Fried Power Supply...maybe more? Please help!!

[radarseven]

Hey guys,

I need some help troubleshooting a possibly fried power supply and/or mother board.

I have 2 computers and various peripherals connected to a PowerSentry Surge Protector (I know, not exactly reliable). There was a power outage last night; the dreaded one where the power goes out, but comes right back on. I immediately go to check my PCs because they are my livelihood. This part is interesting, a cheap PC I built a few years back with a generic PSU powers right up. My main machine with an OCZ 520Watt PowerStream and ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard (gasp) won't power up.

Here's what I've tried so far:

• Unplugged the power supply and switched it off for a few minutes. Plugged back in and try to power up and nothing. I tried this several times.
• Popped out the battery on the mothered and waited ten minutes, put back in and still nothing.
• Disconnected all power supply connections to the motherboard except the main power connectors and the front switch. Still nothing - and the power supply fan doesn't spin at all.
• For what its worth, the motherboard has a small green LCD light that indicates when it is receiving power and of course that does not light up at all.

Not sure what to do next here. My next step was to pick up a temp PSU to confirm that the PSU is in fact dead and to see if the motherboard is still good at this point.

Is it safe to assume that the PSU is likely fried? Is it possible that the motherboard is fried and the PSU is still ok? What about CPU, memory, etc.? Sorry for all the questions, but unfortunately I don't have much experience with power issues.

Hope you guy can help.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[SNGX1275]

If the light is off the power supply is probably dead. Might want to check to see if that PSU has any reset button or switch or something on it because normally even a dead PSU lights up the LED.

I'd say the chances of your motherboard still being ok are pretty good though.

 

[Cinders]

Hey guys,

I have 2 computers and various peripherals connected to a PowerSentry
[*]Disconnected all power supply connections to the motherboard except the main power connectors and the front switch. Still nothing - and the power supply fan doesn't spin at all.

If the PSU fan doesn't work then the PSU doesn't work.

 

[Stick'o ram]

I lost my old Biostar NF325 motherboard to a blackout. I had the identical symtopms you did, my other computer with a super cheap compusa 300 watt power supply and four year old asrock motherboard booted right up even though it didn't even have a surge protector or power strip. Then my other computer that was on a surge protector fried. My power supply still worked though because I put it on another system and it worked fine. It was my motherboard that got fried and its a real pain trying to find a good socket 754 motherboard these days.

So I would try putting that psu on another system and seeing if it works.

P.S. Even though the motherboard was fried the power supplys fan still did not spin...

 

[radarseven]

Update

Hey guys,

Thanks for your helpful input.

It looks as though it is the Power Supply that is fried. I just connected a brand new PSU and everything powered up perfectly, so I'm hoping I'm in good shape with everything else.

Also, worth noting, I did do the paper-clip test on the OCZ and short-circuited pins 14 and 15 and the fan would not spin. So I think that's pretty conclusive evidence that the PSU is in fact kaput. It's too bad, I really liked that OCZ PowerStream performance-wise and I'm a little bummed because I don't think they make them anymore. Looks like I'll be contacting Newegg and/or OCZ for a replacement; it's only about 6 months old.

@ Stick'o Ram
That's interesting that your PSU fan would not spin with a fried motherboard. Did you try the paper-clip test on it or just tested it on another machine?

Cheers,
Michael

 

[Stick'o ram]

I don't know what the powerclip trick is, but I'm assuming it simulates having a motherboard plugged in. But the reason the fans did not spin is because my powersupply is totally dependent on the motherboard telling it to turn on. So no current going through the motherboard to begin with will keep my psu from coming on.