I noticed will surfing a couple days ago the PS fan rpm was surging up and down; most peculiar. I almost absent-mindedly shut the computer down instead of just logging off. Good thing. Next day, I fired it up, and within a few minutes, started noticing the Smell Of Death. I felt the back of the 'Puter-very hot. Shut it down, pulled the ATX ps and replaced the cooling fan in it with a nice 80mm BB one I had in stock. Now running nice and cool, and some issues I had with the monitor not resuming after standby also gone. Possible PS issue there? JR Dweller in the cellar
I am, without a doubt, the worlds least computer literate person I know, but I've had the same problem with two power supplies---although no sign from the fan within. In both cases one of the components on the board died from heat, so it made finding the problem real easy. I do everything I can for myself, not having excess money that I can spend on what is really a luxury.
The first power supply lasted about five years, the second slightly more than one. The third supply, which is now in the computer, has a second fan, directly over the same component that failed in the previous supply. To me, it's a good sign that they know the supply is deficient----and have done something to provide for better cooling. I gather it's a fairly common problem.
Yep. real common - called lack of maintenance. Need to clear out dust/ fluff from power supply . Use blower wand on end of hose from air compressor. Clogs fan, acts like blanket. Things then die. The power supply components will have been stressed, will fail soon. Look around for another power supply.....Oh, and back up your hard disk before the lot gets fritzed.....cause it will happen......
On Sat, 25 Aug 2007 22:44:27 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, JR North quickly quoth:
Kudos, JR. Aren't we all lucky to have inquisitive minds and want to fix our own "stuff"? Once Dad gave me the first lesson in physics, I was hooked on science and how-to.
Much more likely a cabling corrosion issue which was solved by the quick R&R.
-- Books are the compasses and telescopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life. --Jesse Lee Bennett
JR, it's possible that the slow return from standby was a power supply (PSU) related symptom. If it's not a software problem (hell if I'd know how to tell*), it's fairly likely that the symptom was PSU related, as the stressed components would probably stutter when a heavier demand was put on them as the system came out of standby mode.
Myself, I'd be very concerned that the fan failure resulted in enough heat to give off an odor, and that the heat you described/felt was more than mildly-warm-to-very-warm. I'd be replacing the PSU right away, instead of waiting for the next incident.. but then, I've got other PSUs here. If I didn't have spares, I'd probably still go (right away) to a store for a replacement, even though Stples is the only place that I think I'd find one locally, so I'd be paying more than it was worth.
There are many online/ebay sources that aren't expensive, in fact more like dirt cheap, but many of 'em are probably crap. I'd feel confident buying a new ebay PSU from a reliable seller, and probably get one made by Bestec, as the ones I've used that were made by them have been reliable. You'd want to get the same capacity (250 watt, etc or greater), and a model that has the same (or more) power plugs as the one you're now using. A $20-30 purchase is better than the aggravation and extra expense of other potential damage/loss if your present PSU suffers a catastrophic failure.
after you start using the new PSU, you can experiment with various loads on the old PSU, and that might show that it was destined to fail within a short time.
Power supplies, along with hard drives, are "wear items" and need to be replaced after a few years. This is usually due to cheap fans in them, as you experienced. If you want to continue using your computer, replace a power supply. You can also vacuum it, but with good likelihood, the van is going bad.
JR North wrote in news:JaSdnaAuzcujjkzbnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@seanet.com:
As a scheduled maintenance item, I pull all the fans every 3 months and clean/oil them on all of my pc's (5). Kills the uptime stat on the server, but I prefer to keep things alive vs a meaninless stat.
Power supply fans are easily replaceable. Dead fan != dead power supply. Fortunately, in my experience, dying fans normally get noisy long enough in advance that they can be replaced long before doing any damage (one can only wish that this was universally true!).
In MOST computers the PS fan is also the case fan, so a bad PS fan causes everything to get too warm - with the possible exception on a P4 of the processor (which has it's own fan and air inlet in many cases)
And remember, ATX power supplies will NOT last as long as the old AT units, and they are running (in a "standby" mode" whenever they are plugged in - turned on or not. Average lifespan of an ATX power supply (common consuber device) is less than 3 years. Old AT and PC supplies routinely exceded 5 years - I know of MANY over 10 years old, and a few over 15.
I expect I was lucky, I had the fan fail on my AT supply and it kept going. I sorted out what the smell was (fan), replaced the fan and the power supply is still in use. Maybe 8 years old now.
Even ball-bearing fans have a lot of grades in quality, There's just a couple of places in town that have PS fans on the shelf, for the same size fan there's usually a factor of 2 or better on the air moved per minute on the different models. I usually I end up cutting and splicing the old plug onto the new fan. Latest units have one giant fan, 120mm or better, on the "down" side. About 6 months back, my machine would power up, run for about 5 minutes and shut off. Repeat after cooling off. Unlike some of the cut-rate PS units, this one had thermal protection and was advertised as such. The fan had jammed, frozen tight. Swapping fans brought the thing back up and it's been running ever since. I think I paid $10 over the cost of the cheapest unit on the shelf, looks like the additional money was worth it. I've had power supplies burn out, usually take the motherboard with them.
Some of the fans are cheaply made with plain oilite style bearings. After a few years, the oil turns to a black tar like substance. The motor runs slower and slower, until it seizes up. This can also happen with ball bearing fans, but takes longer. With ATX fans, the first failure is often a component in the speed control circuit on the PS board. The fans have a little stepper motor in them, and sometimes the built in driver chip fails. I had a new fan fail after about 2 weeks. The plastic retaining ring on the motor shaft came off, and that is all that holds the things together. The old fans had a tiny spring clip on the shaft, but there is hardly anything that can't be made cheaper!
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