7 replies to this topic

[DarkVeX]

Ok, well about 2 weeks before summer my computer died.. i figured it was the processor, so i bought a new one along with another 512mb of RAM. ok, so i made the money, ordered it on tuesday, came today... i put it in, but when i go to turn on my computer, it wouldnt. i went to my friends house, grabbed an extra psu.. but it didnt have the 20 pin connector i needed. so i went to my family computer, took out the psu to see if it was the problem... the family psu did have the 20 pin connector i needed, but it didnt have this little square shaped 4 pin that my old psu did... so i left that empty and pressed the power button, it started up for 2 seconds and died.

Ok, so i figured that the psu i tried ( when it was working for 2 seconds ) wasnt strong enough to start up my hardware... then i tested my old psu on the family computer.. and that didnt work at all.... but before i go out and buy a new psu im wondering if that really is my problem, and not something with my mobo... just wondering if anyone knows what the problem would be.

[NipLick]

The big connector is for your chipset, the 4pin connector is for your processor. You have to have a 300W or greater PSU to power on your computer. They're cheap, go to pricegrabber.com

[DarkVeX]

but it's worked on a 250w before

do you think the reason for "start up ( 2 seconds ) die down" thing is b/c i didnt have the 4 pin processor connector in?

although the same thing has happened with the broken psu before.... the psu which is now completely sh*t, used to start up or a quick second, and then die down... like this one is doing and the 4 pin processor connector was in ( if i can remember, im pretty sure it was )

[kidcapri]

definitely sounds like the psu. any other problems would give you beeps or blue screens. If you get a new power supply get a trustworthy brand. I needed a new power supply when i got my geforce 6800 gt. So i went online and found a housebrand one from some website that had pretty good ratings. A day after i put it in it started sparking and smoking and fried the memory slots on my motherboard and f*cked the cold cathode light i had in my computer. So then i had to buy a new power supply, memory, and a new motherboard. So its not worth it to go cheap on the power supply.

[tury]

Usually the 4-pin connector is just to give direct power to the cpu, intead of branching off the 20-pin connector. Most motherboards will work without it, you will just notice increased instability, and crashes etc.

The fact that you say it boots for two secounds with that one, and not with the other suggests it IS a problem wuth your power supply, but when you have all that power going into your mobo, it's likely that anything that could fry your psu, would probably fry your motherboard aswell.

The voltage regulators really aren't desgined to take more than their tolerance for any real amount of time, so they probably got fried.

I had a similar experience where the mobo and psu connector got 'fused' together when it got really hot once (think there was a short on the back of the board). I got a new mobo, and blew that one up with the old psu (doh!), so i took it back and had to buy a psu from another shop (to save face ). However, it turned out i blew my processor in the process. That's another disadvantge of having the 4pin connector, there is not really many protection circuits in the way of the cpu and the 4pin connector, so any surges will f*ck it up easily.

The new standard is the ATX 2.0 power standard... they are backwards compatible with atx 1.0, but they incorporate an extra 4 pins into the design via a connector you clip on to the side of the existing connector (thus making a 24pin connector). There isnt any real advantage though, other than having all the regulators in one place, since most boards still only use 4 phase power (older ones use 3, or even 2!).

Edited by tury, 23 July 2005 - 06:53 AM.

[DarkShadow]

Here is how to see if it is the PSU or not, with your old one try this, same with the new one.... When the power is fully plugged and such, Look at your motherboard, there should be a Yellow, or Green LED light in there, is it On when the power is plugged in? if not, its your PSU.... if the LED is on, that means the PSU is fine, and your motherboard is f*cked up....


Usually if there is a problem with a PSU the motherboard f*cks up as well, because the voltage req's it can cause a surge if the PSU spazzes

[IWantWhiteCastle]

i got a nice 500w for only 50 bucks at a local computer store, and you can find them cheaper online

[DarkVeX]

when i did take the psu out of the family computer there was the LED and thats when it would boot up for 2 seconds, my old psu didnt have the LEd, and i put it in the family comp, and it would start up... i was looking at this
b/c i know ill need a new psu anyways... but if i go out and buy this.... and then its my mobo, i'd have to make more money... order it... wait more time... and wont be able to get on till the fall, fortunatly.. this psu has very good reviews, is cheap, and is a 520w, plus with 3 fans... i'd say its a good deal.

But im wondering why my psu used to do the same thing the family computer does... but a month later....( now )..... doesnt. so im thinking it broke when it wasnt being used.

but if i do need a new mobo its gonna be hard finding one... my mobo is intel compatible, so i thought it was fine and bought an intel cpu...if i knew my mobo was broke, then i would've went for the amd i wanted...

idk, big mess