Author Topic: Power Supply on my PC just exploded: i'll be mostly offline this week crying (Read 33388 times)

mouser · « **on:** April 23, 2007, 10:49 PM »

In an effort to get rid of a whining fan i blew compressed air all over and when i put the power back on there was a huge spark, smoke, and fuse blew.

Needless to say i am extremely depressed and am holding off on full blown panic and puking until i see if the power supply explosion also managed to damage the hard drives.

Hopefully i will know more in the next day or two and report.

Please pray for me and my computer (what's left of it).

I still have internet access but i use desktop mail program so i won't have access to that for a couple of days.

-mouser (jesse)

Cpilot · « **Reply #1 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:33 PM »

Durn old computers.

lanux128 · « **Reply #2 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:36 PM »

sorry to hear that, mouser.. incidentally, my CRT just blew last weekend and i got myself a refurbished Dell..

nudone · « **Reply #3 on:** April 24, 2007, 01:35 AM »

thinking of you in your time of woe.

i expect your hard drives will be fine. fingers crossed.

Lashiec · « **Reply #4 on:** April 24, 2007, 03:29 AM »

Oh, hell! Let's pray for the safety of your hard drives, and thanks the electricity Gods for your well being.

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #5 on:** April 24, 2007, 03:36 AM »

R.I.P. mouser's PSU.

f0dder · « **Reply #6 on:** April 24, 2007, 03:41 AM »

How the hell can such a thing happen from blowing compressed air? Darn, I thought that was supposed to be safe >_<. Did the PSU literally explode, as in causing damage to other components? Or are you "just" afraid that it might have overjuiced the harddrives?

Crossing my fingers for you!

2stepsback · « **Reply #7 on:** April 24, 2007, 04:45 AM »

Aw shucks!

Next time, probably two boxes or at least storage over a mini-LAN(2 pcs + n/w cards) with any one of the sync programs running 24x7.

At least one external hard disk (flash variety)

Or a separate Linux PC (linux because tomorrow if Windoze gets swamped by a new virus ..... ) with continuous syncing

Losing 3-4 days while handling that kind of workload is simply too bad

Meanwhile good to know that you have internet connection, possibly you could get only the new mails on an email client on your laptop/second machine and then, when the first gets fixed, redownload them.
Maybe an import export operation should do the job at the end of the ordeal

hth
-2stepsback

Darwin · « **Reply #8 on:** April 24, 2007, 05:15 AM »

How the hell can such a thing happen from blowing compressed air? Darn, I thought that was supposed to be safe >_<. Did the PSU literally explode, as in causing damage to other components? Or are you "just" afraid that it might have overjuiced the harddrives?

Crossing my fingers for you!

-f0dder (April 24, 2007, 03:41 AM)

I'm guessing a big dust bunny got blown into something "hot" and shorted something. Very technical assessment...

Mouser, condolences and hope that you are up and running again VERY soon.

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** April 24, 2007, 06:45 AM »

there was a flash from the power supply and then the smell of smoke and the fuse for the room blew, so it's not like it physically damaged any components, and the machine was turning on from an off state when it happened so i'm really really crossing my fingers that its just the power supply that's damaged, or power supply and motherboard, which i can also live with replacing. if the hard drives are BOTH damaged, that would be very bad since most of the everyday backups i do are from one internal harddrive to another.

i think this cements in my mind the fact that anyone working seriously with computers needs to keep enough spare parts around to replace any potentially broken component. i wish i had followed my own advice since i'm now waiting on newegg to ship me a new power supply and motherboard.

app103 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 24, 2007, 07:03 AM »

I am hoping for the best for you. Hopefully you can just replace the psu and everything will be fine.

I'll make an offering to the computer gods on your behalf. Maybe they will spare you from any further NEC*.

* NEC: Acronym for Negative Electrostatic Charisma. The curse of the computer gods which causes strange, unexpected, unexplainable, bad things to happen to electronic equipment, usually at the worst possible times.

zridling · « **Reply #11 on:** April 24, 2007, 07:11 AM »

That's really good advice. I should keep an extra power supply around because THIS SAME CRAP has happened to me twice. I thought my computer had imploded, but it was only the power supply. You'd be surprised how tough motherboards are. Each time I thought the whole system was gone. Like you perhaps, there are so many other broken things around the house that need fixing first that I can't afford — like the plumbing!! Hang in there, man.

nosh · « **Reply #12 on:** April 24, 2007, 08:26 AM »

I always make it a point to backup irreplaceable data online. Hmm... am tempted to start a 'describe your backup setup' thread now...

mouser · « **Reply #13 on:** April 24, 2007, 01:34 PM »

I'm back! yay

Thank you for all the well-wishing and crossed fingers.

I went and picked up a replacement power supply, and once replaced, the computer is running fine. I note also that the high pitched whining that was the whole reason a tried spraying with compressed air is gone, so maybe it was the case that something was in the power supply fan, and i dislogged it only to send it into the depths of the powersupply electrical components.. I think maybe cody was trying to hide his coins in my power supply, which would explain it completely. So my advice to you is keep good backups and if you see cody near your computer, make sure he's not trying to hide his coins inside it.

I should add a little plug for Computer Deli, a nice shop for pc enthusiasts near me (champaign-urbana IL) which had plenty of power supplies and motherboards and cables and stuff; perfect for building a pc or fixing one:

Screenshot - 4_24_2007 , 1_29_29 PM_thumb.png

Lashiec · « **Reply #14 on:** April 24, 2007, 01:38 PM »

Welcome back! Good to see everything is fine again. Scold Cody once you catch him, for trying to ruin his master's work

Deozaan · « **Reply #15 on:** April 24, 2007, 02:47 PM »

I always make it a point to backup irreplaceable data online.
-nosh (April 24, 2007, 08:26 AM)

I had a bunch of data backed up online. I thought that was the best way to do it until the host's computers crashed and lost all my data. . .

Thankfully I still had it on my hard drive.

AndyM · « **Reply #16 on:** April 24, 2007, 03:01 PM »

I always make it a point to backup irreplaceable data online.
-nosh (April 24, 2007, 08:26 AM)

I had a bunch of data backed up online. I thought that was the best way to do it until the host's computers crashed and lost all my data. . .
-Deozaan (April 24, 2007, 02:47 PM)

The host didn't back up their own machines???!!!!

f0dder · « **Reply #17 on:** April 24, 2007, 04:50 PM »

* f0dder does the happy hamster dance.

Thanks whatever deity that there wasn't any serious damage done.

Your advice of keeping spare components around is good, I have an old PSU that's sorta crappy and relatively underpower, but at least it could do for an emergency. Might also be possible to find a cheap PCI-Express (or even PCI - remidns me I need to phone a buddy and get my voodoo3 back) for those emergencies. But motherboards, cpu, ram? - that's spendy.

And my next upgrade (probably at least 6 months in the future?) will most likely be from AMD socket 939 to intel socket 775... unless AMD pulls as big a surprise on intel, as intel did on them with core2duo. But ok, at least one could hook up harddrives to the old AMD rig in an emergency... except that I'm going to donate it to my younger brother

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** April 25, 2007, 01:20 AM »

One last note:

Thank you to everyone on this site who has donated in the past -- it's these donations that have made it possible to have the money to buy computer parts when they break, etc. The support of people like you make it possible for me to spend my time coding and not freak out to horribly when there is equipment failure.

zridling · « **Reply #19 on:** April 27, 2007, 03:11 AM »

Man, I can breathe again. My life literally changes from night to day when my system is down and out. (<-- not a big TV watcher, rather not exercise, and don't have the $$ or desire to socialize at the sushi bar)

app103 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:31 AM »

It's reasons like this that I went for EIDE drives and not SATA. I want to be able to pop them in my other pc if I have to.

Also another reason for not using the new Borland Turbos: can't install them on the other pc like I can with Delphi 6.

I had a serious mishap and shortage of funds...was stuck using a pc that should be in a museum, for about 3 yrs.

I am paranoid about hardware failures and data loss. I try my best to avoid being left high & dry with no computer, internet, or data. I learned the hard way.

Yes, I have a spare PSU, pci graphics card, agp gfx card, usb card, card reader, sound card, lots of parts, spare dialup ISP & modem...just in case. Enough parts to build a new pc, minus the RAM, mobo, and cpu.

lanux128 · « **Reply #21 on:** April 27, 2007, 05:52 AM »

It's reasons like this that I went for EIDE drives and not SATA. I want to be able to pop them in my other pc if I have to.
-app103 (April 27, 2007, 05:31 AM)

speaking of which, is there a IDE to SATA converter? so that i can the use the older IDE drives on newer motherboards..

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #22 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:13 AM »

If you do a quick search you will find there are quite a few PATA (IDE) -> SATA converters (and vice versa - be carful you order the right one). Some of them even let you use IDE optical drives on SATA interfaces.

f0dder · « **Reply #23 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:25 AM »

Hrm, converters?

I'd rather get a PCI sata card, seems like the proper way to do it. Or an external sata enclosure that connects via firewire or usb.

lanux128 · « **Reply #24 on:** April 27, 2007, 06:46 AM »

f0dder, you mean something like this: IDE Hard Drive to SATA port Converter? i don't need an enclosure because i already use one..

btw, thanks Carol for pointing out the terms.. i didn't know IDE is now known as PATA..