Possible PSU death?

[stinkynathan]

This all started when I killed the keyboard of my Logitech MX-DUO. Switched to a cheap gateway USB keyboard that my parents' had when I was back at their house a week back.

Fast-forward to now.... I got back to my house and I couldn't get the Gateway keyboard to bring the computer out of (what I thought was) sleep. Was forced to hard reboot to get the system active again.

It got so that the computer would boot to the login screen then I'd lose video. Jostled parts around a lot and got no different results. Attempted to reinstall Windows with a GF3 and old CRT and it reboots itself at the "Finalizing installation" portion of the install and attempts to restart the install after the reboot.

Hardware:
Antec Case
Antec SL350 PSU
Asus A7N8X mobo
XFX 6800 Dual-DVI
gig of Corsair VS memory
Socket A 3000+
two WD 40 gig drives
Sony DVD burner

Is it common to have the system reboot like this when the PSU is dying/dead? Thats the only thing I can think of thats wrong with it. Currently waiting for one of my room mates to get back from work so I can rob his PSU to verify. Any other ideas are definately welcome.

 

[Bobthelost]

Just grab a drink of water and wait for the PSU to turn up. You could check to see if it's a thermal problem, look for dust etc. Try again with the case open.

But the only way to tell is to try another PSU.

 

[stinkynathan]

Seems to be the PSU. My room mate showed up about 5 minutes after I made the first post. Swapped his PSU into mine (exact same unit, even) and was able to finish the windows installation. Also booted into Windows a few times just to make sure.

Luckily I have another room mate who is down at the nearest WorstBuy and is picking me up a new 430w Antec PSU. I can't really afford it, but I guess it's gotta get fixed some time.

 

[stinkynathan]

Got the new Truepower 430w PSU in. sure do wish I wouldn't have reformatted. Any one know any good data-recovery software that I can use to get the little bit of data back that I lost?