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is my power supply on its way out??

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slaytalera

Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2003
i have a Antec 350 watt SmartPower PSU and its been acting up for awhile. its fine when the computer is running, but if i shut it down for whatever reason, and try to turn it back on(immediately, or after an amount of time) it powers up for a second and the shuts off repeatedly, so its like on, off..., on, off...on, off...
like that untill it finally turns on, and after it turns on it has no problems at all. im running a P4 northwood, nvidia FX5900 ultra, 1WD caviar 120GB hard drive, a DVD burner, 1 80mm generic fan, and a 120mm scythe flex fan, or whatever its called

if you guys want i can post a video later on
 
i have a Antec 350 watt SmartPower PSU and its been acting up for awhile. its fine when the computer is running, but if i shut it down for whatever reason, and try to turn it back on(immediately, or after an amount of time) it powers up for a second and the shuts off repeatedly, so its like on, off..., on, off...on, off...
like that untill it finally turns on, and after it turns on it has no problems at all. im running a P4 northwood, nvidia FX5900 ultra, 1WD caviar 120GB hard drive, a DVD burner, 1 80mm generic fan, and a 120mm scythe flex fan, or whatever its called

if you guys want i can post a video later on

Check these threads here:

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4880552&postcount=1

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=496353

http://www.capacitorlab.com/visible-failures/pic002.htm

See if you can get a good look at your capacitors to see if they are bulged or leaking. The Antec SP and TP series have a bad reputation for that and it's the first place to look with the symptoms you are having.
 
i have a Antec 350 watt SmartPower PSU and its been acting up for awhile. its fine when the computer is running, but if i shut it down for whatever reason, and try to turn it back on(immediately, or after an amount of time) it powers up for a second and the shuts off repeatedly, so its like on, off..., on, off...on, off...
like that untill it finally turns on, and after it turns on it has no problems at all. im running a P4 northwood, nvidia FX5900 ultra, 1WD caviar 120GB hard drive, a DVD burner, 1 80mm generic fan, and a 120mm scythe flex fan, or whatever its called

if you guys want i can post a video later on

HAHA we believe you

You might also want to check your RAM and motherboard.

I would do a BIOS reset and update if you can, as well as a memtest.

Make sure no fans or other wires are touching the case. Those three-pin adapters are devils
 
If you can't open the casing to look at them, how else can you tell you have bad capacitors? Do they sing opera (squeal) like some MSI motherboards I had in the past?


Aja,

Some of the capacitors in question are on the outside back edge of these Antecs. They are right there, purple in color. Using a good light or turning your case upside down (if you have a tower with top mount power supply) and sliding the power supply out the side will show them. You normally don't have to unplug anything to do this. If they are bulged or leaking, there is no use checking anything else, it's done for.
 
Sad state of affairs...Antec used to always have quality PSU's, but that has changed.

If you want to do self-diagnosis, it often involves violating warranties(which I am NOT recommending). From what you provided, it doesn't appear that aside from the P4 you have terribly bad power drains, but there are a world of things your problem could be. Try RollingThunders suggestion as a first step, and go from there. This stuff isn't always easy.
 
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