Is my psu trying to fail?

[Silversierra]

I am wondering how to tell if my psu is failing. I suspect that it may be dying because occasionally they case fans will slow or speed up slightly for no apparant reason (I can't see it, but they change pitch). I don't have any auto fan speed controller or anything, and my bios doesn't list voltages. Could this just be uneven current coming in from the power line, or is the power supply dying? Oh, it's a 200w psu, and it's in a 2yr old dell 2300.

 

[Uncle Bob]

it could be the psu, but equally it could just be the fan itself

if its a case fan, it be inclined to replace it anyway as 1) they're inexpensive and 2) if the motor or bearing is becoming defective it could be drawing more current that it should which could eventually lead to the psu failing anyway.

hth

 

[Silversierra]

Well, the fan is hooked up in an odd way. My cpu has a "passive" heatsink(just fins). The case fan has an air duct that makes it blow air through the passive cpu cooler. So if the fan dies, my cpu will fry. I don't know if this is a standard 80mm fan or not.

 

[tiap]

The fans nor the psu on these dells have been problematic. Start by replacing the fan with a double ball bearing one. They are cheap and you can always use it elsewhere down the road. then you can see if the psu is the problem and deal with that. I usually replace the case with 300watt psu to repair a dell rather than just another dell psu.

 

[Silversierra]

But is my psu/mobo standard? I've heard that some dells aren't. Like if i get a psu, and my mobo is nonstandard, then it could fry.

 

[Gravity]

Be careful if you replace your psu. Dell mb's are known to be proprietary. Plugging a standard psu into your board will KILL IT!!!

I'd add a UPS to your system or a line conditioner so you can eliminate power fluctuations.

BTW, I had a friend who ran his dell with the heatsink 1/2 off for about a year before he noticed it.

There was no obvious damage.

 

[cryptonomicon]

is it possible that the fans are on a thermistor and are temperatur controlled

 

[Silversierra]

I don't think they are controlled. It never did this before. Since it never did it before that *should eliminate some kind of controller. It also should eliminate line problems, unless something happened to the lines recently. I thought of putting a new mobo and psu in, but I'm not sure about the front panel connector and about reinstalling xp. If I switch boards, I will need to reinstall, but someone said my dell xp cd isn't a full xp version and can only be used on dell mobos. Is that true? If it is, then I'd need to get xp too ~$100 more. It starts to add up once you add a psu, mobo, xp, ram, gpu.

 

[cryptonomicon]

there is a way to get around the vendor-specific install. well, not really... but it somehow detects the hardware and only allows install if you use the same mobo. so... you have to install it using the same mobo. but after that you can swap it out to your new rig and and you're cool.

i used to do this alot with my old K62 system and HP windows 98 disc, even though I had a 1.2 thunderbird and A7V.. lol

 

[Silversierra]

So I could leave xp the way it is and just switch mobos? What happens when I want to reinstall in a few months? Have to put old mobo back in? What about using a ghost image to reinstall?

 

[Silversierra]

Can I?