10-27-2009, 01:41 PM
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#1
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 170
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Power supply keeps burning up.
I have a friend that the power supply keeps burning out on his computer. This is the third one to burn out. On average the psu lasts 7 to 8 months. There really isnt a strong smell of electronics burning when it goes. It seems they usually burn out after a power outage. The computer is in a motorcycle shop where they do alot of welding (building frames) with a big welder(dont know the specs). Could this possibly be reeking havoc on the psu? What could be the problem or what could fix the problem?
The last psu was a Coolmax, I believe, around $35.00, 500 watts.
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10-27-2009, 02:06 PM
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#2
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Served with Pride
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Have a qualified electrician check the circuit that the pc plugs into and see if it is affected by the welder. If the building is improperly grounded, it's entirely possible that the welder is affecting the pc. And make sure to buy only quality power supplies. Check in our General Hardware area for a sticky thread on good/bad power supplies.
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10-27-2009, 02:20 PM
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#3
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Member (8 bit)
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If it is the welder, what could be done to fix the problem? They were told they could run a seperate power supply from the outside of the building, but this is not very cost effective.
Just talked to him and he said there are times that the lights in the computer room would flicker like a disco when there is welding going on downstairs.
Last edited by bearcreek; 10-27-2009 at 02:29 PM..
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10-27-2009, 02:30 PM
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#5
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Member (8 bit)
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Thanks for the reply, I will keep this in mind when we purchase.
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10-27-2009, 02:52 PM
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#6
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Served with Pride
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bearcreek
If it is the welder, what could be done to fix the problem? They were told they could run a seperate power supply from the outside of the building, but this is not very cost effective.
Just talked to him and he said there are times that the lights in the computer room would flicker like a disco when there is welding going on downstairs.
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They definitely have circuit problems or grounding problems. If the welder is running off a 230v circuit that is also providing power to the lighting, they ought to consult an electrican about separating the circuits and running the lighting (and pc power) thru a separate transformer. Or connect the welder thru some type of isolation transformer.
This was a common problem for my industrial customers in the days gone by. Welders wll pump voltage/spikes back into the service bus and raise hell with any microprocessor driver device. They need to run that welder on a separate circuit. |
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10-27-2009, 03:02 PM
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#7
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 170
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I can almost guarantee it is a 230v circuit. They have already gone over adding another transformer and it would just cost too much.
The other side of the building does not get this problem, so probably what will happen is a 12-2 wire will be run to his computer room for the computer alone.
Do you have any suggestions on a certain psu? I did the psu calculator and a 300 watt psu would suffice, but a 400w or 500w would be better. Probably under $50 would be nice also.
Thank you for all of your suggestions and your time.
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10-27-2009, 03:40 PM
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#8
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: San Francisco Bay
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When a field collapses on a transformer it can create a big voltage spike. Arc welders have a massive step-down transformer which convert higher voltages into a huge amount of current. Your computer is on one of the two 120 volt legs of the 230 volt circuit being used by the arc welder. (or possibly one of three 440 volt three phase legs.) Buy a dedicated UPS for the computer and put it on a power strip with voltage spike protection.
Also, have the arc welder checked out. It is not supposed to be doing this. I would imagine there must be some sort of voltage spike prevention built in to the unit which has failed. Chances are its going to destroy something else eventually if it is not repaired.
__________________
Mobo: P5N72-T PREMIUM 1.XX NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX | CPU: Intel E8500 w/Dangerden MC-TDX775 cooling block | RAM: 4G of OCZ Flex XLC 2GB DDR2-1150 watercooled | Graphics: (2) 8800 GTS 512mb in SLI | OS: XP Pro 32, Vista Home Prem 32, Vista Home Prem 64 | PSU: Coolermaster 1250W RS-C50-EMBA-d2 | Drives (2)Seagate Barracuda 1Tb | Case: Lian-Li PC-A71B | Radiator: Koolance 1300W EHX-1320BK
Last edited by David M; 10-27-2009 at 03:46 PM..
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10-27-2009, 05:21 PM
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#9
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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The responders so far are covering the issues pretty well.
The PC should be on a good surge suppressor anyway. Even in a standard house environment. These are not expensive to have a 4 or 6 outlet strip. Buy one that has an indicator for the surge protection, as a BIG surge can damage or burn out the gadget that eats the surge and needs replacement. BUT it saved your expensive equipment. Plug in the inkjet printer to the surge protect also. And the monitor.
You might want to consider adding a UPS to the equipment also. This will add protection for a brownout or voltage drop as well as an outage. This takes a little work to calculate the right size for the watts of equipment that is plugged in. If the office has a Laser printer don't put it on the UPS as it takes too much power.
If it is out of the scope to get the building power checked out and possibly fixed, then the other options are to get the PC equipment on a clean circuit if at all possible. Especially off any circuit connected to the welder. Large motors in electrical equipment are a problem too. Starting and stopping large motors cause surges also. IF the power has to run from the "other side of the building" then that would probably do it. The right way would be to have an electrician install it to meet code and to check for circuit load issues. An extension cord would NOT be the right way, although if it's only 10-12 feet they might get away with it.
One power supply to mention would be the Corsair 400w unit that is priced reasonably on Newegg. There are other brands and models as well. This is one of the more reliable brands.
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10-28-2009, 09:20 AM
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#11
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 170
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Thanks for all the replies. It looks like they are going to pull electric from the other side of the building, it is on a subpanel. They have a computer on the subpanel and it has not been affected.
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10-28-2009, 01:37 PM
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#12
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Posts: 574
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Urge them to at least put the system on a good surge protector. It is a cheap form of insurance.
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10-28-2009, 01:41 PM
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#13
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 170
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I forgot to mention the monitor will not turn on. It is a Viewsonic flat screen, the on/off indicator flickers sometimes and others times it turns the full color (no flickering). The last time it did this it came back on after a day. Is this something that could be fixed?
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10-28-2009, 09:02 PM
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#14
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Forum Administrator
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Good chance the monitor is zapped too. If it's off warranty, the repair cost may not be worth it.
Here is a top quality surge suppressor - I would NOT use anything less in this situation:
TRIPP LITE ISOBAR6ULTRA 6 feet 6 Outlets 2350 joules Isobar Surge Suppressor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812120524
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10-28-2009, 09:08 PM
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#15
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Served with Pride
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bearcreek
I forgot to mention the monitor will not turn on. It is a Viewsonic flat screen, the on/off indicator flickers sometimes and others times it turns the full color (no flickering). The last time it did this it came back on after a day. Is this something that could be fixed?
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I've replaced a couple of power boards in NU monitors that were out of warranty but I don't know about Viewsonic. NU has a $30 exchange plan for their power board. That's most likely what is gone on that Viewsonic. |
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10-29-2009, 08:37 AM
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#16
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Thank you for all of your suggestions. I will tell him what you guys have suggested.
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10-30-2009, 05:41 PM
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#17
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Member (11 bit)
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Confluence of the Mississippi and Misouri Rivers
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Maybe use a UPS. I was thinking a UPS uses the power to charge the battery, and then you use the battery to run the computer. A separate line might be better. Another idea is to run off of a battery backup system.
Another idea is to try to route a new circuit from the fuse box or a new circuit off of the main. Sometimes they do this for special 220 cirucuits for heaters/ovens/air conditioners/refrigerators, because they pull lots of watts/ampage.
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10-30-2009, 10:46 PM
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#18
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Refer to post #10, please.
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11-02-2009, 02:05 PM
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#19
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Member (8 bit)
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Turns out it fried the motherboard also. It was a Systemax computer. I believe it has a 775 socket from the research I have done. I am at work so I am not sure what the processor is or if the socket 775 is correct. I will check all that when I get home.
It has been a couple of years since I have built a computer and I am unsure on what is good and what is not. So, I need suggestions on the motherboard and is this going to cause alot of issues by only changing the motherboard and memory (old memory is 184 pin)? I know I will have to change the drivers, but what about Windows, any issues I should be aware of ?
I will list the hardware when I get home.
Last edited by bearcreek; 11-02-2009 at 02:07 PM..
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11-02-2009, 02:11 PM
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#20
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Served with Pride
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I believe Systemax is a house brand from Tiger Direct. The mobo could be any brand but most likely a lower tier manufacturer. They also use really cheap power supplies in those machines - often Ultra brand. I know your friend replaced it already but the original failure may not have been unexpected. Better wait until you get the case open to see what parts are in there and if it's worth salvaging.
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11-02-2009, 02:19 PM
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#21
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Member (8 bit)
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Yes, it is from Tiger Direct and he purchased the Corsair PSU that you guys suggested. I am thinking the cpu is a Core 2 Duo. So it should be worth salvaging shouldnt it? I am going to guess he wants to keep this cheap, so a new rebuild is out of the question but I will try.
He has also run a new outlet for power from the subpanel box. This should correct the welder problem as there is a computer on the subbox that has not had an issue yet.
Last edited by bearcreek; 11-02-2009 at 02:21 PM..
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11-02-2009, 07:57 PM
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#22
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Member (8 bit)
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I was wrong, the processor is Intel Pentium D Processor 840 3.2 GHz. What is a good compatible motherboard for this processor?
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11-02-2009, 08:43 PM
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#23
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Served with Pride
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bearcreek
I was wrong, the processor is Intel Pentium D Processor 840 3.2 GHz. What is a good compatible motherboard for this processor?
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All I see are junk brand mobo's that I wouldn't use on a dare. However, I did find a nice refurb option on ebay. This guys has 5 boards and a decent reseller rating. I'm using the same board in an older Pent D machine I use for ripping old music.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Asus-P5L-MX-LGA-...item27aac2d9a7
You'll have to download the drivers from Asus and prolly run without an i/o plate. |
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11-03-2009, 01:06 AM
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#24
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11-03-2009, 01:44 AM
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#25
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Served with Pride
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
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I stand corrected. I was only looking at boards that came up under Pentium D in the Newegg advanced search. So much for that method. |
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11-03-2009, 07:24 AM
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#26
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Member (8 bit)
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Thank you for all of your suggestions and your time. I will pass on the info.
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11-03-2009, 11:10 AM
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#27
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Member (8 bit)
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He has ordered the better of the two motherboards you have suggested. What is the best method of installing the drivers? Should I use Windows repair or try to find the drivers myself?
Nevermind I just saw it comes with the driver disk.
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11-03-2009, 03:10 PM
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#28
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You will have to use Windows repair reinstall anyway because of the different chipset.
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11-04-2009, 07:58 AM
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#29
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Member (8 bit)
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Ok, thanks for all of your help.
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11-04-2009, 09:07 AM
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#30
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Member (8 bit)
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When I do the Windows repair, I wont loose any data will I ?
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