HI,

Sitting down talking on the phone, with the PC on in the background, copying files to the external hard drive. There was a bang and then... nothing.

I moved the PC and plugged it into another socket, (easier to access) and when I clicked the power switch on the back of the PC there was a green flash then... nothing.

No lights on the motherboard. Nothing. I'm just hoping that the PSU has died and not taken the motherboard with it, but first things first, I need a new PSU.

The current model is a TG480-U01, which is 480W, and I wouldn't want to get anything less. Ideally I'd like something with a bit more oomph, but haven't got a clue regarding whick ones to look for, as it's been a few years since I built anything.

I'm looking for something which is, how can I put it, inexpensive, but obviously not cheap and nasty.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

John.
<-- Me after my PC stopped working.

I bought a new Fatal1ty one. Think it was rated at 550W. The PC would keep randomly reboot as it didn't have enough juice to power everything.

Are you sure it's not fuse related? Any burning smells from the PSU?

If you could, might be worth borrowing one to try it out.

I'll have a look to see if I can find a fuse. I did look at the other PC, but the PSU in that is 400W and I'm not happy that it would be enough... I might take it to work tomorrow, to see if the IT guys, (assuming they're in) have got a spare kicking about.

Update: Can't see any fuses. I did try another mains cable, but the green flash tells me that the PSU is [LIFTED] <--OMG I'm turning into bratty!

A green flash not from a bulb or LED would be a bad thing. Also fuses don't normally make a noise when they fail.

Hopefully it is just the PSU and not other components.

If you think it is the PSU then the you can get a rough idea of the cost fairly quickly. A PSU failure was my only PC hardware failure.

It's knowing which brand to go for that's troubling me at the moment.

For example, I know that it's probably not a good idea to go for a £23 700W Storm PSU, but which brands are reliable?

Thanks for that... I don't know if this is a dumb question, (I have looked at some PSU calculators) but I sometimes leave my PC on overnight and I'm wondering how stable this will be.

My system, in case anyone doesn't know is:

Motherboard: Asus PCH-DL
CPU: Intel Xeon 2.4GHz, (Prestonia) - Two processors
RAM 4GB, (four one gig sticks)
Three hard drives. One IDE and two SATA
Two DVD Writers. Both Satas
Radeon 9800 Pro
Creative Soundblaster card, (I think it's the Audigy Live, but can't be arsed walking across the living room, as the laptop is keeping my legs warm)
PCI USB card, (4 ports)

I think that's everything, aside from the USB webcam and a couple of external USB Hard drives.

The PSU you mentioned should be OK.... shouldn't it?

If you disconnect things like odd and other things like that, surely you could then try out the 400W PSU? You only need i to POST so you know the mobo is okay and then you can just get a new psu.

Little tipsy at the mo so that might not make any sense.

Makes purfect sensh.

Went to Aria and bought the Coolermaster elite 500W model.

I haven't plugged everything back in yet, and there wasn't a monitor to hand to test it, but I plugged the PSU in and the LED on the motherboard lit up. Switching it on made the fans whirr, which is probably a good thing.

I also bough some heat sink compound and some cleaner, so I think I'll give it a complete rebuild this evening.

Fingers crossed.

<-- Slightly less sad.

Fingers crossed and hope you're not in the same situation as me - without a machine!

Good news, I think. I rebuilt the machine yesterday, (finished it off this morning) by which I mean removing the CPUs and replacing the heat sink compound, etc.

It's booted and I went straight into the BIOS, to check out the temps, as I am slightly paranoid about the whole "overheat, catch fire, die" thing and the CPU temps are 46(c)/114(f) and 38(c) / 100(f) respectively.

Does that seem a bit high or am I worrying about nothing?

IIRC the CPU runs at 100% in BIOS as SpeedStep/Cool'n'Quiet/PowerNow! are not functional in the BIOS environment; on that basis I wouldn't worry and advise you to use CoreTemp within Windows instead.

I had tried downloading one of the apps, (can't remember which now) but the download was corrupt. Anyway, while I was rebuilding I decided to try the on board sound, as I would like to use the case front headphone socket, but guess what....? There are no Windows 7 drivers for the PCH-DL. I already knew that, so why should I be disappointed?

I'm going to install Windows XP, as there are drivers avaiable for that. I might dual/triple boot windows Win 7. We'll see what sort of mood I'm in after I install XP.

Edit to add: Thinking about it, can anyone think of a reason I couldn't use both the internal sound device and the Soundblaster card?

It should work, shouldn't it? Or am I missing something?