Power supply

[X24]

I got a computer from my aunt and the power supply is toast. All she said when she gave it to me was it wouldnt turn on. I opened up the power supply and things were burnt up pretty bad.

Its an ATX 250W. What will work for a replacement? Will an AT work? Will something that puts out more watts work? If this computer is decent, I will be putting it in my X. Will I need any special kind of power supply for that? (I already have a 400/800W inverter in the X)

 

[ChuckyD]

you will need an ATX power supply, the power amount will depend on the hardware inside.

You will need one of those AC to DC ... or .. DC to AC (whatever you know what i mean).. whichever one will work.

 

[X24]

How do i know how many watts judging by the hardware inside? Theres a hard drive, A drive, CD-Rom drive and the mother board.

 

[Howard]

If it was ok with a 250W power suplly as fitted it should be ok just to replace it. But why did the power supply go west? Could be that there is something seriously wrong it takes a lot to just blow a power supply with normal usage. Standard power supplies now are aleast 300W. Check for short circuits with a meter before you hook up a new one or you'll simply blow that one as well. You'll have to use an ATX one as the voltages are different for the motherboard. Bench test with one item at a time. Good luck.
Howard

PS you're current inverter should be fine. Most PC's only use about 300-450 Watts including the monitor.

 

[X24]

What do you mean test for short circuits? Test what for short circuits?

 

[Howard]

Using a multimeter unplug all the power connections and test the power feed pins and earth to see if there is a short circuit in the device. Of the four pins to the hard disk/cdrom and floppy the outer ones are for power and the inner two are earths. The reason I suggest that you check is for the power supply to burn out there must have been an seriously increased power drain. Which could have been caused by a short circuit. Do you know the story of what happened? Like was it running and then just went out or was someone playing inside and then it didn't work. Did it go bang or any smoke or smell of burning. Was something spilt in it (coffee tea or water etc). I know of several machine with paper clips in them with similar results. Dropped screws on the motherboard can have the same effect.

 

[X24]

Dont know the story. It wasnt coffee or anything like that. I also dont think anyone was playing with it. The fuse inside the power supply is fried and some of the resistors or something next to the fuse are all burnt. Could something like this only be caused by internal problems or could it have been caused by something external? My house was struck by lightning once and it fried our surge protector and the power supply in the computer. My aunts house is old so it might have been due to a power surge or something.

 

[Howard]

You may be lucky and that it was an external power surge that caused the problem or an internal fault. Knowing the history you may well be ok just to replace the supply. There is no harm in getting a more powerful unit (it won't draw more power than the unit requires) so just get the best deal on an ATX unit of at least 250W capacity. All the best

 

[X24]

OK, I'll try that. Just one more question. Any ATX power supply more than 250W will work? Do they all have the same mother board connectors?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[Howard]

Yes any ATX power supply will be fine so long as it has at least a 250W rating (the original). You may well find that a 300W unit is cheaper as they are more common now. I hope I did not scare you but we don't want fires inside our x now do we. If the fuse blows straight away then you know that you have a problem. Please don't just replace it with a bigger one. You'll be fine I'm sure. I just like to err on the side of caution with mains power.

 

[X24]

I will test it before I stick a new power supply in there. I get nervous when it comes to electricity. Thanks again.

 

[Howard]

All the best and let us know how you get on. Just as a side line what do you want to do with a pc in your x?

 

[X24]

Play MP3's.

You know of a small flat screen that will work with a computer? Like a 4" LCD or something? I dont have any experience with those things so I'm not sure what I would need. What about a touch screen?

 

[Robb]

98FordX24,
Just to let you know. If you go to a small local pc repair shop, they will usually have used power supplys for REAL cheap. I had one go out on my office computer, and the first shop I went into had a box with like 30 power supplys in it. I just picked out one that looked just like mine with the same wattage rating. I think I paid $8 for it.
Just letting you know...........
Robb

 

[ChuckyD]

if you get a "real" cheap one it will be likely that you will fry everything all over agin.

 

[X24]

Good idea. Now I just have to think of where a pc repair shop is.

 

[X24]

Originally posted by ChuckyD
if you get a "real" cheap one it will be likely that you will fry everything all over agin.

Why do you say that?

 

[Howard]

I can't think of a screen that small but ask whilst you're getting the power supply. Most of the screens I work with start at 17" and up. Smallest touch screen I work with is 15". How about a wireless keyboard mouse setup? You may be better off with a dedicated in car mp3 player......... All the best.

 

[ChuckyD]

cheap power supply's will end up burning out and may end up taking your monther board with it...
Heres one from New egg that is a very reasonable price
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=58&manufactory=1400&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

 

[ChuckyD]

Originally posted by 98FordX24
How do i know how many watts judging by the hardware inside? Theres a hard drive, A drive, CD-Rom drive and the mother board.

What i meant was, if it was a p4 or u were planning on putting a p4 in it (or whatever your plans may be) You may need to get a 300 watt PS.