Dell Dimension Power Supply

[eurosport]

This morning at about 5am, we woke up to what sounded like firecrackers in the house! Turns out the power supply in my daughter's computer popped/blew up... something. The power light on the front was blinking amber before I unplugged it. The computer wasn't even on or being used at that time. Question is, can I replace the power supply and the rest of it would still be OK or was more damage done? I can't see anything physically burned or anything but it was definitely the power supply. It's a Dell Dimension 3000.

 

[radio]

As a rule, damage is not done. My studio PC's died after a "cleaning." It literally was fine in continuous operation, then failed on a restart. (HP/Compaq). Usually when something "pops" and a power supply fails, it's capacitors in the power supply. And, while its easiest to change out the whole supply, (watch the specs and connections to get the right one)....a good technician can change out the caps. The USA electronics market actually has more than a (literal) BOATLOAD of bad caps, waiting to fail in our electronics. (From China....stolen capacitor recipe, but not stable, not complete I was told.) I've had 'em verified in two computer monitors and a full HP computer already. All have been replaced and all units saved by our radio station engineer.

My PC when it died had no other damage. Fan wouldn't start on power supply or on the motherboard, but the back LED was lighted and the front one on the switch was flickering on and off.

Usually can find info by googling your model and "power supply failure" for history of it or not.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

 

[mdonnelly]

That's one reason why I like to build my own computers from Fry's or Tiger Direct. You can always find a reasonably priced replacement for any component (motherboard, p/s, memory, ...).

 

[avg1joe]

Did you examine the motherboard for bulging capacitors? I've seen power supplies and motherboards take each other down in the past so your motherboard may or may not be ok even if there isn't anything visually wrong with it. The only way to be sure is to get a new power supply and try it. What model is the dell?

 

[EatMyVolts]

A quick google leads me to believe this uses a standard ATX power supply. Without recommending a particular unit or seller, something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371003.

 

[eurosport]

Did you examine the motherboard for bulging capacitors? I've seen power supplies and motherboards take each other down in the past so your motherboard may or may not be ok even if there isn't anything visually wrong with it. The only way to be sure is to get a new power supply and try it. What model is the dell?

No visible damage to capacitors on the motherboard. Everything there looks fine. It's a Dell Dimension 3000. Upon closer inspection of the power supply, there's a small black component (MOV maybe?) that is split open, near a large heatsink & 2 big capacitors. The entire rest of it looks fine. The computer was not on at the time & I believe the new P/S should fix it. Not sure why it picked last night to just suddenly go "pow" though.

 

[eurosport]

Found this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-Ge...-/271103870031?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item3f1f0cc44f
If I can fix it for $15, I'll be a happy camper!

 

[jevans64]

You can test your old power supply OR test the new one without even having it connected to the computer. Rather than type everything out here is a link. All you need is a small piece of wire to use as a jumper and a multimeter. Test the output voltages of the motherboard header and the device headers. They should read ±3.3vDC, ±5.0vDC, or ±12.0vDC ±5%. Chunk it if any values are outside that range.

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/power-supply-test-multimeter.htm

 

[eurosport]

Update: The power supply from eBay came today... 2 days before I expected, I installed it, and my daughter's PC is up and running again!
No other damage. Thanks for all the help & suggestions everyone. Fixed for $14.99!

 

[johann12]

I am always worry about a used electronic item with no warranty, It could burn and pop a capacitor at any time and may not be better than your old supply.
A few dollars more and you could had gotten a new one with warranty.
Most my stuff I got from neweeg and I never had any problems so far.
Glad you got it fixed.