PC Power Supply Problem
Few days ago my personal pc DELL Inspiron 530S developed a problem- it was an intermittent problem. The pc will beep and the fan will turn unusually fast. Sometimes it can be turned on with no problem. I suspected that the power supply have problem because if the fan turn very fast that means there was an overvoltage. I believe if i continue to let the pc to run, those e-caps in the motherboard will bulge because of overvoltage. I took out the power supply and vacuum it and check to see there was no dry joints in it. Guess what i found? I found tiny cracks on some pins in the coil at the secondary side. After resoldered the dry joints i used my ESR meter to scan just to check if there was any bad e-caps.
I found a 47uf 25 volt ESR value had doubled than the original value. I’m not sure whether the e-cap have any big effect on the pc but for maintenance wise, i just replaced it. If i did not replace the e-cap, may be after few months later, when the ESR value shoot up to very high, it may cause a serious problem to the power supply. After the replacement of the e-cap and with fresh solder applied, the pc now worked like a charm. It is good to be electronic repairer-you can repair your own electronic equipment!
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Roberto S.
June 22, 2010 at 8:07 am
Hi Jestine,
good work!
May I put this Pc repair on my Magazine?
Roberto S. from Italy
admin
June 22, 2010 at 9:03 am
Hi Roberto,
No problem you can use it.
Jestine
Roberto S.
June 22, 2010 at 10:33 am
Thank you!
Roberto S.
Sam C
June 22, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Jestine
According to my contact at HTPCUSA.com, failure rate of Inspiron 530S power supply is over 50%. To add insult to injury, this tiny 250 Watt Dell proprietary PS sells for $49 versus $25 for an ATX 400 Watt PS. Over 100 were sold last month on eBay alone. 250 Watt is not adequate if you add any accessories.
Looks like you have a PCI Express video card. Most video chips consume lots of power requiring a separate fan/HS. I would consider replacing the fan with a massive heat sink to conserve power.
If you have Vista, I would switch to Windows XP or System 7. Your computer will run many times faster and more stable. Vista is unreliable and beyond repair which is why Microsoft rushed out System 7 to cover up. Let me know if you need help with OS upgrade.
Look for a min-tower next time you shop for a computer. You will have more upgrade options and the parts will be cheaper and readily available. Dell does not manufacture any systems. They outsource to the lowest bidders and as a result you will find plenty of cost cutting evidence inside a Dell. Dell does design their own cases which are the most attractive and sometimes well conceived in the industry.
Sam C
admin
June 23, 2010 at 8:25 am
HI Sam,
Thanks for all the suggestion. At the moment my PC do not have any extra accessories thus i the power supply should not have problem in handling the loads. Yes, now I'm using Vista and was told that Vista was not stable and give lots of problem. So far till now there was no problem with the software most probably i just use it for support purposes and do some light work. If i encounter any problem in the future the first thing i will do is to consult you. Thanks again.
Jestine
Sam C
June 23, 2010 at 11:43 am
Jestine
This is not a comment. Please fix a typo in my last post.
I meant to say "Vista is unreliable..." in the third paragraph.
Thanks
Do you follow World Cup ? France's Cisse was just handled a red card for high elbowing a South African player in the face. France is going down big time in spite of their many high paid star players.
Follow matches and schedules :
http://g.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/schedule/
Watch every game live :
http://www.atdhe.net/
What do the two greatest Argentina players Maradona and Messi have in common ?
1. Both wear #10, 2. Left footed, and 3. Each had Hand-Of-God goals
Maradona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbbsytHDp2o
Messi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eZhBCqh8l8
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/643741/messi_hands_of_god_like_maradona/
admin
June 23, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Hi SAM,
Already amend it. I don't watch all the match because some games started in the morning 2.30am. I have a small TV with me on my computer table. While doing support i watch it at the same time mostly at 7.30pm and 10.00pm.
Jestine
Naitik
October 7, 2010 at 11:25 am
My desktop PC is suddenly shutting down after powering up.
Sometimes its OK and stays on for hours on a stretch
and some times it shutsdown in minutes while the Win 2000 is just powering up
and sometimes I cant even get it to start when I press the Power Switch.
Once it shuts down and it doesnt come ON when I press teh Power switch
I remove the main Power Plug to the SMPS and plug it back in
and then the Power Switch works..
So Im thinking it maybe coz of something in the SMPS is having some problem
but Im not sure.
Please help.
Let me know if you want any other details.
Thanks.
admin
October 8, 2010 at 9:51 am
HI Naitik,
From your description chances is high the power supply is the problem. It may be the problem of bad filter caps and you need to open the power supply to test it out with esr meter.
Jestine
CHIEF FAGBOHUN OLUFEMI SAMUEL
November 14, 2010 at 6:04 am
MY GAWAY LAPTOP HAS INTERMTENT PROBLEMS KEEPING RE BOOTS ITS SELF IF I OPEN IT SO I CAN NOT ACESS MY DATE SO I WANT TO IF IS HARD WARE OR SOFTWARE PROBLEM LOOKING FORWARD FOR YOUR QUICK REPLY ON THIS GATEWAY MODEL NUMBER MX6025.
THANKS CHIEF FAGBOHUN
admin
November 16, 2010 at 8:51 am
HI Chief,
It can be bad ram, motherboard or even power supply. Sometimes it could also can be cause by virus (software).
Jestine
samq
April 1, 2011 at 9:35 pm
good morning sir,
i am a pc mechanic, I've received case 2day...
1.there is an ASUS mb with AMD Athlon 64 processor.when the is turned on it goes well just for 2 or 3 minutes after that it goes shut down.again when it is turned on but no reply.after waiting for at least 20 minutes it goes just mentioned before.SMPS, RAM, HDD and power signal on mb are good. tell me what the things i need to do!please!!
2.next case:a lenovo laptop when i turn it on there is no POST but the processor fan is spinning & obviously no display.
Tell me the troubleshoot procedure.
Thank U!
admin
April 2, 2011 at 6:58 pm
HI Samq,
Try use a fan to blow on the motherboard to see if it will shutdown. If no more shutting down then you know is the heat problem. Now try use your hand to touch on the board ics (make sure you have removed the static charge from your body first)ad see which component is getting very hot.
As for the laptop, if all the voltages are good then it could be the graphic ic problem which you need to replace.
Jestine
subran
September 6, 2011 at 10:32 am
Hi Jestine,
My smps is working,cpu is working,new mb, but the system doesn't booting. I changed a new smps and the system is working. What will be the issue to the old smps? will u help me?
admin
September 7, 2011 at 7:13 am
HI Subran,
You need to open it up and check. It can be bad filter caps, shorted diode and etc. If you do not have experience in electronics repair i suggest that you send to a repairer because inside have high voltage.
Jestine
kobi
December 25, 2011 at 3:35 pm
hi,
I need circuit Diagram of a mercury powersupply model- KOB AP3250XA.
I searched in internet, but i cant find.
could you please send it to my E-mail.
Thankyou
admin
December 26, 2011 at 12:26 pm
HI Kobi,
Sorry i do not have the schematic diagram.
Jestine
Anwar Shiekh
June 19, 2014 at 9:41 am
It is amazing what a little soldering or a few changed capacitors will bring back to life; I like to think the repaired unit may have even more life than the new unit as weak points have been located and attended to.