Is my PSU gone? :(

[BlackVirus]

First of all, yay first post :D Also good luck to Linus and his team to have a successful fourm up and running!

Okay so today I was playing on my PC and then I smelled something. Something different, usually it's my mum cooking/experimenting in the kitchen (n) but this was definitely a smell of burnt plastic or such like.

So I thought it's coming from outside/neighbours etc. I didn't dare to think it was coming from my PC so I checked my temps, everything cool, gpu 60° CPU all cores below 50°. But just to make sure, I switched my PC off. I opened it up and I cleared all the dust first and applied new thermal paste. I didn't notice anything different physically. So everything plugged back and then I pressed on my On switch, nothing happened. I double checked cabling, everything was correctly in. Then I've done something very strange: I've sniffed on the PSU like a dog and I immediately recognized the smell; it was the one from before. So it was coming from my PSU after all.

So I thought my PSU is dead, I've used some youtube instructions to check whether the PSU is dead, using a case fan and paper clip. The fan worked. Also my PSU can power up my gpu, the gpu LED flashes green. So there is power going through. So I just re-cabled everything and then the PSU just manages to power up for 2 sec then switches off and keeps restarting. So I think it's a faulty PSU. What do you think? Maybe faulty MoBo? The PSU is some OCZ 700W which I thought is a good Brand for PSU's.

thanks in advance

ps: sorry for the long wall of text, I'm just super excited about linus' forum :o

[Scia]

Well, I cannot tell much here, but usually funny smells from out of your PC isn't that good =P

You've got some spare PSU that you could only connect to the MoBo and so on [excluding GPU] and see if it will boot up?

[J_Terror]

Hello, Often the best way to test PC components is to have, basically a second PC around. But some of us do not have that luxury. If you do have another rig around, see if your OCZ psu can power it up. Honestly, since you physically smelled your psu, I don't think the outcome will be very good. It is possible that your mobo went too, but if its a modern PSU and mobo, chances are its just the psu. Is your case very dirty inside? Did something physically fall into the power supply? Is the psu bottom or top mounted? Fan up or fan down? There really are lots of things to look at. Do you have a multi meter? Does your mobo have V Check points?

I'm placing my bets on the PSU being gone, were you gaming at the time this happened?

[MystiqThunder]

Your GPU powering up, and the fans turning is not a true indication of your PSU being dead. There are special tools that test each connector of the PSU, and it can tell your if it is correctly delivering the required power. And is your PSU's fan well off the floor?

[LapFox]

Synthetic loads on a PSU like the fan test or your GPU cannot tell you if it has failed. It might be that it's fine under light loads as you tested, however when your other components start sucking up the juice also, your PSU will then start to wither and fail.

As mentioned above, try another power supply, and make sure your components are ok. I have previously had a motherboard die because of a faulty PSU, and it took the CPU with it. It was an old computer (About 4-5 years) which I was going to upgrade anyway, so I wasn't too badly affected by it.

Once the question of if it has failed has been answered, you need to look into why it failed. By the description of a burning smell you gave, it sound like it wasn't getting enough air. Make sure that the fan is not obstructed, and has air available to it. This way, you can prevent buying another PSU and it also die because of the same problem.

I hope some of these answers were helpful to you!

[IdeaStormer]

Just because the psu fan spins or one device/component works does not mean your psu is OK. I have had systems where everything but one component works, happened to be the network card, installed a new psu and everything was great. To debug you need to just have the minimal components, CPU/RAM/Video, does that work? If so then plugin a drive, then add the next component, assuming you get that far. My RMA'ed psu was then reported to be OK by the vendor but when I told them to use it in a system, well they never 2nd guessed me again, those psu testers do not test all the connectors at the same time to take on real world loads.

[Ghost]

You would have to test the 12 volt rail and the other rail. Forgot what it was.

[LapFox]

You would have to test the 12 volt rail and the other rail. Forgot what it was.

The 5V rail?

[Ghost]

You would have to test the 12 volt rail and the other rail. Forgot what it was.

Oh it was 5! I thought so, didn't want to give out bad information though.

[BlackVirus]

Well' date=' I cannot tell much here, but usually funny smells from out of your PC isn't that good =P You've got some spare PSU that you could only connect to the MoBo and so on [excluding GPU'] and see if it will boot up?

Yes see below :)

Hello' date=' Often the best way to test PC components is to have, basically a second PC around. But some of us do not have that luxury. If you do have another rig around, see if your OCZ psu can power it up. Honestly, since you physically smelled your psu, I don't think the outcome will be very good. It is possible that your mobo went too, but if its a modern PSU and mobo, chances are its just the psu. Is your case very dirty inside? Did something physically fall into the power supply? Is the psu bottom or top mounted? Fan up or fan down? There really are lots of things to look at. Do you have a multi meter? Does your mobo have V Check points? I'm placing my bets on the PSU being gone, were you gaming at the time this happened? [/quote']

The PSU was on the top and fan downwards. Is a multimeter to test the PSU? And yes I was playing when I just wanted to make sure it wasn't my PC. Up to the point of shutting down, everything went smoothly. I cleaned all the dust and after not having spotted anything unusual, I reconnected everything and that's when the PC wouldn't boot anymore.

Your GPU powering up' date=' and the fans turning is not a true indication of your PSU being dead. There are special tools that test each connector of the PSU, and it can tell your if it is correctly delivering the required power. And is your PSU's fan well off the floor?[/quote']

No it was on the top. I am not sure :/

Synthetic loads on a PSU like the fan test or your GPU cannot tell you if it has failed. It might be that it's fine under light loads as you tested' date=' however when your other components start sucking up the juice also, your PSU will then start to wither and fail. As mentioned above, try another power supply, and make sure your components are ok. I have previously had a motherboard[i'] die because of a faulty PSU, and it took the CPU with it. It was an old computer (About 4-5 years) which I was going to upgrade anyway, so I wasn't too badly affected by it. Once the question of if it has failed has been answered, you need to look into why it failed. By the description of a burning smell you gave, it sound like it wasn't getting enough air. Make sure that the fan is not obstructed, and has air available to it. This way, you can prevent buying another PSU and it also die because of the same problem. I hope some of these answers were helpful to you!

Yes thanks was very informative :D !

Just because the psu fan spins or one device/component works does not mean your psu is OK. I have had systems where everything but one component works' date=' happened to be the network card, installed a new psu and everything was great. To debug you need to just have the minimal components, CPU/RAM/Video, does that work? If so then plugin a drive, then add the next component, assuming you get that far. My RMA'ed psu was then reported to be OK by the vendor but when I told them to use it in a system, well they never 2nd guessed me again, those psu testers do not test all the connectors at the same time to take on real world loads.[/quote']

You would have to test the 12 volt rail and the other rail. Forgot what it was.

How do I do that? I did try this and it worked:

But as someone mentioned I can't just rely on that, after all it's just 1 fan case that barely needs power.

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So anyway, I did fortunately still had my old PSU that came originally with the PC (350W) and I tested it on my PC. Now things took a complete different turn:

I completely removed the gpu (just in case) so I was left with RAM, CPU & cooler and the MoBo. So I tried to swtich on and the same thing happened! PSU doesn't start up. It works for 2 secs then switches off, keeps restarting. So now I think it might be a faulty MoBo?

Either way I think I'll get rid of my OCZ 700W PSU, even if it works because it just smells so badly xD

And thanks for all your input x3

[Kilmer02]

Sounds like your board might have gotten fried by the power supply. I'd just RMA both and hope to god that it also didn't fry your CPU!