IT Professionals

It Is Eating Power Supplies For Breakfast

Posted by on Mar 11, 2008 | 13 Comments

Today Linda,

My computer keeps burning up power supplies. I’m going on my 4th one in 3 months. The really weird thing is that the computer that I replaced this one with did the same thing. I’ve had an electrician to my house to check things twice – the house is only 4 years old – and I’ve run extension cords to other rooms in the house to be sure it wasn’t the outlet the computer was plugged into. I bought a brand new ups power back up approx 2 months ago to make sure the power was clean. Me and my tech guy are at our wits ends trying to figure out what’s going on. I have two other computers in my house in different rooms and no problems with them. Anybody got any ideas?

That is odd, as you did have an electrician check things out. If it was me, I would get a new motherboard myself as  clearly this is the only culprit coming to my mind without actually seeing what is taking place. It sure seems to be the common denominator in this instance.

If you think about it, there is a certain logic to it. All PCs in the home  are fine, it is only this one having problems. The wiring has been checked and the only thing coming to my mind is a short along the way someplace. I must admit, it is a lot more common to see a power supply causing damage vs the other way around. Maybe the community has some additional thoughts for you?

Do you have an IT-related question? Perhaps you are just burnt out on writing on the walls with crayons? Whatever the comments may be, drop me a line, and you too can “Just Ask Matt!”

  • Harold Lemon

    I had the same problem, found that I had a defective PCI modem, removed the modem and that cured my power supply problem. Replace it with a different modem, that may cure your problem.

  • Richard Green

    I wonder if the power supplies are rated with enough watts? If the PC rally needs say a 400W power supply, but the power supply (and it’s replacements) is only say 350W, then perhaps something like that might be the problem.

    Barring this, I would agree that the motherboard might be the problem.

  • Scott

    “The really weird thing is that the computer that I replaced this one with did the same thing.”

    Kinda rules out the board, don’t you think?

  • Richard Dawson

    I know this is a bit obvious, but have you checked the airflow through and out of the power supply? If you have the pc under a table or desk that is against a wall and the back doesn’t have good airflow you will be running with an elevated temp in the PS and burn it out more quickly.

    Just a thought.
    Richard

  • http://www.matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    Scott: Ouch, missed that part of the message, thanks. :)

  • Kevin Bailey

    Working with Richard Dawson’s idea check for additional heat sources into the area (i.e. heat duct venting under desk or foot heater or other electronics heating the space causing warmer than usual air flow (+80 degrees F) into the power supply could cause insufficient air differential for proper cooling of power supply.

  • Paul Vendy

    Other possible causes are :-
    Is a monitor powered from the PSU mains out ? (not comon today, but still available)
    Is a USB device (or several) drawing load from the supply?
    Is the expensive Video Card moved from PC to PC?

  • http://www.matthartley.com Matt Hartley

    A few more comments emailed to me – thanks for using the comments section instead, as this way people actually see your thoughts. Emails are always welcome and read, but I want others to see these thoughts as they are worthwhile reading.

    Wayne writes:

    “It is very possible that the Power Supply that continues to fail is
    underpowered. For example I have found that some manufacturers will put a “minimum” power supply on a box (for example 350 watts), and then the user adds a drive boosting the power requirement. The power supply will then run a little too hot and fail in a relative short time. Putting in a slightly larger better quality PS will cure this problem.”

    Bernhard writes:

    “I would bet on the motherboard also. Perhaps when the first power supply died, it damaged the motherboard in such a way that it is now blowing supplies.”

    Great feedback guys, thanks. ;)

  • Mike, Cincinnati OH

    Power supplies that burn out could be related to numerous things, mostly related to either surges on your power strip that the PC is plugged into or a motherboard transistor / PCI card transistor that’s burnt out or a wire that is exposed is touching another metal part of your board, (check the fans) is this a liquid cooled PC? if so do you have a leak?

    One of two things is going on and I suspect since you’ve replace the PC at that location with the new one that it’s not related to the PC but rather the Surge protector. I would wager to say that you’ve taken a few repeated spikes. are you closer to or further away from a substation on your electric companies power grid? Your house may be getting to much juice but not enough flow (amps vs. volts … thing… )

    the other thing could be your motherboard(s) have screwed up… did you use the same components in this PC as you did with the one you replaced it with?

  • Eric

    Just because the electrician confirmed that the wiring in your house is OK doesn’t mean that the power coming in to your home from the mains is clean, steady, or continuious. With all the money you’ve invested in power supplys, purchase a good APC Uninterruptable Power Supply, with sufficient capacity to run both your computer and monitor. Don’t connect any other devices or appliances to it. I bet you’ll be surprised to not only see how often the UPS switches to run off the battery or filters out electrical nastys. Hopefully you’ll also be surprised by how long THIS power supply lasts when it’s on a UPS. – A good UPS (I try to only use APC brand ones, have never had a bad experience with APC.) should run between $100 and $300 to protect a single workstation, get a 500Va or larger. APC units also come with a $25,000 insurance policy if you can confirm that a power ‘event’ damaged the device that was connected to the UPS and the UPS did not protect it.
    Ooooh, you also want a UPS that protects the PC’s network and/or modem connection in case power is not your only source of ‘lectrical doom.

  • John Ceasario

    I’ve had the same problem with power supplies burning out but have three computers plugged in to the same strip, so you thought about the motherboard sound like my next step, there cheaper than some power supplies that I’ve bought. Thanks

  • Colin Elgood

    I have lost 3 PS in the last year, it went this moring,again, after surge protector is off for a few minutes, i hit the power button and the fans and fan leds flash for a second, but do not stay on (looks like the hold circuit not connect, but it will not cycle unless the power is removed). I had disconnected all uneeded perifials (ie optic drives, extra fans. I have a motherboard monitoring program and have noticed the +12 volt monitor was always low 11.80 to 11.89, which may have been causing stress on the PS??? I will swap the graphic card out and put a new PS in and try again, other swaps may be the MB and cpu fan.

  • Colin Elgood

    Sys info budget MSI 775 MB, 3.2 P4, G-force 6200 AGP, 2 DVD drives (were disconnected entire life of last PS) refurb SATA HD, 2GB DDR, did I say it was BUDGET….But my wife loves it for downloading Korean soaps. wired net. Use 4-8 hour a day.

    it has also had a s-video connection to the tv but rarely used.