My PC turned gay overnight

[Tyguy]

Alright, so I hooked my PC up with the surge protecter plugged into a socket controlled by a light switch (like a moron) and turned it off accidentally. Since then my PC won't turn on...no lights...nothing.

My PSU has seemingly been on the fritz anyway (sometimes it took a number of attempts to turn on correctly, i'd typically get the 3 beeps meaning something was wrong, i thought it may be a grounding issue). Anyway, I guess I need a new PSU...the one I currently have is 350 volts which I assume is underpowered. Should I go with something around 500 volts or higher? AND, has anyone tried testing their PSU with a paper clip to ensure it's producing power?

Also, if the PSU is NOT the problem, how should I go about testing the rest of my components? Would a hiccup in power in any way shape or form affect the CPU or motherboard?

Sorry for the life story but I refuse to pay for some retail shit kickers to fix it in 2 minutes and charge me up the ass.

thanks babes

 

[VirusType2]

Well, right away, the 350 watt PSU you've got is not enough for a 8800 GPU.

You need a new PSU. Go with whatever the card recommends. I'm assuming it's at least 500 watts.

 

[Tyguy]

actually, i just removed the psu and noticed it was a 550....i could have sworn i had a 350 but either way i think it's dead, i tried the paper clip trick and nothing happened.

 

[Raziaar]

Well, if you quit plugging stuff in the rear, it wouldn't have developed those homosexual tendencies!

There should be some safe way to test whether or not the circuitry is working with a circuit tester... those little stick things. But I don't know what you'd need to touch with each of them, or if you'd have to open the case or not.

I would try not messing with anything like that though, since they can still retain a charge for a good while after being unplugged and that's why it is so dangerous to open it up.

 

[giant384]

does your surge protector have some type of fail-safe mechanism that could have been triggered and you have to turn off if the power happened to "surge" like it did when you turned on the light?

 

[Tyguy]

does your surge protector have some type of fail-safe mechanism that could have been triggered and you have to turn off if the power happened to "surge" like it did when you turned on the light?

no idea but i've tried plugging in directly to the wall on two different outlets to no avail.

at this point i've already ordered a new psu since i've determined this one is dead...my only concern is my other problem will remain, that being the pc not posting each time the power button is pressed. it's weird, sometimes it took 3-5 attempts to post and the times it didn't the pc would have 1 long beep followed by 3 short ones...not sure if that means it's a memory problem or if it's tied to the psu.

i ****ing hate computers :frown:

 

[giant384]

its possible, i would bet its the psu though. even if it was a memory issue, it would still post, and of course with a few beeps. those light switches meant for lights only are really nasty, would recommend using a different outlet so it wont occur again.

 

[No Limit]

Sounds like the PSU, you should be fine once the new one comes in.

I would be very careful when doing things such as the paper clip trick. What that does is short out the on/off mechanism on the PSU which will allow it to turn on without a signal from the mother board. The problem with this is if your PSU is broke and giving out improper voltages by shorting out that connection the motherboard can no longer provide any kind of safety check and if you plug it in while the PSU is outputting a bad voltage you can damage other componenets in your system.

 

[lefty]

Sure just cuz you can't turn it on, the bitch must be gay.

 

[No Limit]

lol

..

 

[Asus]

What kind of bios does your PC have?
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm

I know you already ordered a new PSU but just an FYI, when testing the PSU I think it needs a load like connecting a fan (not counting the built-in one) otherwise it probably won't turn on no matter what. The green-black wire with paper clip works so if your PSU does not power a fan then it is probably bad. (green wire is just used as a signal that it is plugged into the board, no real power there. black is ground)

I just built a new PC with a low power GPU and it is powered by a 350watt PSU. A 500 would be plenty for a system with a 8800 GPU. The bigger the +12v the better.