Power Supply Dying?

[Comp10]

As of recently my computer has been doing some very wierd things and I'm thinking it might be the power supply, but would like some confirmation before I buy a new one. Here is what is has been doing: 1) Random reboots, and after rebooting the computer will sometimes load fine, other times shut down completely and refuse to power up again for a few minutes. 2) When I turn on the computer, the lights will go on and it will just sit there for 15 or more seconds, then begin to power up. Also when the floppy drive attempts to access during bootup, it makes a somewhat different sound than normal as well. 3) Monitor will sometimes "snap", where the screen will disort for a split second, almost like a degauss only with just a small portion of the screen at a time. Any thoughts on what might be causing some/all of this? It seems to me like it should be the power supply, but i'm not really sure.

Thanks

 

[Muzzy]

Hum, sounds to me like psu too. Give that a try first.

 

[Johnbear007]

Yeah, it sound like the PSU... except for the monitor thing...... But that may be a problem with the vid card caused by the PSU.

I think trying a new PSU woudl be good. Go buy one from best buy, and that way if you try it and it is NOT the psu you can take it back. buy something good like an antec.

 

[stevennoland]

In response to:

[Yeah, it sound like the PSU... except for the monitor thing...... But that may be a problem with the vid card caused by the PSU.

I think trying a new PSU woudl be good. Go buy one from best buy, and that way if you try it and it is NOT the psu you can take it back. buy something good like an antec.]

Agreed. Get a known working PSU and try it. If your problem is the PSU, don't skimp on a cheap POS. Spend more than double on you PSU. It drives me crazy when users want a cheap PSU!!!! Also, you might want to get a Monster Cable surge suppressor/ line conditioner for all you ac components.

 

[AtomClock]

Hey, I had a similar problem and I thought it was the motherboard until I changed the power supply. It became quite stable after I changed the supply and then over the next six months it slowly became more and more unstable again. It turns out that it was the motherboard all the time. It was an EPOX 8K7A and it had bad capacitors. (note they let me RMA the board and fixed the capacitors for only the cost of shipping--more than two years after I bought the board). Anyway, do a quick internet search on your motherboard model with the word capacitors and see if others have had that problem. Also look at the caps and see if they have a domed top or are leaking.