07/02: Power supply
Back in November, 2016, PC died unexpectedly with just some noise from a fan inside. It could be a combination of CPU, mobo, and PSU went wrong, to be on the safe side and get the work horse back in short time, I replaced all 3 of them, along the way, 4GB memory upgrade to bring total to 8GB and a brand new 1T hard drive, so I can reuse the old hard drive someday. But the new mobo is bleeding edge, requires USB3.0 preloaded from OS DVD, so my 2009 Vista Ultimate was obviously out of date, not even windows 7 can do the job, therefore, more money for a new OS - Windows 10 pro, since already spent money on OS, would not mind a couple dozens more for a decent pro version. After all this new PC is up and running happily, I have time to look into the old stuff, first took the PSU apart, found some bulged caps.
Also noticed a black line was severely burnt due to current overload. Took out the bulged caps.
Replaced those 470uf/16v caps with not exact caps 1000uf/16v, problem persisted, found primary caps leaked.
Took out those two primary caps in a bank.
Not even Radio Shack has matching caps. So project put on hold.
Needed to check CPU and mobo, bought an EVGA 600W on sale from BestBuy for $34.99 which is very good for a major brand with quality, hooked up the new PSU with the old CPU/mobo, shorted the power pins for a second, the CPU fan ran right away, that gave some hope of just the old PSU being the culprit.
The law put simply says that life of a capacitor doubles for every 10 degree Celsius decrease in temperature.
The old PSU's fan was stuck due to lack of oil/lube at the bearing, after adding some w40, it could turn much easier.
This broken fan might well fry the caps.
Never, ever save on a power supply again!
Also noticed a black line was severely burnt due to current overload. Took out the bulged caps.
Replaced those 470uf/16v caps with not exact caps 1000uf/16v, problem persisted, found primary caps leaked.
Took out those two primary caps in a bank.
Not even Radio Shack has matching caps. So project put on hold.
Needed to check CPU and mobo, bought an EVGA 600W on sale from BestBuy for $34.99 which is very good for a major brand with quality, hooked up the new PSU with the old CPU/mobo, shorted the power pins for a second, the CPU fan ran right away, that gave some hope of just the old PSU being the culprit.
The law put simply says that life of a capacitor doubles for every 10 degree Celsius decrease in temperature.
The old PSU's fan was stuck due to lack of oil/lube at the bearing, after adding some w40, it could turn much easier.
This broken fan might well fry the caps.
Never, ever save on a power supply again!
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