Computer won't power up

[haze111]

I built my current machine in January 2001. I know it's old, but I'm trying to hold out for when there are more PCI-X solutions to choose from.

My specs:
Athlon 1700+ XP
MSI nForce K7N420 Pro
512 meg of Crucial DDR PC2100
Geforce 3 video card
Win XP Pro SP2

I leave this machine on 24/7 and had no problems until 2 months ago. I came home, the machine was off, and would not come on. There was an acrid smell coming from the power supply (Premier 300w) so I assumed the power supply died on me. I replace the power supply with the same brand and wattage, machine would still not boot, so I determined the motherboard must have gotten surged when the power supply went. Anyway, I found the same mobo on ebay for cheap, but that one in and everything worked fine.

Here I am, two months later, and it will not startup. This time, the power supply looks and smells fine. I think I may go buy a better power supply, but am looking for suggestions on whether there could be another problem at hand? I know little about power supplies and I am not an overclocker. Is there a power supply that can prevent a surge to the motherboard in the case of failure?

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[quentinterintino]

Premier power supply huh, unfortunately the name doesn't seem to be indicitive with the quality. Here is a link for XP processor approved power supplies. A lot of people vouch for antec, i haven't had any problems with them or enermax.

Now the second thing to do is to find out why you keep blowing power supplies. Double check the voltage in the socket, and if you don't have one, I would recommend getting a surge protector of some sort. In addition, check for any places where the mobo or the wiring could be shorting out.

Lastly, check to see if the hardware is ok with a separate power supply.

hope that helps...