How do I know if I have a computer power supply problem?

Question

So this morning for the life of me my computer would not boot. The computer would power on, but the bios would fail to post. I tried changing the bios jumper settings which did not work. As a last resort I started unplugging things then booting, to no avail, then plugging things back in. Finally, I took out 1 stick of ram and the computer was able to boot! I figured the stick I had removed was the cuplrit, but just to make sure I plugged it back in, and removed the "good one". The computer booted again fine. I plugged them both in and as I write this question the computer seems to be working fine again.

Can anyone explain to me what is going on? Is it possible, I have a power supply problem?

Answer 1

For most of hardware failure i came across, they always share 2 similar symptoms, either it need to warm up for a while before it start working OR it only work intermittently.

I would suggest not to worry about other hardwares inside the pc cause bios boot up first, then it start to communicate with the basic hardware like harddrive, memory, keyboard..., if no bio setting you can change, either is the motherboard or the power supply. Since seldem people will mess up the motherboard, and power supply can go bad because of age or dusty environment, from the symptoms you got, mostly is the faulty power supply.

My experience on a failed power supply is you have to rock the tower, from side to side for a few times to a few minutes, press the button, then it works, i still dont know why, but it similar to your case when you move around your pc as you take out the ram.

My conclusion is if your pc fail to boot up to the bios screen, ie dark screen, monitor receive no signal(in most case amber light), but your tower has at least 1 light lit up, but not power on green light as in a booted up pc, it is the power supply problem.

Answer 2

Well first off, if you had any problems with your power supply, your computer would either not turn on, or would reboot randomly. So the power supply shouldn't really be the case. But if you want to test the power supply anyways, you can actually purchase power supply testers and test the connections to see if they are good.

If the BIOS failed the POST, then something was up with some of your hardware. POST is supposed to run tests for your hardware to make sure that it is all there, BEFORE it boots into the operating system. Maybe the memory sticks just needed reseating. It's a good idea to go back and unplug/plug in hardware again after you have used your computer for a while because all the dust and heat inside the case can actually cause the chips/connections to come off or become unseated (in some cases).

Take note of this problem and keep a record of any other problems you have. If you have this problem again, then it's good to have a little record so that you can show to someone if you ever need it repaired. Sometimes computers have intermittent problems and it's a good idea to write down when you had it and what kind of error messages you had.

Answer 3

Most likely, if you had a power supply problem, it would not turn on at all.

The problem you described sounds to me like a poorly seated memory stick or a bit of chip creep. That is when the heating and cooling of the cards causes it to expand out of the socket a very small amount, but enough to cause issues.

Answer 4

computer just turns off or will not come on . is a sign