Am I getting ripped off here

GAL · #1 07-31-2006, 11:59 AM

A few days ago there was a power cut to my house, when the power came back on my computer wouldn't turn back on, this has happened before and after leaving my computer unplugged for a couple of days it turned back on when reconnected.

I borrowed a hard drive from a friend and left my computer unplugged over the weekend but when I reconnected it today it still wouldn't turn on. After googling the problem it seemed that the problem was the PSU so I tried the PSU from my friends computer and that worked, however when I put the PSU back into my friends computer and restarted it, it stayed on the start up screen.

I went to my local computer shop with his hard drive, explained the problem and bought a new PSU for my hard drive. I fitted the new PSU which fixed the problem on my computer. The shop then rang to tell me that my friends computer would be ready in the morning and he had fitted a new PSU as the old one was faulty but I know that PSU was working. So could a PSU fault cause it to stay on the start up screen?

LuckyTxGuy · #2 07-31-2006, 03:58 PM

I re-read your post a couple times and I think I'm with you so far. To answer your question, yes, a bad power supply can cause Windows to hang on the boot screen...or almost anywhere else. I've seen some VERY strange things happen because of a faulty or malfunctioning PSU.

However, the mystery to me (if I understood this all correctly) is that now his PSU seems to have died after you put it in your computer. So now you both need needed new PSU's. That would lead me to believe maybe you have a bad component in your computer that is actually causing the PSU to die? It would be strange but possible.

jschaud · #3 07-31-2006, 07:31 PM

sounds like the power blinking has caused some kind of short in your computer which is making it eat power supplies.

BBill · #4 08-01-2006, 12:54 PM

Its also a good idea to plug any computer into a good quality surge protector aka power strip especially if the power in that area is flaky.
The best thing to do for protection from bad power is get a ups / Uninterruptible power supply.

The other common factor in the damaged PS besides your PC is the house power.

jschaud · #5 08-01-2006, 06:03 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Its also a good idea to plug any computer into a good quality surge protector aka power strip especially if the power in that area is flaky.
The best thing to do for protection from bad power is get a ups / Uninterruptible power supply.

The other common factor in the damaged PS besides your PC is the house power.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is excellent advice, but let me stress that the $12 power strips, ARE NOT the same as an $80 ups in terms of security to your computer. those little power strips offer very little protection to your system while ups systems will generally guarantee your computer is not hurt by an electrical spike.