PowerCool 550W PSU fan noise/ no spin :help:

[Spartan-047]

I bought a PowerCool 550W PSU from Scan nearly a year ago (was this one , and only a few weeks ago the PSU fan decided to not spin while the PC is turned on, and now starts to make this annoying whine/squeal, even when the PC is sitting idle while powered on.

Sparkle GTS 250 Low Profile
AMD Athlon II X2 250 (stock speed)

My PSU should be more than capable enough to power these parts (plus the rest of my computer, given they draw in relatively low amounts of electricity), so i don't see why my PSu should be straining.

Although that said, I did for a brief period of time try to overclock my CPU/ GPU, but even then my CPU was only clocked up my 200Mhz and my GPU's core speed only went up my a small margin.

So, anyone know why my PSu is f*****g up?

Cheers.

[planet436]

Umm is it under warranty? Fans do go in power supplies, if adventurous you can try to replace it yourself (note: read around carefully for how to do this).

Powercool is not a well regarded PSU manufacturer, cheap components have a greater likelihood to stop working. If you are sure the noise if from the psu, a squealing noise may be due to failing capacitors; they might have started to bulge or corrode. Eventually they will fail and perhaps taking the rest of your computer with it.

If it isn't under warranty, I would replace it with a budget corsair, antec, xfx or seasonic psu.

[Spartan-047]

@planet, yeah, it's still under warranty- I got it about 10 months ago, and I meant the fan INSIDE the PSU that's not spinning when I think it should be.

For me, PowerCool feels like a decent budget PSU, but I get what you are typing

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

@planet, yeah, it's still under warranty- I got it about 10 months ago, and I meant the fan INSIDE the PSU that's not spinning when I think it should be.

For me, PowerCool feels like a decent budget PSU, but I get what you are typing

Most PowerCool PSUs use relatively cheap components and the PSUs are overrated,ie, labelled power is actually less than what the PSU can provide.

This PSU is made by Seasonic:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/450w-...-sli-crossfire

[planet436]

@planet, yeah, it's still under warranty- I got it about 10 months ago, and I meant the fan INSIDE the PSU that's not spinning when I think it should be.

For me, PowerCool feels like a decent budget PSU, but I get what you are typing

If under warranty then I would send it back. PSU cat linked would be perfectly fine if they give you the offer of a part-refund.

[Spartan-047]

Reckon it can power up my rig tho? 450W looks tight to me

Edit: actually, that looks pretty good

[Spartan-047]

Also, what does 'cat-linked' mean?

[planet436]

What cat-the-fifth posted .

[Spartan-047]

haha thanks for that, major brain fart just then

[Spartan-047]

UPDATE: okay, I contacted Scan's Returns team yesterday, and I got into touch with someone called Gareth.

He managed to send an email to the manager about whether I can get a refund on my PSU, but this morning I got a reply from him saying that because of the length of time I had my PSU (still got a month's warranty left as I speak) I can't get a refund.

We went into a discussion about how the warranty on the PowerCool PSU, and as it was 12 months I thought I could still get something out of it back. Apparently, the only option was to replace it like for like, which kinda defeats the object of fixing a PC that went wrong because of that brand of PSU.

IMO that kinda sucks because for one thing, I'm saving up for another giant build, so I won't be able to procure extra funds just to fix my existing build.

To be honest, I can only spend about £15 more on a new PSU, so it would have been nice if Scan would offer me some sort of refund , of which the money could be added with the £15 to buy a better PSU.

Please help!

[rabbid]

I bought a PowerCool 550W PSU from Scan nearly a year ago (was this one , and only a few weeks ago the PSU fan decided to not spin while the PC is turned on, and now starts to make this annoying whine/squeal, even when the PC is sitting idle while powered on.
......
So, anyone know why my PSu is f*****g up?

Cheers.

i would assume because you ran it without the fan working....
It would have been better to have returned it then!

[rabbid]

UPDATE: okay, I contacted Scan's Returns team yesterday, and I got into touch with someone called Gareth.

He managed to send an email to the manager about whether I can get a refund on my PSU, but this morning I got a reply from him saying that because of the length of time I had my PSU (still got a month's warranty left as I speak) I can't get a refund.

We went into a discussion about how the warranty on the PowerCool PSU, and as it was 12 months I thought I could still get something out of it back. Apparently, the only option was to replace it like for like, which kinda defeats the object of fixing a PC that went wrong because of that brand of PSU.

IMO that kinda sucks because for one thing, I'm saving up for another giant build, so I won't be able to procure extra funds just to fix my existing build.

To be honest, I can only spend about £15 more on a new PSU, so it would have been nice if Scan would offer me some sort of refund , of which the money could be added with the £15 to buy a better PSU.

Please help!

You wont get a refund past 28 days except in very unusual circumstances or else as a pro rata refund if the item is EOL.

Given that one has 12 month warranty and you're near end of term, take the replacement and ebay it/sell it privately and offset that against cost of a better replacement.