Did I damage my Power Supply?

nlh

Member
Jun 25, 2002
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I just got an Enermax 400w power supply (I'll supply the exact model number if necessary). I put it in the case (with nothing else in the case), and didn't attach it to anything, and turned it on. I wanted to see if it would power up or not, just to check.

Is this damaging? Nothing happened, at all. I heard the surge noise as it went on, but no sound came from the power supply. Is it disfunctional, did I damage it, or is this normal?

Thanks in advance.
 

Entropy007

Senior member
Apr 18, 2000
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I don't think it's damaged. I believe it has to be plugged into the motherboard to actually turn on. Well without some modification anyway
 

nlh

Member
Jun 25, 2002
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I see. So even though I supplied power to it, it didn't do anything? I'm hoping it's alright - they cost about $75.

I just turned on its switch, then turned on the surge, and nothing happened - no fans, etc. I think I read that it must be wired in a 'logical circuit', of sorts, with the motherboard in order to power up.

I guess I'll see when the motherboard gets here (although I'm also getting a power tester, so I'll check with that.)

Thanks for the reply. :D
 

HiTek21

Diamond Member
Jul 4, 2002
4,391
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Probably didn't damage it, if something was damaged or shorted out it probably woulda started smoking or won't work anymore. Hope everythings alright
 

Soulkeeper

Diamond Member
Nov 23, 2001
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as Entropy007 said they are designed not to run when unplugged from the motherboard
this is part of the atx standard i guess
it is hard to damage a PSU let alone by just turning it on
 

nlh

Member
Jun 25, 2002
51
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Thanks guys. :D

Very comforting. I'm building my first system, by the way, so from now on I think I'll read up on EVERY part before I mess with it.
 

AndrewPaulNet

Member
Jul 23, 2002
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Hey bro.

No you didn't damage the PS. Newer PSs don't startup unless they are plugged into the MB. The noise you heard was as you can understand, the power surging into the supply. I don't know the technicality of it, I do know that if you rip the PS fan out, you sttill hear a little noise in there. Also, what you did isn't damaging. I'd recommend it anyway before throwing everything into the case AND THEN powering it on. What I generally do to test PSs is power upa board I'm not gonna use or want with it (plug it into the board and plug a working fan into the board - unless the board has a light so you can tell instantly).

Well...enjoy your new fan.

P.S .... there IS a reason PSs have fans....don't KEEP the PS on without a fan exhasting it.....not only can that mess up your PS eventually, but - ever touched a CPU without a heatsink?

 

nlh

Member
Jun 25, 2002
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Ah, I see. I had also tried it by plugging it into a case fan, but I guess it needs to be in the motherboard.

Thank you for the input. :D

The Enermax power supply has two fans for exhaust, and I'll have one case fan (delta 80mm), and an Alpha PAL8045 with a Vantec Tornado (80mm) on it. Hopefully it runs cool enough, and hopefully even trying to test the power supply with the fan didn't do anything, either. Thanks again guys.
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
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actually they can be turned on but it requires a jumper in the 4 and 6 pin of the Motherboard connector to start so unless you did that it wouldnt have dun anything

The only reason i know this is because Koolance tells you to start up the PSU to get air out of the pipes and stuff before attatching to the cpu