Is my PSU dying a slow death? Is my hardware in danger?

[MrBurns]

First i have to say, thast i am from Austria (Europe) and so my English maybe isnt perfect.


Since a few months I have the following problem:

It often happens, that i cannot turn on my PC anymore, but wqhen i switch the PSU-switch off and on a few times (I leave it urned off for at least 10 seconds), it works again in most cases, but sometimes I even have to turn the edgeboard connector off an on.

First i didnt worry much about this, but once there was a strange smell when this happened. But the PC still booted normal.

Also the PSU only makes problems when i turn it on: I dont really have any random crashes and the voltages are also quite constant (I monitor them w/ CPUCool).


Now my questions:

Could it be, that the PSU is dying slowly? If yes, could my hardware be in danger?

Should I RMA the PSU, if there is still a warranty? if there is no warranty anymore, should I get a new one?


I can exlude the edgeboard connector as reason for the failure. I am now trying another cable. It worked for the last 3 boots, bit this doesnt mean a lot.


My PSU is the Chieftech HPC-360-202 (360W).

For Infos about my PSU see here


Thanks in advance.


Btw, if someone doesnt know what I mean by an edgeboard connector:I found this word in an online dictonary for the German work Steckerleiste, which is something like this:

http://members.chello.at/edith.matuskovics/Steckerleiste.jpg

 

[SickBeast]

First of all, a PSU will usually die an instant death as opposed to a "slow death".

Second, by switching the PSU off and on like that, you are probably causing your motherboard to reset itself. Is your computer overclocked?

Third, you are using a very cheap PSU. It would be worth it for you to buy something made by Enermax or Antec.

Fourth, yes, your hardware is in danger.

 

[Quasmo]

I believe the word you are looking for is "Surge Protecter" Protection from surges of lightning.

 

[MrBurns]

Originally posted by: SickBeastSecond, by switching the PSU off and on like that, you are probably causing your motherboard to reset itself. Is your computer overclocked?

Third, you are using a very cheap PSU. It would be worth it for you to buy something made by Enermax or Antec.

@ second: I have it overclocked most of the time, but not allways and it doesnt make any difference.

@Third: My PSU is cheap, but it is not bad and it has always dilevered enough power for my. i only have one HDD in my system and my GPU is a GeForce 4 Ti 4600. If you want to know more about my system look at the link in my sig.

Originally posted by: QuasmoI believe the word you are looking for is "Surge Protecter" Protection from surges of lightning.

Yes, it can protect from surges of lightning.

 

[SickBeast]

Dude, buy a new PSU. If you smelled burning it's a very bad sign for the PSU.

 

[mechBgon]

Here is another thing to check: because your Volcano 7+ is not assembled at the manufacturer, it is possible to accidentally assemble the Volcano 7+ with the clip 180° reversed in the heatsink, so that the fulcrum of the clip is not above the core of the CPU.

It's easy to see if this has happened. On your EPoX 8RDA+, the end of the Volcano's clip that accepts a screwdriver should face the top edge of the 8RDA+. If the screwdriver end of the clip faces downwards, then it is 180° reversed (or perhaps the whole heatsink is 180° reversed, like the one in the fourth photo here)

Good luck and if there is any doubt about your power supply, then replacing it is an affordable safeguard.

 

[MrBurns]

I am sure, that the cpu-heatsink is installed the right way on my system: my cpu-temp normlly gets never over 50°C. I didnt check it, because I would have to take things out (like the Graphics card and the hdd) to see it.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Dude, buy a new PSU. If you smelled burning it's a very bad sign for the PSU.

Exactly, and the PSU is a dangerous thing if its damaged as i think its the only thing in a comp that can kill you. Its safer to have a healthy strong PSU

 

[MrBurns]

Originally posted by: Soviet

Originally posted by: SickBeast
Dude, buy a new PSU. If you smelled burning it's a very bad sign for the PSU.

Exactly, and the PSU is a dangerous thing if its damaged as i think its the only thing in a comp that can kill you. Its safer to have a healthy strong PSU

Yes, it could kill you, but in 99% off all cases you survive 230V, which is the net voltage in my area.

 

[Bassyhead]

strange smell = baaaad

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yeah, if anything in a PC lets out the "magic smoke", or makes a strange, subtle, single "popping" sound, then that's bad. In the case of the smoke, if the computer is still running, I shut it down immediately (or just power-off, if the drive isn't currently running, and I don't have anything of critical importance to save), and then take the case off immediately and sniff around, to try to determine generally which component has had an issue, so that I can isolate it from the rest of the system and diagnose it. Generally, if that thing is the PSU, then I won't use it on a "real" rig anymore, who knows what it could kill when it goes out completely. If it's a HD, I would back up everything immediately, using a secondary system. If it were a mobo, I would move my HDs to another, known-good system, as I could corrupt my data by using it further on a failed mobo. Then I would setup that mobo using a test install and run some thorough diagnostics on it. If the CPU went.. well, generally it wouldn't power-on any more. Testing a bad CPU or mobo is a tricky situation, as if it was damaged, it could theoretically kill whatever matching part it was plugged into. So take great care in that case, and don't risk anything too expensive to test a potentially-flaky part.

I've had mobos fail (popping noise!), RAM fail, HDs fail (magic smoke!), CRTs fail (zapping noises! magic smoke!), and most certainly PSUs fail (magic smoke! charred, blackened, leaky caps inside too!). Work with enough computer components, and they will all fail eventually. Either that, or they become working paperweights, either way.

The first rule of computing - Don't forget to backup your data regularly

 

[MrBurns]

there was no smoke, just a strange smell.

the problem occured again althought i changed the power cable, so i can exclude the power cable as reason for the problem.