Why does my PSU keep blowing?

Question

Hi, Last week i was playing a game on my PC (Arma), i left the pc on with the game paused and came back to it an hour later to find it had turned off. When i tried to turn it on nothing happened, their was a flash of light from the cathodes on the front every now and then for a sec but nothing would turn on. I channged the Power Supply Unit (PSU) and everything worked fine untill i tired to play a game last night (the same game) and during the game the pc suddenly went off. with the same symtoms as last time. What could be causing my PSU to blow out? the CPU, motherboard are about 2 months old. i have an IDE and SATA drive, the SATA is about 2 months old. the 3d card is geforce 7800 GTX. 1gig of ram. their was no smell/sign of burning each time. Could it be the game that caused it? Its the only game i have played during so maybe a 3d card problem? The PSU was powerfull enough each time (400w using PSU calculator my computer uses 356w)
any advice?

I have plenty of cooling, 5 case fans exaust on 3d card. temp of case if no more than 30. I have a spare motherboard, do you think i should try that one? i know that if i bought a new PSU it would work so something is causing the PSU to break each time.

I allready have a sugre protector

Answer 1

I am working on a machine at the moment with same symptoms. In this case it is a faulty motherboard, get the PSUs tested, If it is the same problem then the PSUs are not blown, although the PC is displaying the same symptoms.

As an extra test, but probably inconsequential, unplug your USB sockets to the front panel, a short circuit on them can display same fault.

Otherwise invest in a surge protector if the PSUs are really blowing.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I thought that all modern power supplies had overload protection to cut off if too much current was being drawn. You should at least check for this. I also have read that some cheap power supplies have the specified watts rating but do not supply sufficient current on all voltage lines.

I would suspect an intermittent fault on the graphics card. I would remove it and power on. Normally I would expect beeps from the board speaker, indicating that power is on but graphics cannot be detected. At least the fans might be running. If no beeps or fans, the next step would be to unplug power to drives and remove cards, one at a time, including memory. With a working power supply and fault free main board, it should even beep with no CPU.

Answer 3

Try changing the power options under the Control Panel to where nothing on the computer turns off (example, turn off Standby and Hibernate). My computer crashes like that usually when I go into Hibernate, so I disabled it. Also make sure that your system is being kept cool enough, as overheating can cause problems with the PC. Also make sure you have the latest drivers for the graphics card, which you can attain from the manufacturer's website.

Answer 4

Choose a 450w or 500w for 3d rendered or hardcore gaming. Remember your pc has to power the rest of the mavchine, and give a little over to accomodate. The link below shows a 500w one, you can get higher, but I would say for what yor doing a 500w will do. If you intened to keep upgrading then maybe invest in a higher one. Choice is yours. A 450w maybe cutting it fine, but I dont know your budget.

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/123113

Answer 5

style new potential aspects could have a burning scent for a quick time as they get worn in it is common. although if it maintains over an huge volume of time that's relatively helpful to look into the different compoents of your desktops mainborad to be certain the place a quick may well be that ought to reason it to burn out like that.