2 power supplies in 2 days

Hi,

On saturday, my power supply died, no warning, just powered off and died. After some testing, I replaced it with a cheap spare i had lying around, and it worked fine for about 3-4 hours untill i started to smell burning plastic, i poweded down the computer quickly, and let it cool, a few mins later i tryed to power up and got nothing.
I opened up the new power supply (I was VERRY carefull and fully discharged it first) and what looks like it was once a cappacitor or a resistor was burnt to a cinder (12V was writen beside it).
When I attempt to power it up with either power supply, all usb devices seem to power up and the fans try to spin for a moment.

Thanks for reading and if you have any idea what could be causing this, please let me know soon as possible as i need this computer for work and am basicaly unemployed without it.

Thanks in advance.
Kris.

PC specs:

amd 2800
1.5g ram
geforce 5900 (i think)
230g hdd
1 cd writer
1 dvd writer

 

If they were cheap power supplies, it could very well be a problem in your case (I've witnessed cheap PSU's die instantly under load from a powerful machine).

Check for grounding in your case, especially between the motherboard and the case, though usually nothing will power on in that case.

Of course, the problem could me much bigger, and be an electrical problem with your house (unless perhaps you have a nice UPS powering the computer?). That could be very dangerous, so I would look into that regardless. Could even been a faulty circuit breaker.

In any case, when you solve the issue, a nice PSU is essential for a nice computer. You can get great PSU's for under $60, and they will last 5+ years. I have a PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510w PSU that I bought in 2002 thats still running strong.

 

the first one was a £27 ($50?) 450w, and the second was a £5 ($8?) 300w, im considering buying a more powerfull power supply however i dont wana fork out £50+ only to have it catch fire 2 hours later :/

i have no idea how much power my machine uses however when i bought the second one, the guy assured me that it would be more than enough for my system.

and i have just noticed that the extension lead i use is about 10 years old and looking rather shabby.

Thanks.
Kris.

 

I agree with In Years To Come, ask around to see if there have been power surges lately, especially if you have not got a surge protector.

 

thanks guys, I'll check with my local geeks for recent surges, and then invest in a surge protector and decent power supply, but does anyone know what the minimum wattage I should get for my rig?

 

it definetly could be issues with your extension cord, get that replaced ASAP Also, next time you get the system up and running for a few minutes, power off, unplug from the wall, and feel the motherboard, especially near the screws that secure it. If it feels hot to the touch, there is a grounding issue, though in most cases that would cause reboots or failure to power on.

Here is a PSU calculator http://www.journeysystems.com/?powercalc

 

my vote goes for the thermaltake tr2; only $40 but its awesome, over 1000 reviews on newegg, 5 stars/eggs. ive had mine for about a year and it powers my rig flawlessly (check my sig for specs) It's 430W, should be plenty for your rig