Comments for My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

Comment from Richard O. on 2008-10-26

2008-10-26T20:11:52Z

To see if a mother board can be causing a problem that looks as if a power supply is causing the problem. look at the capacitors on the mother board the tops of them should be FLAT and not bulged. if caps are bulged that will cause the mother board to act as if it is not getting required power from the mother board. this is a common problem in older mother boards, replace them.

Just a tip from the past

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

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Comment from Torben R on 2008-10-22

2008-10-22T12:48:07Z

Having a similar? problem. My PC with a Soltek MB and P4 CPU began not to boot, no beep. Some times resetting helped plus "load previous settings" in BIOS. Replacing the battery (which was low, 1.13V) plus resetting CMOS by jumper helped for a while, but the troubles kept on. At last no beep at all, no video output.
I have been told: MB- or power sply-failure.
Trying another power sup. did not help, so I say MB-failure, sounds reasonable?
From the beginning the MB has suffered from an unusual behaviour: when turned on, it stopped for a couple of seconds, then woke up and went on. So maybe replacing some capacitors might cure it?
Wish some advice before throwing it out.

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

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Comment from Tom Bingenheimer on 2008-10-21

2008-10-22T02:13:25Z

I started having the same problem earlier this year -- I couldn't plug either my digital camera or my iPod (both USB) without my computer rebooting. If I didn't remove the USB, it would boot only so far before rebooting again.

I took it in to MicroCenter and they were thinking it was the motherboard. I asked them to check the power supply, and they plugged in a test power supply. My problems stopped. So they installed a new, more powerful, power supply. No problems since then.

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

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Comment from peter springsteen on 2008-10-21

2008-10-21T23:55:19Z

YES!!! it IS the power supply but not necessarily a faulty one. Unfortunately you may have a power supply that DOES NOT put out the rated [ stated ] power. HD's have a habit of struggling with power supply's that are pushing themselves to the limit. If you have several HD's and only ONE falters,[ not just the boot drive ] that can cause a reboot since the system is monitoring all drives and thinks something has failed. I solved this problem [ 12 HD's running ] by connecting another PS outside the box and powering half the drives with it. Problem solved.

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

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Comment from Paul Higgins on 2008-10-21

2008-10-21T21:02:54Z

It should be noted that the wattage of a power supply can be misleading. Often the �500 watts� or �650� watts is a peak wattage and the PSU is not designed and will not run at the stated wattage. Also, more important is the current rating (as in electrical current- not how it�s rated now!) on the rails, particularly the 12 volt rail. Minimum 18 amps on the 12v rail, better 20+.
It starts to get a bit technical, but I would advise getting someone a with some knowledge if you are considering a new power supply. Or �google� �buying a power supply�. There are lots of sites dedicated to the subject.

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

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Comment from Vincent S. Venturella on 2008-10-21

2008-10-21T16:08:38Z

Referring to your advice/answers/suggestions on the topic of "Crashing and the Replacement of Power Supply.....". I have re-installed OS a number of times and mostly follow your list, but I do have a question here.
If you are doing a complete back-up (e.g. settings, programs, data, etc) why should you need to install apps from original source? With my last Recovery, I did not restore the complete backup, but only the BU of files and folders overlaying that with a few changed and new files in the time interval just after BU but before Recovery. This leads to my second question; In your topics to do after Recovery you state to copy specific files from the BU. I believe in the program I'm using (A Sonic/Roxio) I'm under the obligation that I can only Restore what was backed-up and can't pick and choose. Am I wrong?

I'm not sure I clearly understand your comments, but...

If you do a complete, full, backup and restore of everything, then you are correct, you need not reinstall anything. Just remember that if your problem is software, not hardware, related, then the problem may be in your backups as well.

I'm not familiar with the backup program you're using, but most allow you to pick and choose individual files from a backed up image. In fact, I wouldn't use a backup program that didn't allow me to do that.

- Leo
22-Oct-2008

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A comment on: My computer is crashing and having troubles, is it time to replace the power supply?

Tech Questions? Get Answers! - Ask Leo! ... by Leo Notenboom
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