Pc Causing Power Surge - External Power Supply Normal

[Cyberstar]

Hi,

I've got some sudden problems on the basic power/BIOS/motherboard level. Probably both power supply and motherboard will have to be replaced, but optimistic as I am, I'll give both a second chance, depending on the likeliness of either one blowing up more components.

But most importantly, I'd like to learn how not to do another time.

It all happened without a warning to a custom built PC, with no components used more than a year. No problems of any kind, until now. Yesterday turned off nice and gently as usual. This morning, however, the monitor turned on okay but only to persistently insist on 'Going to sleep'. It turned out that the box doesn't communicate with neither mouse nor keyboard, nor is there any splashscreen allowing to enter BIOS-setup. The only signs of life are that a green led on the motherboard lights up and the CPU-fan spins. Both RAM, HDD and CPU works okay in other computers.

Well, initially both PC and screen got power via an UPS, which - at the first attempts - didn't refuse power to the PC. However, some of my experiments involved removing the UPS (whereby I probably blew the MB, if it wasn't already blown). After the UPS-less experiments, the UPS now makes warning sounds and switch off the PC after a few seconds ... thus indicating power surge making events are taking place inside the computer.

What could those power surges possible be caused by? Any other thing than the internal power supplier?

I think its safe to conclude that the surge isn't caused by external events. Haven't had any problem with that for the more than 2 years I've been at this place. I have several other workstations going on the same "branch" of the main circuit board (and a couple were already on before turning on this PC first time today). I have even tried to plug the faulty PC into an outlet that worked perfectly with another PC both a few minutes before and a few minutes after.

[makloey]

Hi,

I've got some sudden problems on the basic power/BIOS/motherboard level. Probably both power supply and motherboard will have to be replaced, but optimistic as I am, I'll give both a second chance, depending on the likeliness of either one blowing up more components.

But most importantly, I'd like to learn how not to do another time.

It all happened without a warning to a custom built PC, with no components used more than a year. No problems of any kind, until now. Yesterday turned off nice and gently as usual. This morning, however, the monitor turned on okay but only to persistently insist on 'Going to sleep'. It turned out that the box doesn't communicate with neither mouse nor keyboard, nor is there any splashscreen allowing to enter BIOS-setup. The only signs of life are that a green led on the motherboard lights up and the CPU-fan spins. Both RAM, HDD and CPU works okay in other computers.

Well, initially both PC and screen got power via an UPS, which - at the first attempts - didn't refuse power to the PC. However, some of my experiments involved removing the UPS (whereby I probably blew the MB, if it wasn't already blown). After the UPS-less experiments, the UPS now makes warning sounds and switch off the PC after a few seconds ... thus indicating power surge making events are taking place inside the computer.

What could those power surges possible be caused by? Any other thing than the internal power supplier?

I think its safe to conclude that the surge isn't caused by external events. Haven't had any problem with that for the more than 2 years I've been at this place. I have several other workstations going on the same "branch" of the main circuit board (and a couple were already on before turning on this PC first time today). I have even tried to plug the faulty PC into an outlet that worked perfectly with another PC both a few minutes before and a few minutes after.

It's not unusual for a power supply to die. Try using the power supply from the working pc. And don't connect a screen to an UPS.

[Crossy]

I would also suggest that the PSU be your first port of call.

Either buy a new one, or take the PC to your friendly local computer man and get him to have a look.