i37 broke my PC.

[Chazlene]

Yeah big problem lads, posting this from a different PC... was just about to upload my pics of i37 when my computer turned off. Won't turn back on, and there's a smell which seems to be coming from the PSU. Monitor and crap are still working so it's not the power strip that's the problem. I tried using a different power cord but that didn't work. Probably just that the PSU has fried somehow, coincidence it happened right after i37? Could being damaged in transit affect the power supply?

So got any other suggestions? Anyone have some sort of COMPUTER GUN that will make it AS GOOD AS NEW?

[Calneon]

If the smell comes from the PSU I guess that's the problem, it could have got knocked about a bit in transit, a bit unlucky if that's the case though. How old is it? You'll probably need to buy a new one, get a decent quality modular one for about £60-70 and it will last you a long time.

[VoX]

I'd put a bet on the PSU then, luckily it was after i37!

THIS (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-044-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098) PSU should easily be up for the job, it's modular, and cheap.

Changing a PSU can be hard, just plug in the cables on the new PSU straight after you plug in the ones from the old PSU so you can see what goes where and that should make the job a lot easier.

[Chazlene]

Cheers guys, hopefully the warranty hasn't expired if I need to get a new one. Any chance that the PSU being knackered would have broken anything else?

[Calneon]

THIS (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-044-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098) PSU should easily be up for the job, it's modular, and cheap.
That looks very suspect, very low price, very high wattage, and modular. I just screams, 'I'm made of cheap low quality components'. 800 watts for Chaz's PC is totally overkill anyway.

This (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-016-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084) would run your PC fine, however you would need to buy a new one if you wanted to upgrade any other components. This (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-017-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084) would also be fine but it isn't modular.

This Antec PSU (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-111-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088) would be fine too.

It might be worth spending a bit more on a higher wattage PSU so you don't have to buy a new one when you upgrade, in that case it might be worth buying the HX520 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084), I've had one for 2 years and it's currently running an i7 920 and GTX280 with no problems.. I've also heard good things about the PC Power & Cooling (ignore the generic name) PSU's, this one (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-001-PP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1104) in-particular would be a good buy.

Hope that helps if you need to buy a new one!

[VoX]

That's what I thought Phant, but OCZ are a good name.

The Antec Basiq Plus 550W is pretty much what you had, so should do fine.

[Calneon]

That's what I thought Phant, but OCZ are a good name.

Yes I know, they are not the best but are a decent brand, which is why it seems a little strange. If I was going to buy one from them i'd spend a bit more for better quality.

[VoX]

Well all the StealthStream and ModXtreme range are cheap as chips, the Z-Series are more expensive, and OcUK are the only people with stock of them, and they have a higher price than other PSUs.

Corsair 450W should be fine, but limited upgrades.

[Colonel Mitch]

I RECOMEND THIS:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/40547/Win-Power-PSU-450W-PFC-20---24-pin-8cm-fan-1-SATA

Insert slating below :D

[VoX]

*Face-palm*

[Calneon]

Haha Mitch.

[Trigger]

Dam, bad to hear. Somthings wrong with mine as well, apart from heat up loads its like 10x louder, im gonna check out the fans and stuff.

Probably find some random bits of crap in there

[Colonel Mitch]

I RECOMEND THIS:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/40547/Win-Power-PSU-450W-PFC-20---24-pin-8cm-fan-1-SATA

Insert slating below :D

I'm not joking...... Its like 500% cheaper FFS.......

[Calneon]

I'm not joking...... Its like 500% cheaper FFS.......
It's also made from cow turd.

[Colonel Mitch]

It's also made from cow turd.

And does exactly the same job as the more expensive one :P

Its not like chaz is ever gunna push it...

[Target]

Yeh lets be honest a hamster in a wheel could run a pc if it ran fast enough, you don't need a ridiculous psu unless your gunna overclock

[Chazlene]

Its not like chaz is ever gunna push it...

Ooh I don't know Mitch, who knows what I might do...

And probs don't want to go back down to a 450W, since my current is 500W. I'll have a look at the ones you suggested Phant and Vox, cheers for posting them.

[VoX]

That 450W has put out about 570W at load or so according to a review, and an E7200, 8800GT and a single HDD won't really push it.

A PSU calculator says you will use roughly 339W at 100% load, so I wouldn't worry about a 450W PSU being underpowered.

[Target]

lol I had a 450w and it died in my pc, u may aswell just get a 550 + because there not really anymore expensive unless you get a lol expensive one

[Calneon]

Wattage means shit when comparing PSUs.

A good quality (more efficient) 500 watt PSU will supply more power than a bad quality (read: cheap) 800 watt PSU. The cheaper PSU will also have more chance of dying and possibly taking out other components with it.

The PSU is the core of a system, and to be quite frank you'd have to be rather stupid (or careless) to buy a budget one for £10.

[Colonel Mitch]

Wattage means shit when comparing PSUs.

A good quality (more efficient) 500 watt PSU will supply more power than a bad quality (read: cheap) 800 watt PSU. The cheaper PSU will also have more chance of dying and possibly taking out other components with it.

The PSU is the core of a system, and to be quite frank you'd have to be rather stupid (or careless) to buy a budget one for £10.

Quite frankly :P You're wrong.

As ive said before ive build tens of pcs and all with budget psus and never had a single problem.

All 16 of the nest pcs, my server, my pc, 2 other pcs of mine, my parents pc, freddies pc, fr4eddies sisters pc, chrises pc, 3 of my dads friends and a couple of my other friends and NEVER had a problem with a cheap psu.

[Calneon]

Quite frankly :P You're wrong.

As ive said before ive build tens of pcs and all with budget psus and never had a single problem.

All 16 of the nest pcs, my server, my pc, 2 other pcs of mine, my parents pc, freddies pc, fr4eddies sisters pc, chrises pc, 3 of my dads friends and a couple of my other friends and NEVER had a problem with a cheap psu.
I swear we've had this argument before..

[Target]

And we always win as cheap stock psu's win unless you have a ridiculous powerful pc mega overclocked or you just dont buy one powerful enough for the job

[Colonel Mitch]

I swear we've had this argument before..

Indeed we have, also i forgot the several people I built pcs for at the nest as customers xD

[Lexity]

Bang! bang! bang! And the psu is gone!

[Colonel Mitch]

Bang! bang! bang! And the psu is gone!

The only PSU ive had go bang is the expensive 1 i bought for my pc before i31. It literally exploded.

[Chazlene]

This is worse than I thought guys... had an expert come round this morning who brought another PSU to test out, but that didn't work, so we can rule out the PSU being broken. We unplugged each component separately to see if it would then work... still no luck. So I guess I could narrow it down to the motherboard or processor being knackered, but can't be sure since we couldn't easily test those. What is weird though is when I try to turn it on having switched the power supply on and off, the fan on the CPU does spin for a second then stops... any more suggestions on what it could be?

I might have to end up trying to get my money back on the warranty for the motherboard, keeping the graphics card, hard-drive, etc. and buying some bundle or backbone with a motherboard and processor already in place.

[ez64]

With a dead processor the fans/mobo should still power up and run not just cut out.

Remove the Processor and ram and graphics card then bootup again and see if the fans stay on.

[Colonel Mitch]

With a dead processor the fans/mobo should still power up and run not just cut out.

Remove the Processor and ram and graphics card then bootup again and see if the fans stay on.

/agree

If that doesnt work try removing every component (including button cables) from the board, plug in only the 20+4 pin power conenctor and use a screwdriver to jump the on terminal.

If it still doesnt stay on then the boards fubar'd.

[VoX]

Well you are in luck that Asus boards have a 3 year warranty, as long as you can be definite the board is kaput, then you can get yourself another P5Q for free (You may have to pay shipping though, and with Asus that's near Japan somewhere afaik :()

[Colonel Mitch]

Well you are in luck that Asus boards have a 3 year warranty, as long as you can be definite the board is kaput, then you can get yourself another P5Q for free (You may have to pay shipping though, and with Asus that's near Japan somewhere afaik :()

Who'd you but it off?

Microdirect are ledgends when it comes to returns if it was them :)

[Paper Tiger]

That really sucks, Chaz.

Hope you get it sorted soon!

As for people PC being different after i37, mine runs slightly louder, but to me, it sounds like a wire has been moved onto a fan in transit XD I will have to check it out though.

[VoX]

Mine suffered minor damage in the form of a dent in the case :p.

Other than that, all seems well :D.





Mitch - As Chalex sorted a lot of the stuff out, I'm assuming OverClockers or Scan, and I know OcUK are good for returns and RMA's, not heard anything or had to use Scans procedure.

[Midge]

Scan tend to have a 1 year warranty on all their products, or atleast mine did when my PSU exploded. I went through the manufacturer anyway, seeing as they had 3 year warranty and it was close to that.

[Colonel Mitch]

Mine suffered minor damage in the form of a dent in the case :p.

Other than that, all seems well :D.





Mitch - As Chalex sorted a lot of the stuff out, I'm assuming OverClockers or Scan, and I know OcUK are good for returns and RMA's, not heard anything or had to use Scans procedure.

Scan have done rmas on both my gfx cards and psu, but they did resist about it and it took a few days of arguing by email.

[Chazlene]

Midge, you're back! Err... hello!

Anyway weird but good news everyone... we're back to how it was before, it is the PSU that's broken. The same guy came round earlier with another computer and a different power supply to try and test whether it was the CPU or mobo which was broken. However he tried running my motherboard off this different PSU and this time it worked... the other one he tried must've been coincidentally broken or not compatible with my computer.

So I'll get a new PSU tomorrow or whenever, don't really want to spend loads on some £60 modular one, trying to save for Uni, probs just get one similar to my current one.

[VoX]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-111-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088


That's more or less what you have atm.

[Colonel Mitch]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-111-AN&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1088


That's more or less what you have atm.

Yes it is, only his will be worth about £15 and exactly the same in every way, like this one http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Home/Product/3651/Win-Power-PSU-550W-20---24-pin-12cm-fan-SATA

[Chazlene]

Ok since I've been on holiday and stuff I haven't had much time to try and fix this, and now the problems get weirder and weirder... I bought a new power supply, 580W, had all the right cables and stuff, but still it didn't work.. when I unplugged the graphics card the motherboard and fans start up, bit it emits a constant, loud, high-pitched eeeeeeeee noise. Thing is though, that happens as well with my old power supply, so I didn't need to get a new one after all. So the mobo starts up with the GFX card unplugged, but if I physically take out the graphics card it doesn't start up at all. I have no idea what this high-pitched noise means... in the manual it doesn't say what it could be, only for 4 short beeps and stuff like that. Anyone got any ideas? Sort of getting desperate now... going to Uni on Tuesday which I kind of need it for.

[ez64]

3 short beeps means CPU is dead so thats good its not happening.

A long constant beep is just saying WTF ARE YOU DOING NOOB theres a missing peice of required hardware and I couldnt get past POST.

Run one stick of ram that you know is 100% working, then use a different graphics card the more basic the better. Then try and boot if it doesnt work the first time try the ram and in different slots and clear the BIOS.

It's looking more and more like dead graphics card to me, also if you have not already unplug the power and data cable from every CDROM/HDD device.

[Chazlene]

Cheers Ez, just found out that the same goes with the CD drive and Hard-drive as it does with the GFX card, if I plug them in to the power supply then it won't boot. I doubt all three can be broken... it's getting really confusing because the problems aren't always consistent, like sometimes it doesn't boot when it's just the mobo plugged in.

[ez64]

if it's really not consistent then it could be Mobo and if it's not booting with just basics+working gfx card it could be expensive if not inside warranty :(

[Colonel Mitch]

If it is the motherboard thats gone providing it hasnt takes your processor/ram with it if its not under warranty just replacing that souldnt bee too much, around £50 for an average board probably.