Sorry if an ignorant guy questions your degree, but... it cannot be. Not only I opened and touched hundreds of computers and the like without problem, but even if you manage to trap some electrostatic charge, it can't do more than a sparkle. Actually, I never saw that either, not with an electronic devise.



Well, my PSU is 6 years old...

Capacitors can give give a nasty shock and can kill if they have enough charge.Check temperatures while performing CPU heavy tasks and use software as Core Temp to monitor them.And check every capacitor in PSU and MBO. The PSU I built can store 30V for 1-2min in the caps and they will run DC motor for a while.

 

Sorry if an ignorant guy questions your degree, but... it cannot be. Not only I opened and touched hundreds of computers and the like without problem, but even if you manage to trap some electrostatic charge, it can't do more than a sparkle. Actually, I never saw that either, not with an electronic devise.

I would say that if you are a newb and you are questioning a senior member such as #12, my only hope is that you stick around long enough to learn more from this forum and the senior members on it. The fact that you have poked around tells me you either know a little more than you are letting on, or you have been awful damn lucky. I too have been sent on my ass on more than one occasion, and yes they do hold a charge for some time in some cases.
As for your problem, this is not a case of insufficient cooling by any chance is it? Are all your fans working including the power supply fans? Silly question I know but don'e want to overlook the obvious. Can you isolate parts with a can of freeze spray or make it happen faster with a hair dryer? Just a thought.

 

The important point here is safety. Doubt as much as you want, but perform safety procedures such as discharging all capacitors with an alligator lead and a 10 ohm resistor for at least 2 seconds rather than betting your life that they can't hurt you.

 

if i read correctly, you claim your power supply is short by 150w and your trying to get more out of it.

you've been advised not to play with it because half the power supply is at mains potential and even after unplugged has the ability to maintain a charge. even if not lethal can be very nasty.

your best option, don't put all your eggs in one basket. run 2 pc boxes. remove some of the hardware, i assume hard drives, into another box and connect via network / shared drives.

and following the fine words of pwdixon -

That's all I'm going to say about that, no more posts from me on this. Good luck don't die.

edit:

@ all the other help, i work with home pc's, even generic high wattage power supplies will be sufficient. the one i'm currently on has a 550w supply, 8 core amd, 6 x 2tb drives, ssd, radeon supply powered video card and 3 illuminated 120mm fans.

 

The fact that you have poked around tells me you either know a little more than you are letting on, or you have been awful damn lucky.

Whaaat?

As for your problem, this is not a case of insufficient cooling by any chance is it? Are all your fans working including the power supply fans? Silly question I know but don'e want to overlook the obvious.

Nope, everything fine, seldom over 50°C.

Can you isolate parts with a can of freeze spray or make it happen faster with a hair dryer? Just a thought.

I don't really understand this one either. What do you mean by "isolate" and "parts"? As for the dryer over the cpu... are you sure is a good idea ?

if i read correctly, you claim your power supply is short by 150w and your trying to get more out of it.

Yes, if changing the old capacitors for new one can restore the full power of my old PSU, it looks like a good idea... even though at the beginning my question was if you can plug 2 computer PSU to the same motherboard without, you know, something weird happen.

your best option, don't put all your eggs in one basket. run 2 pc boxes. remove some of the hardware, i assume hard drives, into another box and connect via network / shared drives.

That's the worst possible scenario: you see, I don't have the place for another pc, I don't have a monitor for it, and network is a nightmare! It never works, it never recognize connected pc, you always have to manually reboot one pc, the bandwith is awful, and there's a funny unsolvable bug ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com...t-recently-viewed-folder?forum=w7itprogeneral ) that already harass me as soon as I want to copy a movie on my laptop. Simply put it, any beyond copy pasting (and actually even that) it's impossible with my network.

 

How does your computer crash? It just locks up and the screen is frozen but still perfectly showing the last content?

The fault can be in one of three places:

1. Power supply
2. Mother board
3. Software

Have you eliminated the other two?

 

You mean they have electricity even when unplugged ?!?

Eventually you learn about that some day and get a puncture burn.

Also just a comment on repairing a PSU- I have failed at that and I have quite a bit experience.
Often multiple components have worn out gradually (yes there are such things as partially latched semiconductors).
Then you replace one part and nothing works anymore.

The PCBs are often bad, constructed on purpose so you cant replace the parts properly.

I don't know man, the MD is less than 1 year old and didn't experience any trauma (fall, short-circuit, humidity, accidental scratch with the screwdriver over the conductive tracks...)

And I DO lack 150 watts.

Well then you have a snob problem, sorry to come to that conclusion but probably it is.
What is it that you need to power? Multiple hard drives? A high end graphics card?

Besides there is no good way to parallel them.

You can however use one for the drives with 4 pin connectors (not that I think that would be cutting it).
All you need to do is to parallel the startup wire, and the ground.

That is often a grey, green or purple wire.

 

The important point here is safety. Doubt as much as you want, but perform safety procedures such as discharging all capacitors with an alligator lead and a 10 ohm resistor for at least 2 seconds rather than betting your life that they can't hurt you.

Only a few need caution, I always tap these with a screwdriver. If i get a bang, I know they were live. and for what it is worth they can be measured with a DMM (I am always paranoid the electrodes could electrocute me so not applying a strong grip).

How about cleansing the RAM contacts with lighter fluid + a sponge, on the socket too? Dont burn yourself tough, if you use sufficient for the whole RAM module you can get a nasty vapour explosion. But it does the job well.

 

Ferden, from the time i've been in these forums, everyone is more than happy to pass on their experience to anyone. this is a two way street, you have to able to read what people are advising rather than running down your own tangent.

to the moderators, i apologise in advance.
.
you've been given good options and warnings from a few that believe you are not experienced enough to do the job safely.

That's the worst possible scenario: you see, I don't have the place for another pc, I don't have a monitor for it, and network is a nightmare! It never works, it never recognize connected pc, you always have to manually reboot one pc, the bandwith is awful, and there's a funny unsolvable bug ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com...t-recently-viewed-folder?forum=w7itprogeneral ) that already harass me as soon as I want to copy a movie on my laptop. Simply put it, any beyond copy pasting (and actually even that) it's impossible with my network.

operating system windows 7, IF its legitimate copy, microsoft would be more than happy to help you over the phone.

you assume the power supply is the issue for an apparent software fault. as you've NOT mentioned ANYTHING about your hardware besides the claimed lacking un-named power supply, any further help would be pure speculation.
thumbnails and permissions errors are a video / illegitimate software issue. high performance video cards do fail. often.

 

How does your computer crash? It just locks up and the screen is frozen but still perfectly showing the last content?

The screen freezes, if a sound was playing then the last frequency keeps playing monotone, mouse, keyboard and reset button don't respond (only the on/off button works).

The fault can be in one of three places:

1. Power supply
2. Mother board
3. Software

Have you eliminated the other two?

Software is excluded (within the limits you can say such a thing) because I formatted the pc twice, the same windows distribution works fine in friends' pcs, and the problem arises with different configuration (hardware and software). MB is new, without physical trauma, PSU is plain low. After that, you can just guess, no way to prove one way or the other.

Well then you have a snob problem, sorry to come to that conclusion but probably it is.

What does it mean a "snob problem" ???

What is it that you need to power? Multiple hard drives? A high end graphics card?

I have a very classic pc: MB, CPU, RAM, pci-ex 16x video card, 3 120mm fan, 2 pci-ex 4x, 1 pci, dvd-rw, front card reader, front usb, screen, printer, keyboard, mouse, 2 gamepad, speaker, headphone with micro and 6 HD (and no, I can't give them up). The PSU is nominally just enough, but it's 6 years old, and if it works under 100% then the math doesn't adds up.

Besides there is no good way to parallel them.

Parallel what? Mulpiple HD? 2 PSU on 1 MB?

You can however use one for the drives with 4 pin connectors (not that I think that would be cutting it).
All you need to do is to parallel the startup wire, and the ground.
That is often a grey, green or purple wire.

I really don't understand this. You mean I can plug the household electricity to the second PSUand the PSU to some drives without plugging the PSU to the MB?
Or do you mean that I have to do the previous, plus wiring PSU pins 14 and one of 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 16, 17 ( http://pinouts.ru/Power/atxpower_pinout.shtml ) to the MB ?

How about cleansing the RAM contacts with lighter fluid + a sponge, on the socket too? Dont burn yourself tough, if you use sufficient for the whole RAM module you can get a nasty vapour explosion. But it does the job well.

What job? Cleaning dust? rust? Do you have to see some problem with naked eye before do this? Besides, no sponge fits the RAM fissures, let alone the CPU's pin holes.

IF its legitimate copy

I donwloaded my win7 copy from a torrent, without paying anything to anyone. Copyright is bad, colluding with copyright mafias is bad. Speculation itself is bad. Unexpurgated copies of win7 as well as most commercial softwares have troyans (KB971033), ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Error_Reporting ) and viruses ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_and_DVD_copy_protection ), ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) ). Even plain media, if paid for, is plagued by viruses ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management ).

microsoft would be more than happy to help you over the phone.

A million of no. After a lenghty wait on a pay line, they will first try their best to filter you out on license grounds, then irreverently ask you personal info, then try to blame the first software you mention to have, if that fails then the first piece of hardware you mention to have, and they may even ask you to willlingly authorize them to use a trojan on your own pc.

you assume the power supply is the issue for an apparent software fault. as you've NOT mentioned ANYTHING about your hardware besides the claimed lacking un-named power supply, any further help would be pure speculation.

Well, I'm mentioning what I have in this post. Also, whatever the ammount of info you have, any idea is pure speculation anyway. Finally, I told before that when I salvage this (quite new) pc, I added my hardware (who previously worked), so I don't suspect my HD or pci cards (because they used to work), nor the MB (whose previous performance I actually don't know). Of course if I say "for 4 years I never had a single problem, then yesterday I added a sound card I found in the garbage, and since then I have a blue screen every ten minutes" you can make up you mind, but this never happens. And if it does, well, you don't post it on a forum.

thumbnails and permissions errors are a video / illegitimate software issue.

Nope, it's a win 7 bug, know since long time, and nevertheless, unsolved. For obscure reasons windows creates a hidden thumb.bd file on every folder containg images or videos even if the folder it's not meant to display previews. Then, if the pc is part of a network, windows blocks the file and fordids any action (moving, delete, renaming) no matter what (privileges, no privileges, local, network: whatever). And of course, no fix or workaround solves it. But still, that's another problem.

high performance video cards do fail. often.

And do you know any way to verify if that is my problem?

 

So. Unplug the sound card and see if the problem goes away.

 

Yeah and tell us the names of components not generic names of hardware.

 

Since you claim to be new to this, you might not know that capacitors can store a charge, just like a battery. They can discharge at the most inappropriate times causing pain and sometimes injury.

I have never been so poor that I could not afford the right sized power supply, so I have never opened one. I'm not going to start now. I will suggest that trying to get by with an underpowered supply can cause more problems down the line. Current fluctuation is the leading cause of hard drive failure. It's why my PC is connected to a rather expensive 1500w Uninterruptible Power Supply and I use a 1375w power supply.

 

As for storage solutions, an extra PC loaded with CentOS or Ubuntu (Linux) makes a great place to store files and bypass any Windoze problems. After you load it, you don't need to keep the monitor attached.

 

Use second psu to power video card and maybe power the hard drives/cd rom drives.

 

Ferden, FYI: a good cap holds a charge. There's a reason that many caps and cap banks employ resistors to act as drains when power is removed. Ignoring this fact can cause equipment damage. If the voltages are high enough, the damage can get personal, as in #12's case.

 

A few months ago I was working on a DVR power supply board and forgot to discharge the primary Side capacitor, needless to say it punished me for it. It's every bit as unpleasant as getting your fingers across 230vac.

 

I had an issue with one of my older PC's that I had way too much stuff connected to with a low wattage power supply, what I ended up doing is using a separate power supply to power some of the other peripherals (i.e. extra HDD's, CD_RW, etc.) on one PSU, then powered the main board and other less power hungry devices off of the internal PSU, I wired the secondary PSU to power on with just a slide switch by connecting the green wire from the PSU to one of the black(ground) wires with a switch. Just make sure that when powering up, to power up the secondary PSU first, then the primary.

 

What does it mean a "snob problem" ???

look up the word

I have a very classic pc: MB, CPU, RAM, pci-ex 16x video card, 3 120mm fan, 2 pci-ex 4x, 1 pci, dvd-rw, front card reader, front usb, screen, printer, keyboard, mouse, 2 gamepad, speaker, headphone with micro and 6 HD (and no, I can't give them up). The PSU is nominally just enough, but it's 6 years old, and if it works under 100% then the math doesn't adds up.

How old is the board? Have you tried with some drives unplugged?

Parallel what? Mulpiple HD? 2 PSU on 1 MB?

I really don't understand this. You mean I can plug the household electricity to the second PSUand the PSU to some drives without plugging the PSU to the MB?
Or do you mean that I have to do the previous, plus wiring PSU pins 14 and one of 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 16, 17 ( http://pinouts.ru/Power/atxpower_pinout.shtml ) to the MB ?

Yes power all the Hds with a second PSU. Do as i explained.

What job? Cleaning dust? rust? Do you have to see some problem with naked eye before do this? Besides, no sponge fits the RAM fissures, let alone the CPU's pin holes.

Just do as I say, use a square sponge or a synthetic kitchen tissue soak in lighter fluid, hold it 45 degree, and clean the RAM contacts + the sockets. No need to clean the CPU or socket.

I donwloaded my win7 copy from a torrent, without paying anything to anyone. Copyright is bad, colluding with copyright mafias is bad. Speculation itself is bad. Unexpurgated copies of win7 as well as most commercial softwares have troyans (KB971033), ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Error_Reporting ) and viruses ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_and_DVD_copy_protection ), ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) ). Even plain media, if paid for, is plagued by viruses ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management ).

Oh my. You are a stealer. Cant you afford Windows 7 or Windows 8?

 

no comment

just can't see the point of beating a dead horse

edit: sorry, i thought i was thinking out aloud.. the fingers were typing at the same time