Trying to diagnose what caused my PC to die

[BBock727]

Today I was playing Witcher 2 and all of a sudden my PC made a noise as if the power went out. After that I could not turn the PC on and it seems the motherboard is not getting power. Any ideas what it could be? The power supply seemed hot to me, but I usually don't touch it after gaming.

Could it be possible that my power supply died? If it died would it make a noise like the power went out? I'm trying to figure out how I could possibly troubleshoot w/o having a spare powersupply. I appreciate any help you give me. Thanks

 

[Kenmitch]

Sounds like the power supply to me. Any smoke or funny smell?

 

[BBock727]

No smoke, I guess a FAINT burn smell. Everyone else agree thats what it is?

 

[pete1229]

Yes. thats exactly what it is, there are psu testers you can buy for a few bucks, but you may as well just put it towards a new psu.

 

[BoomerD]

Those cheap PSU testers don't do much "testing."

What brand/model/wattage was/is the PSU?

You can always do a quick PSU test with a paper clip and the 24 pin ATX connector. One end to the green wire, the other end to one of the black wires. It helps to have a fan connected to one of the 12v molex connectors since many PSU fans don't run unless the unit gets warm...however, this really only gives an indication of life in the 12v side of the unit...and it still may be toast...but it's a good and easy starting point.

 

[BBock727]

OCZ 600w stealthxstream or whatever it called. I just started an RMA, hopefully thats all that blew out

 

[pete1229]

Those cheap PSU testers don't do much "testing."

What brand/model/wattage was/is the PSU?

You can always do a quick PSU test with a paper clip and the 24 pin ATX connector. One end to the green wire, the other end to one of the black wires. It helps to have a fan connected to one of the 12v molex connectors since many PSU fans don't run unless the unit gets warm...however, this really only gives an indication of life in the 12v side of the unit...and it still may be toast...but it's a good and easy starting point.

A paper clip? Really? A tester will check each molex connector, each sata connector, the 4 and 8 pin connectors, the floppy connector as well as the 20/24 pin connector, connects to the tester and gives a reading on all the voltages associated with each connection. The one I use costs about 15 bucks. But then again a paper clip is so much more reliable I guess.

 

[Kenmitch]

A paper clip? Really? A tester will check each molex connector, each sata connector, the 4 and 8 pin connectors, the floppy connector as well as the 20/24 pin connector, connects to the tester and gives a reading on all the voltages associated with each connection. The one I use costs about 15 bucks. But then again a paper clip is so much more reliable I guess.

Paper clip test is more like a quick way to see if the power supply is dead and to eliminate the possibliliy that the mb isn't sending the signal to boot. More advanced testing of the power supply would require more than a paper clip as you already know.

 

[BoomerD]

A paper clip? Really? A tester will check each molex connector, each sata connector, the 4 and 8 pin connectors, the floppy connector as well as the 20/24 pin connector, connects to the tester and gives a reading on all the voltages associated with each connection. The one I use costs about 15 bucks. But then again a paper clip is so much more reliable I guess.

Iz you stoopid? Don't no how too reed two guud?

Like I said,

You can always do a quick PSU test with a paper clip and the 24 pin ATX connector. One end to the green wire, the other end to one of the black wires. It helps to have a fan connected to one of the 12v molex connectors since many PSU fans don't run unless the unit gets warm...however, this really only gives an indication of life in the 12v side of the unit...and it still may be toast...but it's a good and easy starting point.

Your little $15 tester doesn't test under load, so even with a successful test, you may still have a dying PSU...but, much like the paper-clip test, will give an indication of life in the unit.

You'll notice, I didn't claim that the paper-clip test will perform a full analytical test of all the various rails and connectors of the power supply, nor will it load the unit to it's rated capacity in a temperature controlled environment, it doesn't have an oscilloscope to measure any ripple...but it WILL test the 12 volt rail for basic signs of life...

 

[pete1229]

Relax boomer, I'm just saying a tester, any kind of tester will give a better indication of whats going on with a psu than a paper clip. If a psu is dead, it's dead, if it's going, then voltage irregularities indicated by the tester will certainly give you a clearer picture then a paper clip. It's that simple!

 

[BoomerD]

Relax boomer, I'm just saying a tester, any kind of tester will give a better indication of whats going on with a psu than a paper clip. If a psu is dead, it's dead, if it's going, then voltage irregularities indicated by the tester will certainly give you a clearer picture then a paper clip. It's that simple!

Pete, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but the quick paper-clip test will at least tell the OP whether the unit is totally dead or not.
MOST cheap PSU testers don't really tell you much, other than whether that particular portion of the rail is live or not. A dying PSU may test fine on one of those...then continue to fail under load. That's my only real problem with them. The test isn't under any sort of "realistic" conditions.

 

[BoomerD]

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=63991

In many cases, users doing troubleshooting have a situation where there is no apparent power to any portion of the system. They often wonder how they can test the PSU to see if it is working. Short of having a proper PSU tester, you can use this method to do a "quick n dirty" test to see if the PSU will spin up and power the 12v rails.

1. Disconnect the PSU from ALL components in the system.
2. Hook 1 or more cooling fans to the PSU to give it a load. (You can use other items such as HDs but, I recommend using something cheaper and less fragile like a fan)
3. Get a small piece of wire, paper clip, or suitable object and short the 2 pins illustrated below. The voltage present is a very low signaling voltage so no worries of being shocked.

The fans should spin right up. This is not a bullet proof test but, it will let you know if your PSU is powering up properly.