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GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
edited May 2006 in Hardware
A friend of mine has a computer that doesn't post when she presses the power button. The power light comes on and fans spin up, but the monitor stays off, and there are no lights on the keyboard or mouse.

I'm suspecting the power supply, but what do you all think?

It's an Athlon XP MSI board with a Radeon 9700 Pro.

If you think it is the power supply, what do you think the best choice of a replacement that could be found at a retail store like Best Buy or CompUSA? Sometimes the brands they cary vary from store to store, so is the amperage per rail the best thing to go by? If so, what do you think would be a minimum safe amperage for each rail? I'm skeptical of "this brand is awesome" statements, because even the best brands make lemons, and brand reputations seem to change pretty quick these days. Still, if you've had a really good experience with Brand X, and you think she could find it in a retail store, let me know.

Usually, I just buy the quietest power supply I can find, so I'm not used to thinking about this :D

Thanks!

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    That might be a dead CPU. Another MSI AXP board I treated in the past exhibited the same symptoms when the CPU had gone to meet its maker.
  • SiggySiggy Sydney Australia
    edited May 2006
    I think not the power supply - not yet anyway -
    if it comes on and the fan is turning it should be ok - there are ways of testing it
    If the monitor/keyboardand mouse are not responding I would go with the motherboard being the culprit - of course PSU is usually cheaper to replace - but not much good if m/b fried.
    Easiest is to switch a PSU and try and boot the PC - If it boots you are right and you need new PSU - If nothing - swap out the M/B
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2006
    Siggy wrote:
    I think not the power supply - not yet anyway -
    if it comes on and the fan is turning it should be ok - there are ways of testing it
    If the monitor/keyboardand mouse are not responding I would go with the motherboard being the culprit - of course PSU is usually cheaper to replace - but not much good if m/b fried.
    Easiest is to switch a PSU and try and boot the PC - If it boots you are right and you need new PSU - If nothing - swap out the M/B
    All that means is the the 12V is working good enough to power those things. Most fans and such willl actually power up with as little as 7V, which is not enough for anything solidstate. If the 3.3V or 5V is far enough out of spec or dead it will act as Gargoyle described. I have seen many like this where just one rail is suspect. Try another PSU if possible or test by remotely switching the PSU on via the green wire and any black witer with at least a fan attached then use a multimeter.

    If you need a new PSU then something along the lines in the link below will work fine.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?SubCategory=58&CompareItemList=N82E16817104931%2CN82E16817103486%2CN82E16817104938%2CN82E16817103484
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