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Thread ID: 127301 2012-10-16 06:48:00 Power surge troubleshooting JMoore (9352) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1307134 2012-10-16 06:48:00 Right, so briefly (but foolishly) removed the surge protector from my PC setup and as Murphy's Law would have it, a power cut occurred that night. The PC now "turns on" when you flick the PSU switch (doesn't require the case switch to be pressed) and runs all fans etc but there is no display output to monitor and I suspect there may be an issue with the motherboard as it isn't beeping when powered up.

Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this?

Thanks in advance.
JMoore (9352)
1307135 2012-10-16 07:46:00 Try this --- Unplug the power cord completely from either the wall or from back of the PC (Don't just turn it off) leave it out for a while, say 5-10 minutes, then plug it back in, see if it boots up or not. wainuitech (129)
1307136 2012-10-16 08:01:00 Be prepared for the 'westom' troll to turn up, the words 'power surge' act like a magnet for his rantings. Terry Porritt (14)
1307137 2012-10-16 08:42:00 Be prepared for the 'westom' troll to turn up, the words 'power surge' act like a magnet for his rantings. LOL I Was thinking that same thing Terry -- have the fly swat at the ready :D wainuitech (129)
1307138 2012-10-16 08:46:00 No luck with disconnecting the PSU. Still turns on fans and some lights but no beep from motherboard and no video output...
Have tested PSU voltages and 5V and 12V rails are fine.
JMoore (9352)
1307139 2012-10-16 09:06:00 Right, so briefly (but foolishly) removed the surge protector from my PC setup and as Murphy's Law would have it, a power cut occurred that night.

Don't sweat it, a surge protector is pretty useless for power cuts because the time duration of a surge is many milliseconds long, in fact they are more of a spike suppressor and use just one or two MOVs (metal oxide varistors). It would be the disturbance that accompanied the outage that caused the problem and that may have consisted of several large and wide 'spikes' in quick succession complete with major voltage variations.

Best way to check the value of a surge suppressor is to drop it on your foot. If you end up hopping on one leg and telling God all about it, you have a useful device, but if all you get is a tap on the toe it is not worth plugging it back in. I custom-build special spike/surge suppressors for industry that will knock several hundred volts down to a few 10's of millivolts and do that for years. Drop one of those on your foot and you'll need to sit down pretty quickly.

Cheers

Billy 8-{)
Billy T (70)
1307140 2012-10-16 11:08:00 Haha cheers for that, maybe Murphy wasn't in play after all - but still doesn't help my lifeless computer unfortunately!

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
JMoore (9352)
1307141 2012-10-16 13:57:00 Have tested PSU voltages and 5V and 12V rails are fine.
Tested the 5 and 12 volt with what? Important are voltages on six wires using a multimeter. Do you have or can borrow that meter?
westom (16792)
1307142 2012-10-16 18:36:00 He is back!!! CliveM (6007)
1307143 2012-10-16 19:00:00 JMoore just to eliminate components, do you have another Power Supply to plug in and see if the same thing happens. wainuitech (129)
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