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AFryia
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 740
Location: S.E. Michigan
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 Link Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject: HTPC Down Again |
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I have a suspicion its' the power supply.
The MB shows a green power light when it's off.. when I push the on button the fans start for maybe 1/2 second. The PS was quite warm and all the other heat sinks were barely above room temperature.
How can I check the suspect power supply without going out and buying a new one?
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greg_mitch
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 5198
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| Link Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:52 pm Post subject: |
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Try to narrow it down is how I do it.
Take out the ram and try to boot separately with each stick.
Take out the vid card and see if things start up.
etc. etc.
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 6954
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| Link Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: |
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If you pull the power supply and look at the pin openings of the 20 pin connector with the clip at the top. Now on the top row locate pins 3 and 4 from left to right.. Jumper those pins and plug in the supply. It should be on with the internal fan running. If it stays on you can test the hard drive/CD/DVD plugs for voltage. Black is ground, yellow is 12v and red is 5 volt. Good place to start testing. 
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AFryia
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 740
Location: S.E. Michigan
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| Link Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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| macgyver655 wrote: | | If you pull the power supply and look at the pin openings of the 20 pin connector with the clip at the top. Now on the top row locate pins 3 and 4 from left to right.. Jumper those pins and plug in the supply. It should be on with the internal fan running. If it stays on you can test the hard drive/CD/DVD plugs for voltage. Black is ground, yellow is 12v and red is 5 volt. Good place to start testing. |
Thanks MacG, I'll have to bookmark this.
Well the next day I turned on the HTPC which was pulled out sitting on a table and it powered up and ran for 3 hours connected to a monitor without a problem.
Is there a diagnostic file that the OS might have written before sutting down. How about the BIOS?
This PC has spent the last 5 years in the same location and never had a problem like this. It's a basement theater so ambient temps are <75 deg. I'm thinking more than ever a PS problem.
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 6954
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| Link Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:15 pm Post subject: |
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Well one other thing that I'm finding more and more of in these PC's, and this is going to sound redundant, but I'm finding a LOTTTTT of swollen caps on the motherboard. I cant tell you how many I've seen so far, (yes I repair a lot of PC's also). Just take a look at the taller ones around the CPU at the top where the vent lines are. If they're pushed up a little then they are no good. And this will cause intermittent problems. Not sure if that's what you have but its worth a look see... Snap a picture of your MB and post it if your not sure.
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MikeEby
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Posts: 5141
Location: Osceola, Indiana
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| Link Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:13 am Post subject: |
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| macgyver655 wrote: | | Well one other thing that I'm finding more and more of in these PC's, and this is going to sound redundant, but I'm finding a LOTTTTT of swollen caps on the motherboard. I cant tell you how many I've seen so far, (yes I repair a lot of PC's also). Just take a look at the taller ones around the CPU at the top where the vent lines are. If they're pushed up a little then they are no good. And this will cause intermittent problems. Not sure if that's what you have but its worth a look see... Snap a picture of your MB and post it if your not sure. |
Yes there was a real problem industry wide with caps on motherboards during the 2002-2005 period. This article from 2005 says Dell took a $300 million charge off because of it. 
http://news.cnet.com/PCs-plagued-by-bad-capacitors/2100-1041_3-5942647.html
Mike
_________________
Doing HD since the last century!
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macgyver655
Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 6954
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| Link Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject: |
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Well that explains why I've been seeing what I've been seeing..... 
Interesting read, Mike. Funny....... never heard anything about this if its such a big issue. Also surprised that Nichicon was also in the mix.... Makes you wonder about replacement stock in various suppliers too. Is their stock from that time frame and from the group that was manufactured incorrectly?
Odd thing also......a lot of flat panels are going through consistent cap failure in all makes and models and built in this time frame.
My "no good" cap bucket is getting pretty full....
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 927
Location: Wisconsin
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| Link Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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We had about 60 dell machines affected by this cap issue. We had dell come out and swap all the motherboards. Same thing happened in some power supplies too. not cool!
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AFryia
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 740
Location: S.E. Michigan
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| Link Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 1:12 am Post subject: |
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Well visually the MB checked out.
So I pulled the PSU out and low and behold. I'm thinking buy brand new not worth my time to try and fix surface mount components right?
How much for a 400-500W PSU that's reasonably quite?
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akajester
Joined: 09 Jul 2008
Posts: 927
Location: Wisconsin
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AFryia
Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 740
Location: S.E. Michigan
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| Link Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:32 am Post subject: |
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Damm, I need a micoATX PSU! 
I just picked up a CoolMax from MicroSystems, what a POS. It is marketed as a quite/silent PSU but sounds like a hair drier on high.
Any recommendations on a true quite microATX PSU?
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