I think my PSU just died :(

[Mousepotato]

Ok so I'm sitting here playing WoW and my mining rig (a separate machine) suddenly goes quiet.  I look over and the fans on my video cards are spinning down, so I figured no biggie, Windows update probably just rebooted the machine or something.  Anyway long story short, I think I have a PSU failure.  I'm not really sure though, and I don't know how to test it.  Is there some way I can check to see if it's a PSU issue, or a mobo problem?  I'm not sure what to do.  When I plug the PSU back in and flip the power switch on the computer, there's a blue LED light that flashes momentarily, then it goes dark.  Usually there's 3 or 4 LEDs in a row that stay lit when the thing is up and running.

How do I test for a bad PSU?

[1713418822]

1713418822

[CanaryInTheMine]

How do I test for a bad PSU?

you try another PSU

[bcforum]

How do I test for a bad PSU?

you try another PSU

Yep.

You could also move the suspect PSU into your WoW machine and see if it dies too.

You can sniff the PSU and see if there is an odor of burnt electronics.

You can unplug everything from the PSU except the motherboard and remove all the addon cards from the motherboard and try again.

[Mousepotato]

How do I test for a bad PSU?

you try another PSU

Yep.

You could also move the suspect PSU into your WoW machine and see if it dies too.

You can sniff the PSU and see if there is an odor of burnt electronics.

You can unplug everything from the PSU except the motherboard and remove all the addon cards from the motherboard and try again.

I plays WoW on a laptop   I was hoping I could short some pins on my PSU and then maybe plug in an optical drive and see if it opens/closes the tray.

[CanaryInTheMine]

How do I test for a bad PSU?

you try another PSU

Yep.

You could also move the suspect PSU into your WoW machine and see if it dies too.

You can sniff the PSU and see if there is an odor of burnt electronics.

You can unplug everything from the PSU except the motherboard and remove all the addon cards from the motherboard and try again.

I plays WoW on a laptop   I was hoping I could short some pins on my PSU and then maybe plug in an optical drive and see if it opens/closes the tray.

mousie...  there are no universal, set in stone, EASY steps to troubleshooting PSUs
the fastest, simplest way is to use a good PSU instead of your suspect.  then go from there.

[release]

 Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

[Mousepotato]

Thanks Canary.  I'm going to go to the store and get a new one in a minute.  I'm almost certain it's my PSU that's out since I was running two 5870s and a 5850 (all OC'd to 990-1040MHz) on a Thermaltake 750W.  I think I was probably running that 750 into the ground for the last couple months.

[Mousepotato]

Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

What should I do after that?  Plug in some devices?

[plastic.elastic]

Thanks Canary.  I'm going to go to the store and get a new one in a minute.  I'm almost certain it's my PSU that's out since I was running two 5870s and a 5850 (all OC'd to 990-1040MHz) on a Thermaltake 750W.  I think I was probably running that 750 into the ground for the last couple months.

Hard to say because i dont know much about the Thermaltake 750w. I have stopped using Thermaltake products sine 2000 LOL (they were all garbage)

But 750w from more reliable brand such as Silverstone, Corsair, PC Power&Cooling, will certainly power those cards.

If your PSU cant, its garbage.

[plastic.elastic]

Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

What should I do after that?  Plug in some devices?

It only test if the PSU is not completely dead, no power at all. So not really useful but a quick way to know a dead PSU.

If the problem is any more complicated, it requires more testing with multimeter

[Elder III]

I use a PSU tester, they are not all that expensive, but probably not worth the investment if you don't work with hardware on a regular basis.  That PSU ought to be able to handle what you had plugged in, but then again maybe not, some of Thermaltake's products are not really built for anything serious.... they are a company that seems to vary from model to model for their PSUs.

[CanaryInTheMine]

Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

WTF??? are you trying to electrocute our beloved mousepotato???

[CanaryInTheMine]

for mining in general, it's always good to have a spare PSU laying around...

Even picking up a cheap, used one on eBay or something is a good idea to have it available for situations like these...

then assuming you had a good quality PSU, rma it to the manufacturer for fixing

[Mousepotato]

Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

WTF??? are you trying to electrocute our beloved mousepotato???

lol actually I think it was decent advice.  I remember reading about this method to daisy-chain multiple power supplies this way without having to plug them into the mobo. 

Anyway, I'm back from the store and ~$200 later (I bought some other stuff with the new PSU) I have a Corsair AX850 running smoothly and my miners mining away   I guess I'm going to try to RMA this Thermaltake and maybe when I get it back I'll keep it around as a spare.  Ooorrrr maybe build a new system for mining. 

Thanks for all the advice guys

[Kermee]

Thanks for all the advice guys

Woohoo! I see 0.15 GH/s on DB's Team page!

Cheers,
Kermee

[CanaryInTheMine]

Unplug all cables from psu to PC.take a paper clip, and bend it into a U Put one end into a black wire (ground) and the other into the green wire.

WTF??? are you trying to electrocute our beloved mousepotato???

lol actually I think it was decent advice.  I remember reading about this method to daisy-chain multiple power supplies this way without having to plug them into the mobo. 

Anyway, I'm back from the store and ~$200 later (I bought some other stuff with the new PSU) I have a Corsair AX850 running smoothly and my miners mining away   I guess I'm going to try to RMA this Thermaltake and maybe when I get it back I'll keep it around as a spare.  Ooorrrr maybe build a new system for mining. 

Thanks for all the advice guys

Yeah, that makes sense for connecting multiple PSUs, even then, you shouldn't be using exposed wires/paper-clips... that's just asking for trouble. serious trouble.

Glad you solved your issue!  but I bet you ended up spending more money on that new PSU than it would cost online.  but in time of need, you gotta do what you gotta do...

I highly recommend to have a spare PSU (even a crappy one like 650W diabloteck for $30) that can be used for a week or two while you RMA the busted one.  The better thing to do would be to buy a good PSU when it's on sale online.  a bunch come up pretty often and with rebate you can get a good deal...

You have no idea how tempted I am to just bring up another miner using all the spare components I have... but you have to draw the line somewhere.... it's a vicious circle!

[Mousepotato]

Glad you solved your issue!  but I bet you ended up spending more money on that new PSU than it would cost online.  but in time of need, you gotta do what you gotta do...

I highly recommend to have a spare PSU (even a crappy one like 650W diabloteck for $30) that can be used for a week or two while you RMA the busted one.  The better thing to do would be to buy a good PSU when it's on sale online.  a bunch come up pretty often and with rebate you can get a good deal...

You have no idea how tempted I am to just bring up another miner using all the spare components I have... but you have to draw the line somewhere.... it's a vicious circle!

I don't mind spending a few extra bucks to buy it locally because I get the item immediately w/o having to wait for UPS/FedEx.  Unless there's a REALLY good deal on something online, then yeah I don't mind waiting   In this case, I bought this PSU and to my surprise it was cheaper locally than it was through NewEgg, though I did end up having to pay tax (but I defer to the first sentence in this paragraph about that).  I thought my Thermaltake PSU was nice, but the quality of this Corsair unit is far and away much better at first glance.  The packaging is just awesome.  It felt like I was opening the Lost Ark and I almost had to turn my head away for fear of my face melting off, similar to the feeling of opening Apple products (I hope that made sense).

I've only been putting together my computer for about 4 months but I'm starting to accumulate a lot of spare parts.. mainly those little black screws that came with my mobo, but I also have an extra HD, a CD-ROM drive, and soon (after I RMA this Thermaltake) an extra PSU.  I can only imagine the amount of gear that people who have been doing this for a few years have stockpiled

[Mousepotato]

Have you got a multimeter? Just a simple one will do, they're cheap and worthwhile to have if you're messing about with hardware hacking - *especially* if you've got open frame rigs, PSUs with butchered and spliced cables and paper-clip jumpers

I'm not quite that brave when it comes to working on HW.  I think my limit is installing a CPU or memory stick

[CanaryInTheMine]

Have you got a multimeter? Just a simple one will do, they're cheap and worthwhile to have if you're messing about with hardware hacking - *especially* if you've got open frame rigs, PSUs with butchered and spliced cables and paper-clip jumpers

I'm not quite that brave when it comes to working on HW.  I think my limit is installing a CPU or memory stick

want a shot at a spare 5830?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=38000.0

[Mousepotato]

want a shot at a spare 5830?
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=38000.0

I saw that and was thinking about buying in, but I have my heart set on a 5970 now.  But that's actually a really good idea to sell a card and is a lot more fun than trying to find a buyer in the Marketplace->Goods sub-forum.