Power supply

The same exact thing happened to me a week ago. The fan died so the power supply would shut down on overheat. I had a spare power supply around, so I swapped the bad one for the newer one.

These power supplies are cheaply made and do not last very well beyond

5 years.

I hope that your power supply can be replaced with generic power supplies. You can take your power supply out (it is junk anyway) and go to a computer store, and ask if they have a replacement for you.

I think that the proper solution is to replace the POS power supply with a new power supply. They are not expensive. I never owned compaqs (always generic computers), so I would not know exactly, but I hope that you can easily swap the power supply. It is a 5 minute job.

i

Thanks for your reply Iggy. I admire you because you want to learn, unlike some on this NG. I'm hoping to learn something too. I could buy another power supply (and may do that) but first I'm wondering what the actual problem is. Is the fan bad and the PS just doing it's thing or does the varying voltage indicate a PS problem? Since the voltage seems to be stable from all other outlets I'm considering connecting my fan to an unused cable for some other piece of hardware.

Engineman

< 2. Ignoramus16420 Dec 22, 1:15 pm show options

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The same exact thing happened to me a week ago. The fan died so the power supply would shut down on overheat. I had a spare power supply around, so I swapped the bad one for the newer one.

These power supplies are cheaply made and do not last very well beyond

5 years.

i

I had a fan fail in a similar manner, it took a while to sort out what was causing the smell. I never had any problem with the computer crashing, it kept on running even though the power supply fan had stopped. I replaced the fan and its been running ever since. The power supply is now about 6+ years old and the original fan failed after about

2 years. The computer runs almost 24-7 so its do>I have a Compaq Presario 6010 us about 2-1/2 yrs old. It has XP home

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:1135285386.928753.279380 @o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com:

It is possible that the fan is temperature controlled, but doubtful. Sounds like an internal power supply problem, and could be indicative of things getting worse down the road. I would just purchase a new power supply. The only things you really need to know are: a. ATX or mATX b. Minimum wattage required for your computer. You may have to go with a larger supply, as about the minimum you can get now is 300W. c. +5vsb amperage required for your computer. If you ever think you will upgrade or replace the motherboard, make sure the power supply will provide at least 2A to the +5vsb. Check out

Good folks to deal with.

chinese fans are garbage is the problem. If you have a spare swap the fan, if not, just get a new power supply. Since you mentioned Compaq it's likely there's something nonstandard about the power supply itself, be it size, how it mounts or the connectors.

Thanks for the compliment. It is great that you want to learn something. The way I see it, ASSUMING that you can get a generic power supply, a new supply is cheaper than wasting time trying to rig in new fans etc.

I suspect that Compaq does have nonstandard power supplies, out of general corporate scumminess considerations, especially if it was made after Compaq was bought by HP.

Good luck, either way, you will be in business soon. Nothing to worry about.

i

for what it's worth, there are two designs for these fans, one with ball bearings, one with bushings - the one with bushings typically fails by having the oil disappear, and can be repaired once or twice by reoiling - after that the busings are shot and you can toss the fan or change the bushings.

to oil, remove the fan, remove the label from the center of the fan. in the center you will see a small plastic split washer that acts like a "C" clip to h old the fan in place. remove it, and remove the one or two washers below it (remember the order they came out in so you can put them back the same way). pull the fan blade assembly off, lubricate the bushings, and reassemble. it should be good for another year or two.

Bill

to contact me, do not reply to this message, instead correct this address and use it

will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com

WAY not worth screwing around with! This IS your warning! Please trust me, Let's say the PS does one little glitch...and takes out a memory module, motherboard, CPU and hard drive. The PS is the cheapest part, no? That computer still has some life in it, if it was a p3 I'd say to play with it. I wish I would get warnings like this, but noooo...Puffff.

I have been warned by someone who knows, about Dell power supplies - you can't even rely on their own brand being swap able. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

The uP's have sensors under them or inside as the case of some. The fans are modulated to the airflow needed. If the room is cool it might take a while - and if the cpu is in sleep mode - maybe not at all.

Drove us crazy in the lab - like an engine fan today - never know when a fan starts up.

I'd contact Compaq - and inquire. You likely have a power saving mode on and that might be part of it.

RMB (right mouse button) in the open desk top and go to settings - .. see the world - select that settings...

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:

The large hysteresis band (stops at 4.5 volts, won't restart until 10 volts) strongly suggests that your fan is toast, probably bearings. It should vary speed smoothly and continuously as drive voltage varies.

The fact that the voltage varies indicates that the supply does measure temperature and adjust fan excitation accordingly. This is very probably to meet energy saving requirements. Elex mfrs go to great lengths to save a watt wherever they can. It may also be an attempt to extend fan life.

Fans are mechanical devices that eventually wear out. Heat is what kills the elex in power supplies. The cooler they run, the longer they last. I have supplies that have run for over a decade.

If you don't mind the noise, I'd say get the biggest fan you can fit in the available space and run it at full speed all the time. Also, while you're in there, blow all the dust and crap out of the supply and the puter, especially off the various heatsinks. There may be a little fan right on the 1.4 GHz CPU. If there is, cover that when blowing around it so you don't spin its little blades off.

Different 'puters can use different voltages. Used to be elex was pretty much all 5 volts but some more recent stuff runs on 3.3 and some new stuff may be running at even lower voltages. Some SOA silicon runs at under 1 volt. Less power, less heat, more speed.

Compaqs used to have everything custom, virtually nothing generic would fit, not even memory. Don't know about things since HP got their mitts on them.

It IS warning you here, swap or fix the PS before you cook something else. On a lot of cheaply built boxes, the PS fan is the only thing keeping the MB from cooking itself. If a generic PS will fit, make sure it has ball-bearing fan(s), more than one would be nice. Most desktops are built to a price and don't have components to take 24-7 duty. That's part of why server cans are more expensive.

If you're handy with a soldering iron, you could crack the PS can and swap fans, usually there's some kind of connector to the main PS board but nothing is standardized. If you're lucky, the replacement fan will plug right up and work, if not, you get to cut and splice leads. Since things got hot enough to cook at least once, you're taking a chance here with just replacing a fan. I've done a lot of this type of replacement in the past when I could scrounge good surplus fans for cheap. These days, a fan's going to cost you about a third of what a cheap supply costs off the shelf, more if it's ball-bearing. Replacement fans can be had at retail from the likes of Digi-Key and Mouser. Radio Shack has some types, too, if you just gotta go local, no pedigree with those and about the same price as the name-brands.

I've had good luck with Antec brand power supplies, Power Supply and Cooling ones are good, too, just expensive. I think P.S.&C. also offer some supplies for some of the brands with custom units. You could contact them for recommendations, anyway, doesn't cost to ask.

Stan

Martin, I think you're onto something. There's no reason that my desktop machine needs to change fan speeds to pinch pennies. Before I get a new PS i'd like to see if I can set it for full speed all the time and solve my problem simply. I went into control panel/ power options/power schemes tab and tried all combinations of settings. Each time I got the message "Power policy manager unable to set policy" and "Indicates two revision levels are incompatable". Do you know how to set this feature? Compaq was no help. John

Another problem with spinning a fan by air is that they become generators.

Cheers! Rich

Don Foreman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The +5vsb supplies the USB ports on your computer, among other things. It is a separate output of the power supply and I have yet to see a motherboard of anywhere near recent vintage (last 5 years or so) that did not require it. The thing to watch..is the supply CURRENT for the +5vsb. Most modern motherboards require a minimum of 2A to be available on the +

5vsb supply. An ATX or mATX is a standard. It will provide all the required voltages. They now incorporate supply voltage for SATA equipment, as well as the stand-alone +12V 4 prong supply for the high-performance chips.

With compaq..it could be a bitch..some are unique to Compaq.

PC powersupplies fair with some regularity, and are readily available at computer or electonic stores, or suplus computer places.

THough on the other hand..I need 4-6 AT style, 275 or more watt power supplies each year..and they are getting harder to find.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner