I think I just blew my power supply...

[Renegade23216]

I have this cheap Powmax power supply tester I got on eBay for a few bucks.

I was testing a power supply on a computer that won't give any video output, and the power supply tester gave a red DANGER light. This seemed strange.. since that PC was previously working fine.

I then took that same power supply tester and connected it to my other computer just to make sure the tester works right. Again. on my other computer, which was just working perfectly fine, it gave a red DANGER light.

NOW... the second computer won't boot after using the power supply tester. The monitor light stays orange... even though all the fans are spinning.What the heck just happened? Did this power supply tester blow my power supply?

The tester only takes 20 pins.. and my PSU has 20 + 4 pins. So I only connected the 20-pin portion to the tester, while all the other power supply cables were still connected to the PC.

Do you think my power supply just died? The monitor light stays orange, and the video card is seated properly.

 

[RebateMonger]

A properly-designed power supply won't be damaged by a defective power supply tester. Even a full short should cause the power supply to shut itself down before damage is done.

 

[Cutthroat]

Did you forget to plug something back in? Check all you connections again and make sure you didn't miss anything.

 

[Renegade23216]

Originally posted by: Cutthroat
Did you forget to plug something back in? Check all you connections again and make sure you didn't miss anything.

Everything is plugged in. Here's the situation in a nutshell.

Computer worked fine for 2-years... it has an expensive Fortron power supply...

Removed the 24-pin motherboard connector... put the 20 pin portion into my tester... it tested bad.. plugged it BACK into the motherboard, and now computer will not boot.

The only thing I did was test the power supply.. immediately after doing so, it no longer boots. I didn't touch any other connections, and verified that they're still plugged in.

What the heck???

Now I went from 1 broken PC to 2.

 

[robisbell]

so you have this machine and the gateway both had the tester plugged into it?

 

[Renegade23216]

Yes.

Update; I unplugged the power supply from motherboard and put it back in (for the third time)... and this time... it actually booted. So I guess I'm ok now.

 

[konradjohn]

The power suppy tester I have has an adapter for both 20 and 24 pin connectors. So it probably wasn't smart to plug it in with the wrong connectors.

 

[robisbell]

i'd have the tester checked, and buy a good one that supports 24 and 20 pin power.