PSU acting up

[G-sus]

Hello, it's been a while since I posted.

I recently went on a vacation for 10 days and I unplugged my PC from the wall just to be safe while I'm away. Once I got back, first thing that hit me was, I plugged it back in, the led on the motherboard lit up, I pushed the power button and... nothing. After a while it powered up, but after about 15 minutes of use, it crashed. That was weird, but I just restarted and carried on. After a while it crashed again, this time resulting in a BSOD. And this kept happening about 10-15 times until I gave up and just left it for now. Going to leave it plugged in for the night and see what happens in the morning.

Anyway, wanted to ask if anyone experienced anything like this and what could have possibly gone wrong during the 10 days it was unplugged? Before you ask, the system worked just fine before that, nothing was changed, removed or added, it was just left unplugged for 10 days.

 

[Zoot]

Doesn't sound like it's the PSU that's the problem.

Got any overclocks? Take stuff back to stock if you do. Also have a look in the Windows Event Viewer to see if there's some driver crashing or something.

If you're convinced it's the PSU's fault, you can try this, but it doesn't sound as if that's dead by any means.
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=394

 

[Mysterae]

Consider yourself lucky(ish).

Many years ago I was going away for 2 weeks and like you, disconnected everything from the power sockets, to be safe. When I got back and switched on my PC at the wall the Enermax PSU went BANG! and let out the magic smoke.

The problem is the capacitors. When not being used after a long period of being used, they dry out. When they dry out they can effectively short circuit. It may not be your PSU but the capacitors on the motherboard, but it depends on age and quality of the capacitors in either.

 

[Whiskers]

Consider yourself lucky(ish).

Many years ago I was going away for 2 weeks and like you, disconnected everything from the power sockets, to be safe. When I got back and switched on my PC at the wall the Enermax PSU went BANG! and let out the magic smoke.

The problem is the capacitors. When not being used after a long period of being used, they dry out. When they dry out they can effectively short circuit. It may not be your PSU but the capacitors on the motherboard, but it depends on age and quality of the capacitors in either.

I did the same thing with an 8 year old pc that had been constantly plugged in for all that time, Left it unplugged for 2 weeks while I built and installed its replacement then went to plug it in to recover files and bang! I nearly jumped across the room!

Very surprised to hear that it was an Enermax that did this though.. How old was it?

 

[G-sus]

Apart from the SSD and my WD Green, the system is 5 years old, build it in late 2009. The reason I suspect it's the PSU is, when I flip the switch on the PSU, the power led on the motherboard comes on, but I have to wait at least 10 seconds before the main power button does anything.

 

[MaxFTW]

I just like to pop in here i have a similar issue with a corsair AX 750 (and i should get that sorted out still as i have the warranty)

Basically my PC would do the led thing, and i press the power.... well it just would not come on, but when finally powered its usually ok, i did a format in the summer last year... or later, and it just would never turn back on via the switch on my Silverstone PS07, tried various tricks, nope, Mobo led will work yeah, but no life from the PC

currently im using the XFX 850 that i brought back in 2011 i think, and that was stored for a year from when i got my AX750 in early 2013 and it starts up first time every time, the AX 750 was always a bit slow to start up but i thought that was normal :/

I want to RMA if i can find out what is wrong, I got a feeling if i did it would power up when they have their hands on it and they will send it back to me saying nothing is wrong, yet my PC will probably not like it still :/

 

[G-sus]

I took apart my PSU the other day, cleaned it, looked for anything obvious. It still does that when I have to wait a bit for it to turn on the first time, but if I don't unplug it, it works fine. Not sure if I should be concerned and just replace my PSU since it's 5 years old anyway.

 

[barnsley]

I took apart my PSU the other day, cleaned it, looked for anything obvious. It still does that when I have to wait a bit for it to turn on the first time, but if I don't unplug it, it works fine. Not sure if I should be concerned and just replace my PSU since it's 5 years old anyway.

You're not really supposed to open PSUs . Time to get a new one, especially considering its age.

 

[maniac]

tried removing the ram and gpu/s and trying again, in my personal experience, ram sticks/slots being not aligned properly or if a speck of dust decides to go into the slot, it starts messing everything up. never heard this power supply issue before....

I have a 20 year old power supply in my cupboard and it sometimes went for a year without being turned on, it still works just fine...

 

[G-sus]

You're not really supposed to open PSUs . Time to get a new one, especially considering its age.

You're not supposed to take apart car engines as well Nothing wrong with taking a PSU apart to clean it, it's just a box.

 

[barnsley]

You're not supposed to take apart car engines as well Nothing wrong with taking a PSU apart to clean it, it's just a box.

Its not like that really...

 

[Lazlo]

You're not supposed to take apart car engines as well Nothing wrong with taking a PSU apart to clean it, it's just a box.

Tell that to the guy who was killed when he opened up his a while ago.
If you start opening up PSUs and messing around with the inside you better know your s**t. Some parts can mantain lethal charges even when unpluged.

 

[G-sus]

Tell that to the guy who was killed when he opened up his a while ago.
If you start opening up PSUs and messing around with the inside you better know your s**t. Some parts can mantain lethal charges even when unpluged.

I'm aware. I did say I only opened it up to clean it, not completely take it apart. And even if I did, I know the dangers and there are plenty of precautions.