Question Damaged LOGIC400-ATX Power Supply

[JuanElCaballoLoco]

Computer specifications:

Motherboard: Asus M4N68T-M LE V2
CPU: QuadCore AMD Athlon II X4 640, 3015 MHz
RAM: 4096 MB
Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6670 (1 GB)

Hard drives:

TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 – 1000.2 GB

SAMSUNG SV6003H – 60.0 GB

SAMSUNG SV4012H – 33.8 GB

Optical drive: ATAPI iHAS124 B SCSI CdRom Device
Power supply: LOGIC400-ATX

Operating systems:

Windows XP Professional SP3 32-bit (PL)

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit (PL)

Windows 10 21H2 Pro 64-bit (PL)

After a few minutes or sometimes a few hours, the computer shuts off completely as if the power cord was unplugged from the outlet. It does not matter whether an operating system is running or if the system is in the BIOS setup — the shutdown behavior is the same.

About six months ago, the computer began shutting down more and more frequently, until eventually it would power off just a few seconds after startup. At that time, I was using a MODECOM FEEL 3 400W ATX power supply taken from a broken computer found in the trash. I replaced it with the current LOGIC400-ATX power supply, also taken from a discarded computer. A few days after the replacement, the computer shut down by itself only once. Now it has started shutting down more frequently again.

Could this be caused by the power cable? The computer is located in a shed. Instead of being connected directly to a proper power line, electricity is supplied from an attic wall outlet using a standard household extension cord routed through a hole in the shed wall. Originally, the shed did not have electrical wiring, so I improvised the power connection myself.

Is it possible that wind moving the extension cord could cause the computer to shut off completely? Or in such a case should the computer restart instead of powering off?

I believe that the power supplies from the discarded computers were actually functional, and those computers were thrown away because the motherboards had failed or because they were too old and slow to justify repair.

Originally, this system had a 500W power supply, but it completely failed about six years ago.

The 400W power supplies taken from discarded systems operate for hours without issue when connected to older computers from around 2005. However, those older systems are single-core and much slower. The Asus M4N68T-M LE V2 system is significantly faster, supports older DirectX 11 games, and is more suitable for modern web browsing. Today, web browsing realistically requires at least a dual-core CPU, while those older machines only have a single core.

Does a 400W power supply provide sufficient power to operate three HDDs simultaneously?

Could bad sectors on the TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (1000.2 GB) drive have been caused by faulty power supplies, or are they more likely due to age and high total operating hours?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Use a PSU calculator by inputting all the hardware in the PC to determine appropriate or recommended PSU wattage.

Otherwise, I had the same problem you described. It had resulted from a six-pin SATA PSU wire that was not fully secured in its PSU socket. It could be days, or a week at a time, and it would just shut down.

However, since you'd seen the symptom with two different PSUs, it sounds like some other hardware problem.

 

[mindless1]

A quick first test would be to remove the cover off the PSU and see if it has any bulging or vented capacitors. If it does, game over for that PSU unless you want to solder in new capacitors.

The system does not need near 400W but low quality PSU like that Logic 400W, may not meet their ratings and will have a shorter lifespan even at lower load. These PSU you're pulling from the trash, even if they are working well enough to power a system initially, consider that they have already had their first tour of duty and when low quality, won't have a long lifespan ahead, if they weren't the actual, initial reason why the system you found them in, was in the trash.

Your crystaldisk screenshots are in a foreign language so I didn't attempt to read them, but in general a bad PSU is more likely to cause file system corruption, loss of files rather than bad sectors, so I would suspect that the HDD is at end of life and should be replaced ASAP.

I can't predict what your extension cord setup is doing. Depends on the looseness of the power outlet contacts that it's plugged into. It could also depend on the extension cord gauge vs length, and your region's AC mains voltage whether ~120VAC or 220/240VAC, but the listed system shouldn't be pulling over 3A which is pretty manageable over ~30 meters or shorter distance, without needing an especially low gauge extension cord.


Your can calculate and check that, and if it's just wind causing interruptions, secure the end of the extension cable so wind doesn't move it around, and if that turns out to be the cause, then I would replace that power outlet as the extension cable (or computer PSU) connector moving around might have weakened the spring tension in the outlet contacts.