www.talkcyprus.org

[erolz]

Just had another PC power supply burn out on me :(

This is my third in about as many years. I use a UPS and I am not talking 'cheap' unbranded power supplies but high quality expensive ones from the likes of Zalman and Akasa !

I really can not work out what is going on here? If I were not using a UPS then power surges would be the obivous culprit, expecially given the 'quality and consistency' of the mains power here. However that is exactly what the UPS is suposed to protect me from. The only thing I can think of is it is purely dust build up/heat related. I have to say the dust here is pretty incredible. I guess I may have to insitute a 3 month 'clean down' of the entire PC and pwoer supply and see if I can get a power supply to last more than a year, before burning out.

Very annoying !

[boomerang]

Erol what is the Power rating of your Power supply?

The usuall trick in Australia is to badge a 150W or 200W power supply with a 350W or even 400W sticker...Also the safety standards, like UL, on the sticker could also be fake...We see this a lot down under.

This could also be the case with the power supplies you bought.

[erolz]

boomerang wrote: Erol what is the Power rating of your Power supply?

The usuall trick in Australia is to badge a 150W or 200W power supply with a 350W or even 400W sticker...Also the safety standards, like UL, on the sticker could also be fake...We see this a lot down under.

This could also be the case with the power supplies you bought.

The rating of the various failed power supplies has been a min of 350W going upto 460W in some cases.

They were all bought in the UK from 'reputable' dealers. QActualy from these people.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Zalman_psu.html

(the 400w version) was one of the PSU's to go down on me.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Akasa_PSU.html

Is the latest one to have failed on me. Its been in my machine less than a year now.

I am now back up and running using my 'emergency spare' PSU (which I have learnt to carry), which is a generic 300W PSU that came with a case. I doubt the PSU above that have failed were 'fake' - though I guess its always possible.

[boomerang]

Erol as soon as you mentioned 350W and 460W the chances are they are fakes...a 400W and above Power supply is very heavy...ANd very expensive...The price from the factories for a real 400W and above will set you more than US$50-US$75...

Also check the brand of the Power supply on the net...Also pull it apart and see if there are any safety standards...Ask someone to help you, or take a picture and post it on the so I can have a look...

I never had a power supply go down on me...Even though I might enjoy the experience :lol:

[erolz]

Here is a piccie of my 3 previous failed PSU + my main PC with the 'emergency backup' PSU in it.

http://www.visionmatters.co.uk/cyprus/psudown.JPG

I did this before your last post btw boomer. Will try and get you some shots as you request.

Like I say these were not cheap power supplies. They were from 'major' manufacturers like Zalman and bought from reputable UK companies. I spent £40 -60 on each one (about $80-100) which matches with your 'wholesale' prices.

Its just getting very annoying. It's a 'horrible moment' when you come into the room and the PC is dead. Still having said that if a compent is going to fail then I guess I would prefer PSU to something like processor, or memory or the like (I dont carry spares of these generally for a start and they harder to diagnose, without a proper 'lab').

[erolz]

Here is a picciy of the 'label' on the just failed Akasa 460w PSU - less than year old

http://www.visionmatters.co.uk/cyprus/psu1.JPG

and one of the insides of said PSU

http://www.visionmatters.co.uk/cyprus/psu2.JPG

[erolz]

I probably should add that I do 'work' my PC/PSU pretty hard, in the sense that I run my PC 24/7. Even so though I would not expect the lifespan of a £50+ Akasa 460W PSU to be less than a year !

[depurple]

Erolz the biggest problem we have in Australia is power surges: Get a very expensive power surge protection board Fortron in the USA make a good one: Since I have put one on mine it has been great: You can also get power surges from the Phone cable:
cheers

[erolz]

depurple wrote: Erolz the biggest problem we have in Australia is power surges: Get a very expensive power surge protection board Fortron in the USA make a good one: Since I have put one on mine it has been great: You can also get power surges from the Phone cable:
cheers

We have terrible problems with the power supply here (vs say the UK), with surges and brown outs (voltages dropping below accetable limits) a very common problem. I have a 1000W UPS - which contains surge protectors as well as battery back up for power loss and 'low volatage' senarios. My personal advice to PC users in the north is that you should not run a PC here without a decent UPS to protect you from these things.

I do not think my PSU problems are power surge related. Firstly because I have the UPS specifically to 'iron out' power fluctuations before the power even gets into the PSU. Secondly in my expereince of PC's that have suffered from power surges here, without protection of a surge protector or UPS, is that in every case some or many of the PC compinents have been damaged as well as the PSU. Basically if a surge of sufficent strength to take out a PC PSU hits your PC, then it would be next to a mircale for that not to also cause damage to the much more voltage sensative compents like the MB, memory and processor.

On a tangential note to PC users that use dial up in north cyprus, if you have surge protection or UPS protection, you need to make sure that the phone line into the PC is also protected, as lightning strikes on the overhead external phone lines here in the North are not uncommon, and you can have all the power based protection in the world, but if you get 50,000 volts comming into your PC via a phone line connection, then you are going to be in trouble. At best your modem will be destroyed. At worse you modem,MB, memory and processor will all be destroyed. Personally I do not have this issue as I use 2 way sat connection for my internet access, and so far (touch wood) lighting has not hit my dish.

[Crash Test Dummy]

EZ if its less than a year old your covered by the waranty.
EZ have a look at these.


OFFICIAL NAME: CPU Idle

SUBJECT: Processor cooling program

DESCRIPTION/PURPOSE:
when your PC is idle, it still carries out the FETCH-EXECUTE-CYCLE but with this program it stops this, thus reducing the temp of ur pc CONSIDERABLY... mine use to idle at 55 but now its more lik 42-44 by using this program - increases life expectancy of ur cpu without you even know its there...no performance decrease. Very good




OFFICIAL NAME: Speedfan

SUBJECT: computer monitoring

DESCRIPTION/PURPOSE: monitors your computer, gives you all temps/voltage and can alter clock settings

[erolz]

Crash Test Dummy wrote: EZ if its less than a year old your covered by the waranty.

I may well still be covered by warranty (though not definately so - many warranties are for 90 days on certain elements of goods). However the practicalites and cost and time delays involved of sending the item back to either the retalier (UK) or the manufacturer, from here in North Cyprus make this less that pratical :(

Crash Test Dummy wrote:
EZ have a look at these.


Thanks for those Crash. I already monitor my MB and processor temparatures as well as other things like fan speed and voltages being delivered. If my problem are heat related, then they are problems of heat build up in the PSU and not the processor or MB (I would be warned of any dangerous heat build on these components).

I would also say (and especially if you use an AMD processor and not an Intel one) that a PC that is idling at a processor temp of 55 dgrees, needs improved processor cooling imo. 55 is pretty high, especially if ambient temperatures are low. At this time of year my PC processor idles at around 35 degrees and this without disabling anything via software.

[Crash Test Dummy]

EZ have you ever tried a water cooled system?

[erolz]

Crash Test Dummy wrote: EZ have you ever tried a water cooled system?

I have come very close several times, but always bottled out. For me the point of moving to water cooling would be to reduce noise levels of my PC.

I have come close to buying this several times
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_copy_of_Others.html

but in the end managed to find a reasoable compromise between cooling performance and noise levels without having to go for water based cooling - which is a cheaper and less 'dangerous' solution.

[Crash Test Dummy]

erolz wrote: Crash Test Dummy wrote: EZ have you ever tried a water cooled system?

I have come very close several times, but always bottled out.


:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[respiridus]

Erolz, I had a similar problem with a customer. Had 3 PCs in the same room, and every couple of months the power supply and/or motherboard would burn. The problem insisted, even after changing his power supplies to 420W ones. Finally, I suggested that he installed 700W power supplies for each PC. That helped a bit, but after about 4 months, we had another burned motherboard. I gave it the benefit of the doubt (perhaps the problem originated before the power supply / UPS change), but this does make you wonder about the quality of some UPSs out there...

Also, regarding phone lines: Even if your telephone network is protected against lightning (as it is in the south), it doesn't mean that your modem won't get a high voltage surge if your neighborhood is struck by lightning, since the (iron) telephone box that is attached to your outer wall is grounded using the same wiring that grounds your electrical supply. A friend of mine had one such experience: Both his power supply and modem were destroyed.