Power Supply = DEAD!

MAC_Addy

Hello all!

I just got my computer out of storage, thinking that I shouldn't have stored it now.

When I went to turn my computer on, it didn't do anything.

THEN... I saw smoke coming out of the back (the psu fan wasn't running).

Turned it off, then back on, some sparks came out and a tiny flame.

I'm thinking that it's officially dead. I'm wondering, what caused this?

Do you think it got damp?

msteinhilber

How were the conditions in which it was stored, and how long was it removed from storage prior to being turned on?

What kind of power supply was this also? There are an awful lot of very very poorly made power supplies out there that run into this sort of problem (regardless of being stored) fairly often.

unsupported

You let the magic escape! You should have captured the smoke in a bag to see if you can put it back in.

Seriously, who knows what may have gotten into the power supply. Insects or such.

tiersten

As unsupported said, anything could have gotten inside. To find out you'd have to take it apart and I don't recommend doing that unless you know what you're doing.

You may have killed the rest of the PC though. The dying PSU could have done anything to the output so don't be too surprised if stuff doesn't work if/when you replace the PSU.

veritas_libertas

unsupported wrote: »

You let the magic escape! You should have captured the smoke in a bag to see if you can put it back in.

LOL!

Bokeh

Same thing happened on a Dell many years ago. The tech informed the customer that they forgot to load "nosmoke.exe" in their autoexec.bat file and they might need to contact MS for an updated version.

One of the best tech support calls ever posted on the web.

MAC_Addy

It's been in storage for about 1 1/2. I don't think it got damp in there but some type of moisture could have got in there.

The computer has been in my house for 2 months now. So if it were damp, it'll be gone by now.

The power supply brand was "Power Up". 550W.

I am hoping and praying to the gods with all my fingers and toes crossed that it didn't kill the rest of my computer.

Oh, and I also heard a low frequency sound when I plugged it in.

Plantwiz

Inspect the Capacitors on the MOBO too, if there was dampness...they may have burst/corroded too.

crap I forgot my old pwd

You let the magic escape! You should have captured the smoke in a bag to see if you can put it back in.

No joke, some guy at CompUSA tried to tell me this when purchasing a power supply there...he told me that the smoke was also blue. He literally tried to convince me that my power supply would work again if I did that. I don't think he was joking with me either...lol