PSU died?

[cowdog]

Antec TruePower 430

I setup my system and it was working, although I did notice that sometimes case fans would work and sometimes they wouldn't. Then my system wouldn't power up at all. Then it powered up and seemed to work. Now it won't power up at all. I then tried to test if this PSU was bad by trying to power my old computer with it. On this old Dell, I only connected the mobo 20 pin and 6 pin aux. I didn't connect anything else. I figured I would at least get the PSU to power up and then quickly shut it off. Nothing. Was my PSU test flawed, or does it seem I right in thinking the PSU has deep sixed? I suppose the only other option is that my mobo has bit it, but given the erratic behavior and my little test, I am thinking it is the PSU, at the minimum. Does my logic hold water? Thanks.

Geez. Just when it was all going so well.

 

[mechBgon]

Many Dell computers use a custom non-standard pinout for their motherboard's 20-pin connector. Another person recently mentioned killing his standard ATX power supply by plugging it into a Dell board here Curiosity killed the Snail.

Incidentally, if the case fans sometimes wouldn't work initially, what kind were they? If they were variable-RPM fans (thermally-regulated or manually-regulated) and you powered them from the Fan-Only plugs on the PSU, that might happen due to inadequate voltage (two thermal regulators, one on the fan and one in the PSU, both cutting down the voltage to the fan's motor to the point where it wouldn't turn, which can create an overcurrent situation... not good).

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Incidentally, if the case fans sometimes wouldn't work initially, what kind were they? If they were variable-RPM fans (thermally-regulated or manually-regulated) and you powered them from the Fan-Only plugs on the PSU, that might happen due to inadequate voltage (two thermal regulators, one on the fan and one in the PSU, both cutting down the voltage to the fan's motor to the point where it wouldn't turn, which can create an overcurrent situation... not good).

Out of curiousity, how would you avoid or solve a problem such as that? I'm going to build my own computer for the first time soon and I would like to avoid a snag like this undercurrent.

 

[mechBgon]

Research the products a bit, if you have time. For instance, the fan issue I mentioned here is something Antec talks about in the documentation for their TruePower PSU's. I often find the answers to peoples' motherboard problems by downloading the motherboard's manual from the manufacturer and (gasp!) reading it. Searching the Forums with the Search function will bring up lots of dirt on stuff, particularly motherboards, so you know what issues you might face, and can look at trends.

If you get a prospective system together and post a "Thinking about building this rig, any pointers?" thread here in General Hardware, you will probably get helpful comments on how to optomize your spending and maybe some tips from present owners of the stuff.

If you meant, how to avoid the fan problem in particular, just don't power any variable-rpm fans from the special Fan-Only connectors on the Antec TruePower PSU. Use one of the PSU's standard 4-pin connectors, or power the fan from the motherboard (some motherboards dislike low-RPM/variable-RPM fans and won't POST, however). If the fan is a three-pin fan then your options are to power from the motherboard's 3-pin headers, or use a 3-pin-to-4-pin adapter to power them from the PSU's standard 4-pin power connectors.

 

[cowdog]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Many Dell computers use a custom non-standard pinout for their motherboard's 20-pin connector. Another person recently mentioned killing his standard ATX power supply by plugging it into a Dell board here Curiosity killed the Snail.

Incidentally, if the case fans sometimes wouldn't work initially, what kind were they? If they were variable-RPM fans (thermally-regulated or manually-regulated) and you powered them from the Fan-Only plugs on the PSU, that might happen due to inadequate voltage (two thermal regulators, one on the fan and one in the PSU, both cutting down the voltage to the fan's motor to the point where it wouldn't turn, which can create an overcurrent situation... not good).

The case fans sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. They are Adda fans in a Lian-Li case. There is a low-med-high switch that controls the front two fans - no heat control that I am aware of. I didn't have the rear or top fan connected to that switch. At times, all 4 fans wouldn't work, others time all worked, one time only one worked. Most of the time all worked. BTW, I did not have the fans attached to the Antec "fan" conntectors. Given that I wanted to OC my system, I wanted all fans pushing all the air possible. I thought I might try those fan plugs later for noise control, but I hadn''t reached that point yet. I am one of those weird people who read manuals in detail before starting a technical project.

Well, even if the the PSU wasn't dead (yet), I doubt it died from the old Dell experiment. Nothing happened at all. I would expect that something noticable would have happened? A momentary light or sound or something? The strangest part to me was how my system would power up one time, and then not the next, only to power up the next time. Then it went down for good. Nothing changed system-wise between those events except for some zip ties to tidy up. I have reconnected and reseated everything, thinking something came loose or something. No lights on the mobo -- zippo anything. Once it was obvious that nothing was going to happen, I disassembled and setup outside the case. Still nothing. All I know for sure is that my speedy new computer is mightly slow sitting there dead on the desktop.

I suppose I can try to borrow a PSU from the university IT department to test the system. They are usually ather helpful and hands off esp. if they think I'm testing my campus office computer. If the PSU flaked out, that's one thing. It's new, and nothing ships 100% no-fail. If the mobo (or more) died, that would leave me puzzled as to why. Grrr. I have an email into Antec support, and I'll see what they say. Thanks for the response.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, sounds like something weird was going on with the PSU. Hopefully they'll make good on it. Did you email their RMA department? That's who I'd try. Their customer-service email reply is slow.