Puter specs: AMD64 3800+ Athlon X2, Abit KN8 Ultra 939 mobo, EVGA GF 7800GT video card, (2) 1GB Corsair mem sticks, 250G Western Digital HD, Win XP Home.
OK, put the puter together in February of '06. PSU, an Enermax Noisetaker II 600W, blew up a couple weeks later. Suddenly there was a bright flash, a popping sound, and the smell of burned electronics in the air. The PSU was dead. The computer was on but just sitting idle at the time. RMA'd it to Newegg and they sent a new one, another Enermax Noisetaker II 600W. Installed it and everything was fine - till today. For no apparent reason again while the computer was on but sitting idle it just shut off all by itself. I just looked at it when it happened and thought no way. There was no sparks or flashes or smell this time but it's once again dead. Again I called Newegg and they're sending another one. I wanted to get a different kind altogether but they'd only send the same exact one.
In the meantime I threw in a POS power supply. It's a Dynex 400W. I was reluctant to put this in as I've heard horror stores about crappy PSU's but I did it anyway. Installed it and everything is fine once again.
Any ideas as to what is causing the PSU's to fail? My completely ignorant thoughts are:
1) Something is not hooked up correctly? Well, the local computer shop actually hooked up the second PSU for me. I wanted them to check my work and they said everything was fine.
2) Computer getting too hot? It's been topping out at 102F the past few days. I live in SoCal and just got a $460 electric bill so haven't been running my AC. When I first put it together in Feb. it was running in the 80 to 85F range. But of course this was in the colder winter months. BTW, the 102F reading is from the LED on the front from the internal wire sensor. I guess it's the inside temp of the computer. Currently it's showing 99F as the temp.
Temps from ABIT EQ program:
FAN SETTING
CPU 4218, Low limit=1016
NB 5113, Low limit+1016
TEMP SETTINGS
CPU 110.3, high limit=185.0
SYS 108.5, high limit+185.0
3) Surges? I don't think so. I have everything hooked up to an APC power strip and I've never had power surge problems in this house in the past 12yrs.
4) Junky PSU's? I thought Enermax was supposed to be a reputable brand and this Enermax Noisetaker II 600W is about their top of the line. Plus it was $160!! What are the chances that two of these Enermax PSU's are bad?
Something has to be causing these PSU's to fail but what?
Is there some program I can download that will help me troubleshoot or monitor what's going on?
Can anyone help? I can't keep buying PSU's every 4 months.
Thanks!
OK, put the puter together in February of '06. PSU, an Enermax Noisetaker II 600W, blew up a couple weeks later. Suddenly there was a bright flash, a popping sound, and the smell of burned electronics in the air. The PSU was dead. The computer was on but just sitting idle at the time. RMA'd it to Newegg and they sent a new one, another Enermax Noisetaker II 600W. Installed it and everything was fine - till today. For no apparent reason again while the computer was on but sitting idle it just shut off all by itself. I just looked at it when it happened and thought no way. There was no sparks or flashes or smell this time but it's once again dead. Again I called Newegg and they're sending another one. I wanted to get a different kind altogether but they'd only send the same exact one.
In the meantime I threw in a POS power supply. It's a Dynex 400W. I was reluctant to put this in as I've heard horror stores about crappy PSU's but I did it anyway. Installed it and everything is fine once again.
Any ideas as to what is causing the PSU's to fail? My completely ignorant thoughts are:
1) Something is not hooked up correctly? Well, the local computer shop actually hooked up the second PSU for me. I wanted them to check my work and they said everything was fine.
2) Computer getting too hot? It's been topping out at 102F the past few days. I live in SoCal and just got a $460 electric bill so haven't been running my AC. When I first put it together in Feb. it was running in the 80 to 85F range. But of course this was in the colder winter months. BTW, the 102F reading is from the LED on the front from the internal wire sensor. I guess it's the inside temp of the computer. Currently it's showing 99F as the temp.
Temps from ABIT EQ program:
FAN SETTING
CPU 4218, Low limit=1016
NB 5113, Low limit+1016
TEMP SETTINGS
CPU 110.3, high limit=185.0
SYS 108.5, high limit+185.0
3) Surges? I don't think so. I have everything hooked up to an APC power strip and I've never had power surge problems in this house in the past 12yrs.
4) Junky PSU's? I thought Enermax was supposed to be a reputable brand and this Enermax Noisetaker II 600W is about their top of the line. Plus it was $160!! What are the chances that two of these Enermax PSU's are bad?
Something has to be causing these PSU's to fail but what?
Is there some program I can download that will help me troubleshoot or monitor what's going on?
Can anyone help? I can't keep buying PSU's every 4 months.
Thanks!