Do I need to replace my power supply?

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
My PC's power supply is at least four or five years old. It's never given me trouble until recently - a couple of times, I noticed a weird burning smell coming from my tower. Not knowing the cause, I turned it off. It was only during the third occurence that I noticed my power supply fan wasn't moving.
I brought it to a tech-savvy friend for diagnosis. He opened it up and found a fairly large amount of dried hot-glue droplets laying around the case! He believes that one of these must have blocked the fan from moving. But more disconcertingly, he also saw a couple of small damaged resistors in there. One was cracked down the middle, and one was rather warped. The rest of the supply was OK.

Now, it's running well at the moment, but now I'm paranoid about leaving it alone for more than five minutes. I'm afraid my house will burn down or something.

Could those damaged capacitors cause any further damage to my power supply, PC, or anything else? Or are they just a minor problem?

Thanks!
 

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Are you serious?
Are you saying that you have a power supply that has damaged components in it and you are still using it to power your computer?

You are taking the chance of having your motherboard, CPU and other components damaged.
 

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
Hmm, well, there's my answer. Heh.
Guess I'll go get that nice 465w power supply tomorrow...
 

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
Well, the problem is, the replacement unit I want to get has a secondary fan on the top, but my PC case doesn't have any vents up there. Do I need to take a drill and put some holes in there before I install it? I'd imagine no holes for the secondary fan could cause overheating problems inside the case...
 

homestarmy

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2004
3,528
2
0
artwilbur.com
Sorry, but it is slightly funny the question that you are asking. Others have made the same mistake too. ;)

That fan is supposed to point downward into the case toward the CPU. It draws air into the power supply, and the other one pushes the air out.

Good luck bud! :)
 

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
*slaps head

Yeah, that shows you how many power supplies I've installed. Heh!

Thanks for stopping me before I mutilated my tower...
 

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
Just my luck..

The new power supply I bought doesn't work with my motherboard. The cable to connect it to the mobo is 24-"pin", while the mobo only has a 20-"pin" connector.
Looks like it's time to build that new PC...
 

Navid

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2004
5,053
0
0
Originally posted by: Hatter106
Just my luck..

The new power supply I bought doesn't work with my motherboard. The cable to connect it to the mobo is 24-"pin", while the mobo only has a 20-"pin" connector.
Looks like it's time to build that new PC...

Most new power supplies come with a connector that can work with both type motherboards.
You may be able to see in this picture that the 4 pins on the left can be separated so that you can connect it to a motherboard with a 20-pin connector.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage...00+ATX12V+500W+Power+Supply+%2D+Retail

Which power supply did you get? You can also use something like this.
http://www.directron.com/24to20pin6in.html
 

Hatter106

Junior Member
Feb 26, 2004
18
0
0
Originally posted by: Navid
Most new power supplies come with a connector that can work with both type motherboards.
You may be able to see in this picture that the 4 pins on the left can be separated so that you can connect it to a motherboard with a 20-pin connector.
[L=http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage...00+ATX12V+500W+Power+Supply+%2D+Retail]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.asp?Image=17%2D151%2D024%2D01%2Ejpg%2C17%2D151%2D024%2D19%2Ejpg%2C17%2D151%2D024%2D17%2Ejpg%2C17%2D151%2D024%2D20%2Ejpg%2C17%2D151%2D024%2D21%2Ejpg&CurImage=17%2D151%2D024%2D21%2Ejpg&Description=SeaSonic+S12%2D500+ATX12V+500W+Power+Supply+%2D+Retail[/L

Wow, they can be removed! Thanks a lot for the tip!
Learn something new everyday...
 

homestarmy

Diamond Member
Apr 16, 2004
3,528
2
0
artwilbur.com
:)

Also, in some cases you can just plug it in without removing those four extra pins. They will just sit there next to the connector not contacting anything.