What's up with my power supply?

[Balog]

So I've been on vacation for a couple days. Computer turned off, heat all the way down in the house. I get back and fire compie up, and the power supply fan is making a funky noise. You know that sorta thumping noise an off-balance fan makes? Yeah, that one.

So I leave it on for a couple minutes, trying to do a fast purchase of a new one before it dies entirely, when it stops. It settled down to it's normal low hum, and I can feel it moving the air out the back.

So 1. is it about to die, or just acting up cause it was so cold 2. how do I monitor the heatload so I can be sure nothing is frying itself?

[AZRedhawk44]

Either the fan stopped, or the bearings slipped back into place.  For now.  Take your pick: it won't last.

Either way, use it very sparingly until you get a new PS unit.

[Gewehr98]

Bearings.  Keep them spinning until you can get the new power supply installed.

[Balog]

Bearings.  Keep them spinning until you can get the new power supply installed.

Wait, so I should leave the computer on until I get a new PS? /confused

[Bogie]

Either turn it off, and figure on replacing it, or leave it on, and figure on replacing it. If it toasts, will it toast other stuff?

[Balog]

Either turn it off, and figure on replacing it, or leave it on, and figure on replacing it. If it toasts, will it toast other stuff?

Exactly. If the PS dies, will that do "bad things" to other components?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

So 1. is it about to die, or just acting up cause it was so cold 2. how do I monitor the heatload so I can be sure nothing is frying itself?

I've seen half-dead fans keep spinning for years.  I've seen perfectly good fans up and die with no warning.  You just can't tell.

Short of using a thermometer or sticking your hand down there, I don't think you can monitor the heat.

My advise:  keep the compy off when you're not using it, until you get the new power supply installed.  It can't overheat if it's not on.  I wouldn't be too worried about using it, though.  If it overheats it "probably" won't hurt anything.

[AZRedhawk44]

I kinda doubt it... but I'm not an electrical engineer.

As temperature of a given power supply unit increases, it's efficiency decreases.  So its power output decreases.

You'll get a brown-out.

I've never had a computer go bad from a failed PSU.  

Back when I was a break-fix jockey, Gateway had a couple of absolutely wretched desktop class machines in their E-series.  The E-3200 and E-1400.

The 3200 had a 140 or so watt PSU for CPU's ranging from a PII-266 to a P3-1Ghz as the mobo and system core changed but the designers neglected to upgrade the PSU.

The 1400 had an 85 watt PSU for CPU's right around 700Mhz.  85 watts.

I had a LOT of PSU failures with these two series.  There were about 3000+ PC's that me and my coworkers maintained.  It seemed at certain points that all we were doing was replacing PSU's, all day...

There were a handful of bad hard drives as a result of failed cooling, but those systems had horrible air flow.  No Mobo or other parts failures from failed PSU's.

The worst you might risk would be a fire from too much dust in there and too much heat.  If you order a new PSU from newegg today, blow out the PSU for right now, and keep using it like you normally would, you should be fine.

[Balog]

Isn't there a way to monitor the heat of the cpu built in to windoze? I thought maybe that worked for more than just the cpu. Tho come to think of it, I doubt the ps has a temp gauge.....

[K Frame]

Well thank GOD it's not a problem with your Air Supply...

[Balog]

Don't make me break out the wall o' Hoff Irwin. 


 

[Gewehr98]

Yes.

MBM, aka MotherBoard Monitor.

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311

There's CoreTemp:

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Also, my favorite, SpeedFan:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

I suggested keeping the PSU fan spinning, because it sounds to me like the bearings are on their way out. 

Powering down with bad bearings means they may not spin up again the next time, and you'll have one hell of a hot power supply on your hands, depending on the load it gets from the system.

You takes your chances.

Order another one soon, regardless.

Is that the little IBM or the Tiger Direct kit?

[Balog]

Tiger Direct kit mkII. I fried the cpu on the first one. 

[Gewehr98]

That's better, because it's probably a standard style ATX PSU, as opposed to the proprietary units IBM so thoughtfully installed in their machines.