so, and then I noticed that the mouse nor the keyboard wasn't responding and that it was acting like it was locked up, I pressed the button on the front of the case and it immediately powered down, and now its back to not power on.

Couple of questions here. If I have everything unplugged from the power supply and try to turn it on should the fan spin a half turn or so? Since I bought a case that came with the PSU, will I have to RMA everything or will they just ship me a PSU to replace it. Also, should I deal with Antec or Zipzoomfly for RMAing. Antecs website says within 30 days deal with the reseller.

Just had a SP 350w go out on a combo case/PSU deal. It wasn't outputing any voltages and since it was waaaay past the 30 days (1yr 12 days) I was informed to call Antec. I called them and they only want the old PSU back and they will replace with a EW 380w Good for me, since the 350 SP isn't as good as the EW 380w. I'd definately take everything out of the case and put mobo on a non-conductive (cardboard works) surface and check and see if your system will boot up. Sometimes you can have shorts on your mobo and won't know where they are until you pull out the mobo.

 

[KK]

I just removed my motherboard from the case and still no light on the mother board when I flip the power switch on the psu. I sent requests off to zzf and antec, we'll see which responds first.

 

[Lunyone]

I found faster responses by calling them on the phone. I first would try zzf and they can direct you to the right department or give you Antec's customer support number. Just make sure you have your information handy, because they will doubt that the PSU is bad, unless you give them proof. Antec customer support was good to me, so I'm betting you should have similiar results.

 

[KK]

I submitted a support ticket with antec, which they basically said fill out a rma ticket, and I received the rma number already for it. I wonder if I call them if they will do an advanced replacement so I don't have to wait as long.

 

[Lunyone]

They will do that! You have to purchase it with a credit card first, but they should've had a link in one of the emials sent to you that would direct you to that option.

 

[KK]

Yeah, I didn't see that as an option, I guess it's possible I overlooked it. I'll give them a call when they open up.

Edit:
I see that there is an advanced replacement on the trouble reporting form. But on the RMA request form there is no mention of it.

 

[Lunyone]

Yeah, just give them a call and I'm sure they will be more than happy to do it. They were pretty friendly when I talked to them on the phone, which is amazing these days.

 

[jonnyGURU]

What are you powering with this? How do we know that 380W simply isn't enough?

Originally posted by: KK
If I have everything unplugged from the power supply and try to turn it on should the fan spin a half turn or so?

No. Not if you're just flipping the switch on the back. You have to have the green wire shorted to ground (black) to "tell" the PSU to turn on.

Originally posted by: KK
Since I bought a case that came with the PSU, will I have to RMA everything or will they just ship me a PSU to replace it.

If you deal with ZZF, they'll need to replace the whole case since you bought a case from them, not a PSU. If you go through Antec, they can swap out just the PSU.

Originally posted by: KK Also, should I deal with Antec or Zipzoomfly for RMAing. Antecs website says within 30 days deal with the reseller.

Since this is part of a part, I would still try Antec first.

 

[Lunyone]

I'd rather deal with Antec, since I'd wouldn't want to ship the whole case back to ZZF (too expensive), but that is just me. Since the PSU is presumed bad, I'd just want to pay for the shipping for just the PSU.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
What are you powering with this? How do we know that 380W simply isn't enough?

Originally posted by: KK
If I have everything unplugged from the power supply and try to turn it on should the fan spin a half turn or so?

No. Not if you're just flipping the switch on the bag. You have to have the green wire shorted to ground (black) to "tell" the PSU to turn on.

Originally posted by: KK
Since I bought a case that came with the PSU, will I have to RMA everything or will they just ship me a PSU to replace it.

If you deal with ZZF, they'll need to replace the whole case since you bought a case from them, not a PSU. If you go through Antec, they can swap out just the PSU.

Originally posted by: KK Also, should I deal with Antec or Zipzoomfly for RMAing. Antecs website says within 30 days deal with the reseller.

Since this is part of a part, I would still try Antec first.

I just got a E6300 on an asus p5b-e with 2 harddrives,dvd, and a 7600gt, also some hauppage tv card.

Edit: just did the advanced replacement with Antec, I feel better working with them than ZZF.

 

[Lunyone]

Let us know how everything worked out. I'm curious to see what kind of service you get and if there are any further problems.

 

[KK]

Well, after missing delivery twice because we weren't able to sign for the PSU, I got it today and slapped it in. So far so good. Crossing fingers it'll last past today.

 

[Lunyone]

I'm supposed to get my replacement PSU today, so I'm hoping for the same result that you got.