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Thread ID: 132671 2013-05-18 23:22:00 PSU recommendations? Tony (4941) Press F1
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1341881 2013-05-19 06:19:00 Swapping power and reset made no difference. If I swap PSUs, what is the minimum I have to connect to establish whether it is working or not? Is the 24-pin on the mobo enough, or is there more? Tony (4941)
1341882 2013-05-19 06:38:00 OK. It looks like the PSU. I connected just the 24-pin connector, and when I connected the suspect one to the known OK machine, it was dead. When I connected the known good PSU to the dead machine, it powered up the fans on the mobo.

That would seem pretty conclusive, I would think?
Tony (4941)
1341883 2013-05-19 07:11:00 Swapping power and reset made no difference. If I swap PSUs, what is the minimum I have to connect to establish whether it is working or not? Is the 24-pin on the mobo enough, or is there more?

The main 20 or 24 pin connector and any auxiliary power connectors (Near the CPU is usually an extra 4 or 8 pin connector)
Some boards (especially older nForce 4) also need extra power from one HDD power connector as well.

Obviously if you have a video card that has its own power connector you will need to attach that, too.


OK. It looks like the PSU. I connected just the 24-pin connector, and when I connected the suspect one to the known OK machine, it was dead. When I connected the known good PSU to the dead machine, it powered up the fans on the mobo.

That would seem pretty conclusive, I would think?

It does sound like it is the PSU, then, assuming the first machine could at least complete the POST successfully with the known good PSU.
Agent_24 (57)
1341884 2013-05-19 08:03:00 It does sound like it is the PSU, then, assuming the first machine could at least complete the POST successfully with the known good PSU.I didn't check whether it actually got through POST - I turned it off as soon as I saw the fans were running. I think the fact that with one PSU there was nothing and with the other there was something is enough to convince me the PSU is defunct.

Thanks everyone for the advice. All I have to do now is find a decent PSU at a reasonable price.
Tony (4941)
1341885 2013-05-19 08:10:00 If you're interested the reason for the extra testing is that the power on signal comes from the motherboard not directly from the power button so a fault in either the button, the wires, or the motherboard can act like a dead PSU.
Putting an earth on the green wire bypasses all that and just tells the PSU to power up.

Look at the wattage of your old PSU and go for a reasonable brand like the usual recommendations from here - corsair, seasonic, silverstone, antec, etc. You could go cooler master or thermaltake also but they are not as good and might not last the same or supply as much power as they claim. Stay away from the really cheap ones.
dugimodo (138)
1341886 2013-05-19 10:51:00 Thanks for that, and also for the advice about PSU brands. My current (dead) PSU wattage is 560w, so I was planning on looking at 600-700w, to give me a little headroom, although this one has coped with all the usual stuff plus 4 HDD - except of course it is now dead. :) Tony (4941)
1341887 2013-05-20 02:07:00 I didn't check whether it actually got through POST - I turned it off as soon as I saw the fans were running. I think the fact that with one PSU there was nothing and with the other there was something is enough to convince me the PSU is defunct.

I agree, and obviously you need a new PSU anyway - but the PSU could have failed in a way that damaged the motherboard, or even the other way around. If you didn't test that the machine passed POST with the good PSU, there is no guarantee that a new PSU will completely solve the problem.
Agent_24 (57)
1341888 2013-05-20 03:11:00 Well, I guess we'll find out when I get the new PSU :) - ordered from Ascent today and hopefully here tomorrow. This is what I ordered:

www.ascent.co.nz
Tony (4941)
1341889 2013-05-21 02:41:00 I ordered the PSU lunchtime Monday and it arrived 9:45 Tuesday - great service from Ascent, as usual. :thumbs:

All installed and working - which is a relief.

Thanks everyone for the help.
Tony (4941)
1341890 2013-05-21 03:16:00 Good choice. wratterus (105)
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