Help ! My PC died suddenly. Could be the PSU, I guess. (It seems it is the 8800 GTS!)
:help:
Any ideas of what failed and / or any suggestions how to carry out troubleshooting / faultfinding will be appreciated.
This is going to be a real challenge for me.
It is so much easier to assemble a new rig then to try to locate and fix the fault in the existing system when it dies.
Please, see My System for the hardware details.
1. What happened
Last Sunday the machine worked as usual.
I did not do anything exciting or unusual with it.
I checked email, did some easy work on spreadsheets.
I switched the machine off via Windows in the usual way.
On Monday morning I wanted to check the weather forecast so I went and pressed the machine's main switch button.
Nothing happened. :shocked2:
I tried again.
The machine remained silent. :sleep:
2. Other symptoms
Only yesterday (Tuesday) evening I found few spare minutes to examine the PC in more detail.
This did not reveal much.
The "start-up" sequence runs as follows.
With the PSU switched on the mobo's LED is alight. A good sign, I suppose.
While, and soon after, pressing the ON button the following happens (it all lasts for c. 1s) :
- most (probably all) of the fans (system's via fan controller, CPU's) make a quick starting move and then they stop,
- several LEDs (on the system fans and within the fan controller) make a quick flash, NO RAM LEDs alight.
Then the system remains silent and the mobo LED goes off.
The boot up sequence does not initiate at all.
3. Recent upgrades
Only few upgrades were performed since the initial assembly and until the GPU upgrade in March this year (so c. 2 months ago).
These included added sound card and upgraded RAM in terms of both the size and speed.
Then in March I replaced the old Asus EN6600GT-TD 128MB with XFX GF 8800 GTS 640MB.
I was a bit concerned if my 600W PSU could cope with the extra load but a brief analysis suggested that it all should work fine.
And it did.
Until yesterday.
4. My best guess
By elimination, I think, the hard and optical drives must be OK as well as most other peripherals (e.g. the sound card).
If only they were faulty, the boot up sequence should initiate, I think.
Graphic card might be at fault but I would hope that the system should "kick off", possibly without producing any picture.
I feel that the PSU (Enermax Noisetaker EG701AX-VE 600W) or the mobo (Asus P5AD2-E Premium 925XE) are faulty.
I guess, either there is a short circuit somewhere or the PSU gave up with delay after the GPU upgrade.
I suspect that some sort of protection circuit in the PSU failed and it switches the PSU down soon after the load is applied.
These are all guesses.
5. My initial plan of action
I would start with testing the PSU but I am not certain how to do that most efficiently.
Testing not loaded PSUs may not reveal any faults, I suppose.
Any advice on testing PSUs, ideally without disassembling the entire rig, will be appreciated.
I do have a multimeter.
If it is the GPU that causes the overload then it might be worth putting the old 6600 (which I retained) and testing the system then.
Any other ideas will be appreciated. :secret:
Regards
Robert
Thanks for all the advice so far ...
True, I do not have another system to swap the parts with. Well, at least I cannot do that with either with Dell portable or the old Deskpro.
The soonest I can make a serious attempt of faultfinding is going to be over the coming bank holiday weekend (yes, I do not have any other plans, it is sad, isn' it?).
This gives me a couple of days to get ready and to get necessary hardware.
It is sad again but I will not be able to borrow a PSU, I think.
I am the only quasi-PC-maniac around that I know. The PSU in Deskpro is a joke, c. 200W so I cannot use it. If I buy a c. 350W one just to find out that it is a PSU indeed then this would not be a wise buy. Then if I buy a modern 1000W monster and it turns out that this is the faulty mobo ... then I could still use it for the new rig ! Hmmm ... I need to think about it ...
Antec ATX Power Supply Tester
Have anybody used that device ?
Is it worth getting one in my case ?
£10.30 + P&P from Ebuyer Antec ATX Power Supply Tester
Reviews sound "promising" ... well, at least this appears to be a cheaper option than buying a new PSU straightaway.
What do you think ?
News and a couple of final questions ...
Here is the update and a couple of further questions.
At last yesterday afternoon I found some time to carry out some testing.
I have a mixed bag of news to report.
I think I managed to isolate the fault - it seems that the XFX GF 8800 GTS 640MB is triggering the PSU's protection to kick in. :surprised:
It seems that the PSU is fine. :)
Luckily the mobo and the CPU are OK too so my RAID0 arrays survived intact. :)
How I tested.
At the end I did not use the PSU tester but I followed the advice given in this thread (many thanks to everybody). :bowdown:
I disconnected the mobo, the 8800 GTS and the CPU from the PSU leaving all other components connected to power.
I shorted the PS_ON pin of the PSU's mobo plug to GND.
The PSU started, both the system and the PSU fans started, the HDs made the spin too.
I measured all the voltages on the PSU's mobo, CPU and GPU plugs.
All the voltages were fine including the 12V on both rails (but under lower load, of course).
I removed the shorting from the PS_ON pin, the PSU went into standby with its fans still running and then I powered the PSU down.
Then I connected everything back and tested again finding that the fault was back.
I repeated the whole procedure again to confirm my findings.
Next I removed the 8800 GTS leaving all other components including the mobo and the CPU connected to the PSU.
I pressed the ON button and … the system started !
I did not allow it to boot up without the GPU so I powered the PSU down.
I replaced the 8800 GTS with the old Asus 6600 and powered the system up.
The system started up as normal. :rolleyes:
I loaded correct drivers and the system is working again. :rockon2:
What should I do next ?
I am still not 100% certain if the 8800 GTS failed or if the PSU's protection circuits developed a fault.
What do you think ?
The PSU appears to be working as normal now while I have no other rig to test the 8800 GTS.
Anyway even if I had another rig then I would be a bit apprehensive to slot the faulty 8800 GTS into it
in case the other mobo / CPU / PSU combo could not handle the faulty card in the same safe way as the original rig. :crazy:
What would you recommend to do ?
Shall I return the 8800 GTS to the retailer ? :help:
The card is a bit expensive so I do not want to leave the issue just like that.
Your advice will be appreciated.
Robert