psu exploded

jon76

jon76

Member
Hi all, I just recieved an older computer for free which I was planning on selling off, however when I came to turn it on nothing happened I took the side panel off to have a look if everything was connected correctly and as I was doing so it went bang and sparks cam from the back, and of course my first thought was has the alternate voltage switch been flicked over, sorry, not sure what it is actually called, but there was no such switch. Does anyone know what may have caused this as I am baffled, also will it have fried the components?
 
What is the make and model of the power supply, and the specs for the rest of the computer?

The parts may be fried. Is there any physical damage on the motherboard, such as burn marks or capacitors melted? Any damage around the plug ins for the motherboard or any other components?

First, of course, unplug everything and wait till it cools down. I would try testing each part individually, like trying the RAM/hard drive/optical drive/graphics card (if it has one) in a different computer. If they work, you may be fine.

If there's no physical damage to the motherboard or anything else, try it with a different PSU. But first post here the specs and make/model of the different PSU you are planning on trying, if you go that way.

But once again, if there's any physical damage, its done for.
 
the psu says: VTX win 450-pe the motherboard is k8nf4g-sata2, it has 1gb ddr400 ram and strange even though it has sata connections it has an 80gb Maxtor Diamond max i.d.e hard drive, it also has no graphics card. I could not tell what the processor was as I never got the computer on and looking at the processor gave me no clues, I just looked up the motherboard online and apperrntly it supports AMD Athlon 64 and Sempron processors, can't see any damage but i'm not sure, not sure how I will go about testing the components individually in another computer though as this is an old computer with ddr and mine is a pretty new one so most of it won't really be compatible
 
sorry about the typing errors, I am using a crappy little vaio netbook at the minute as the t.v my computer is connected to is being used, I find it very hard to type quickly on the little keys, god I hate laptops
 
Yeah, I'd figured that. If you don't have access to another computer with similar specs, and there is no physical damage, you could try another power supply. That is really only with the RAM, you could try the hard drives if your computer has an IDE connector.

But you have to be sure there's no more damage. Unplug everything and looks for anything that looks out of place.
 
thanks I will try the hard drive but I have a spare sata upstairs anyway, I am going to completely take it to bits anyway as the inside is disgusting and I think it must have been sat in someone's loft for a long time as there was dust in the grate above the cpu fan that was actually orange and clumps of the same stuff all over the inside of the case and in all the fans so i'm going to clean all the fans, case etc and check everything as I put it together, there is a dodgy little computer shop that has all sorts of spares lying around so I will see if they have a cheap psu knocking about
 
Sounds good, but if you replace the power supply with another cheap one, the same thing might happen. But just for testing, it should be fine.
 
the problem I would have with spending alot on a psu is that the computer itself is not really worth alot, I have a friend at work who was looking for one but all he wants it for is internet and watching video's etc so I thought this would do for him if I got it working, maybe earn £20 in the process don't think it is really worth any more, if i'm honest though alot of the reason I am trying to get it to work is because if I don't then it has beaten me and I always one way or another get them to work when they go wrong as I make it my mission
 
If you can find a HP, compaq, or a dell computer used from 2003-pressent for as cheep as possible as the system you describe is not worth buying a $60 PSU. Look for a system with an AMD XP CPU or intels Pentium III or newer. That you can pull the power supply out of. Worst case scenario I have a few PSU's sitting around if you want to buy one.
 
Gary1 said:
If you can find a HP, compaq, or a dell computer used from 2003-pressent for as cheep as possible as the system you describe is not worth buying a $60 PSU. Look for a system with an AMD XP CPU or intels Pentium III or newer. That you can pull the power supply out of. Worst case scenario I have a few PSU's sitting around if you want to buy one.
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I am hoping my brother might have one as he works for a house clearance company and finds computers/parts all the time, he is currently working on a quadcore he built from found parts, only problem is he is 70 miles away but yes, I agree that would be a good idea and the computer I am sorting our is a bit turd
 
for my main computer I would consider spending more on a new psu if for nothing else but peace of mind as I wouldn't like the same thing happening to my computer as it did to this, however I only have 4gb ram and I have found 16gb corsair ram for £90, this is my first priority as I just can't resist it, a new psu will be when I can afford it but kids are expensive, especially babies so they are taking up alot of the capital to be fair
 
Mate you need a new PSU WAY WAY WAY before you need 16GB of ram. The PSU is the most important part of any computer.
 
bigfellla said:
Mate you need a new PSU WAY WAY WAY before you need 16GB of ram. The PSU is the most important part of any computer.
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you are probably right, that is what I should do, I know the extra ram would not make that much difference to me right now, but I always think wouldn't that extra ram look good on my properties, I shall look into it anyway
 
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