Do power supplies die when the computer is off?

[Endup]

My main rig is sadly 4.5 years old. I'm building a new on in a month.

XP2500+
80GB WD
9700PRO AIW
512 DDR 333
350Watt ATX PSU

The power supply just went out 2 days ago while I was sleeping and the computer off. There is a red light on the mobo when the power is connected and now no more red light. My bro had the same PSU on his old computer and that died two years ago. Luckily, I had a spare 300watt PSU lying around and I put that in my system. I figured if Dell uses 300 watt PSUs in their new C2D rigs, my dinosaur computer could run off of a 300 watt. Nope, now that one died overnight while the computer was turned OFF. Do I blame the power supplies or something in my computer?

One more thing, I just switched from my old 1700+ running at 266fsb to my brothers 2500+ at 333fsb. I carelessly added in an old stick of DDR 266 and ran it at 333 for 5 seconds while my room smelt like it was on fire. The ram is toast, but did I do permanent damage to my mobo and is that causing the power supplies to die? Any help is appreciated.

[=ACID RAIN=]

Probably the mobo is fubar. Have you checked the PSUs in another machine to see if they still work? Chances are they might be fine while the mobo is the part flaking out.

Let me add that running your 266 ram @ 333 won't smoke it. It might lock it up, but that's all. You probably plugged it in wrong (didn't fully engage the clips) or even backwards, (they will go if you cram them hard enough!). Either way, you had a physical mistake, and that took your system out. No matter the speed, NOTHING you plugged into that board (that you just mentioned) would smoke if run at non-rated speeds.

Oh and you mentioned dell. You didn't run the system on the Dell PSU, did you? Tell me you didn't.

[CGR]

I had a PSU die on me the same way. Worked fine one night, then I shut it down and went to power it on the following evening and wouldnt power up. Nothing I did would help.

Eventually I just put another PSU in there to test it and that one worked fine. So I had to RMA the PSU.

Not sure what could have happened, as the machine is protected from brownouts/spikes.

[=ACID RAIN=]

Probably a bad main cap, bad volt reg, etc. Seen it before too - running fine one day, then you shut it down, it drains itself overnight, and BAM next day it's dead.

[gangaskan]

Oh and you mentioned dell. You didn't run the system on the Dell PSU, did you? Tell me you didn't.



hope not, he's in a world of hurt if he did :(


are they still screwing with the pinouts on the power supplies?

[Endup]

I did the paperclip trick on the two dead PSUs and got no response. I will try the PSUs in a new computer in a few minutes.

As for the ram, it did not smoke as far as I could see, but I could not sleep in my room that night because it smelt so bad after the computer was on for only 5 seconds.

I was going to buy a cheapo computer from dell for my parents, but when they told me that a 300watt power supply was going to be used for a C2D, 8600GT, 2GB DDR800, 320GB HD, case fans, and 2 CD drives, I built a much better computer instead.

Is it foolish to hook up any more power supplies to my old mobo? I have other working motherboards I can use so it is no big deal if I just junk this old motherboard.

[JDXNC]

Even if the computer is off, the PSU is still on, just not full. It is always supplying a very small amount of power to the +5vSB rail so that when you push the power button on your case it powers on completely. Its also still connected to the AC power in your house so that a voltage spike could still potentially damage it.

[gangaskan]

Is it foolish to hook up any more power supplies to my old mobo? I have other working motherboards I can use so it is no big deal if I just junk this old motherboard.

it depends on how bad you want to keep the board or not.


i would make sure no caps are bulging or bursting first off (this may have some indirect power issues associated with the power supply, but shouldn't have blown the power supply)

it could be other devices in your system causing issues as well. i would say checking the power supply with a multi meeter while plugged into the mobo might help.

[Moto7451]

We had a video card short out a motherboard and cause the motherboard and PSU release their magic smoke. Something was wired incorrectly.