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Power Supply Overheating?

O

Odoacer

Senior member
I'm concerned my power supply may be overheating due to dust or something. My computer will shut down randomly and I have to unplug it at both ends to get it to turn back on. The thing is, the female connector of the PS cable is a lot hotter than it should be. I recently cleaned out a ton of dust from the inside of my case and cpu fan/heatsink. Should I do the same for my power supply? Or do I have another problem entirely?
 
Definitely clean the dust from your PSU (compressed air from a distance, not shoved into the slots - You don't want to damage anything inside) could get some out, or you could open it up (unplugged, of course), and just blow on it outside.

Another possibility is that you have some instabilities in the current flow, or even not a powerful enough PSU for your needs.

What do you have plugged into it and what wattage is it?
 
Well... Dust in the supply will make it run hot. I don't think that would affect the temp of the plug though. Spare supplies are cheap, you can get a decent one for 40-50 bucks if not cheaper to use as a test against the one in the system already. Unless your box is loaded to the gills, you can get a 300watt name brand that will do the job just fine.
 
Yeah, the reason I thought it was dust is cause I haven't added anything to my box in about 2 years and this only started a few months ago... Before it'd crash only once every couple of weeks but now it'll crash a couple times a day if I leave the computer on too long. I tried to put my hand to the back of the case after my most recent shutdown, and I could feel the ambient heat from the metal 4 or 5 inches away.

it could be going bad, I guess... It's about a 350W (i think) with a comparatively light loadout - the only thing I have plugged in is my video card and 2 IDE devices (a hard drive and DVD-ROM). The NIC, sound, etc is onboard (ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 1.4)
 
Originally posted by: Odoacer
Yeah, the reason I thought it was dust is cause I haven't added anything to my box in about 2 years and this only started a few months ago... Before it'd crash only once every couple of weeks but now it'll crash a couple times a day if I leave the computer on too long. I tried to put my hand to the back of the case after my most recent shutdown, and I could feel the ambient heat from the metal 4 or 5 inches away.

it could be going bad, I guess... It's about a 350W (i think) with a comparatively light loadout - the only thing I have plugged in is my video card and 2 IDE devices (a hard drive and DVD-ROM). The NIC, sound, etc is onboard (ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 1.4)
Click to expand...

Have you blown out the PSU yet.? If at all possible take it out and pull the cover off it to really get in there... Use canned air. DO NOT/BE CAREFUL no to touch the circuit board with your bare hands. It's generally low risk but sometimes even an unplugged supply can zap you....(high voltage and low amps-only a death risk if you have a bad heart or do it while driving. ) given the fact that you think your PSU may be flaky... just be careful.

Considering that you don't have too much loaded up in that system a 300watt supply is more than plenty if you get a new one. It will also give you room to grow but if you want to cheap out on a new one then a 250 watt would run your box just as well.

So--did you blow it out>?
 
Yeah, I blew it out (with my mouth). I didn't have canned air, but then again there wasn't really at all that much dust inside as I thought there would be (aside from the grilles, fan and stuff). I plugged it in again and I think it actually got hot faster this time.

So yeah, I just went out and bought a new 300watter today. So far so good. Thanks for all the input, guys... I'm pretty sure it was ready to blow up sometime soon.

Would it still be safe to use the old one on an intermittent basis with a even lower-end scrap parts server I'm planning on building to test out Linux and stuff?
 
Originally posted by: Odoacer
Yeah, I blew it out (with my mouth). I didn't have canned air, but then again there wasn't really at all that much dust inside as I thought there would be (aside from the grilles, fan and stuff). I plugged it in again and I think it actually got hot faster this time.

So yeah, I just went out and bought a new 300watter today. So far so good. Thanks for all the input, guys... I'm pretty sure it was ready to blow up sometime soon.

Would it still be safe to use the old one on an intermittent basis with a even lower-end scrap parts server I'm planning on building to test out Linux and stuff?
Click to expand...


As long as they are scrap parts and your not going to leave it running long periods.... If you are just messing around with Linux then go for it. Do get some canned air though. 🙂

 
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