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Ticking and Powering Off
My PC has been behaving very well for the last two and a half years, working
constantly, day and night. Very recently it developed a strange ticking noise when I was operating it. The tick is quite sharp and soft, like an electrical spark from a comb. First it seemed like moving the mouse caused the ticking, but I found out that it also ticked when the scheduled tasks were launched. It was audible also when the speakers were disconnected. Soft ticking is not such a big deal, and since the machine functioned fine otherwise, I made no big deal of it. Now, however, it has started to power off spontaneously. The fans and disks stop immediately, the screen goes blank. The 'mains' LED on the motherboard stays on. Hitting the power button doesn't start it back up. Unplugging and replugging resets the computer to normal operation, although the ticks start up shortly after boot. Some exploration of the box suggests that the ticking must come either from one corner of the mobo (where all the cables come in) or from the PSU (which is neither hot nor filthy). All fans spin nicely, the temperatures do no strange things, the voltages also stay within limits during operation. Any clues? My prime suspect thus far is the PSU, but I'm loath to open it needlessly (voiding sticker). My system: Asus P5GD1 AOpen 250 Watt power supply P4 3.0 GHz socket 775 3 WD disks NVidia 6200 (or something) |
#2
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Ticking and Powering Off
On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:36:27 +0200, "I.C. Koets"
wrote: My PC has been behaving very well for the last two and a half years, working constantly, day and night. Very recently it developed a strange ticking noise when I was operating it. The tick is quite sharp and soft, like an electrical spark from a comb. First it seemed like moving the mouse caused the ticking, but I found out that it also ticked when the scheduled tasks were launched. It was audible also when the speakers were disconnected. Soft ticking is not such a big deal, and since the machine functioned fine otherwise, I made no big deal of it. Now, however, it has started to power off spontaneously. The fans and disks stop immediately, the screen goes blank. The 'mains' LED on the motherboard stays on. Hitting the power button doesn't start it back up. Unplugging and replugging resets the computer to normal operation, although the ticks start up shortly after boot. Some exploration of the box suggests that the ticking must come either from one corner of the mobo (where all the cables come in) or from the PSU (which is neither hot nor filthy). All fans spin nicely, the temperatures do no strange things, the voltages also stay within limits during operation. Any clues? My prime suspect thus far is the PSU, but I'm loath to open it needlessly (voiding sticker). My system: Asus P5GD1 AOpen 250 Watt power supply P4 3.0 GHz socket 775 3 WD disks NVidia 6200 (or something) This does coincide with a typical PSU failure-in-progress. You might inspect the capacitors on your motherboard, if some have vented that can result in a problem for the PSU to operate properly, but since it is only 250W it was already a candidate for replacement, better to do so before it fully fails rather than later. The symptoms are most common from it being purely a PSU failure and having to unplug it is a sign the PSU's safety shutdown circuit was triggered. I doubt you have a warranty on this PSU that is still valid after 2 years. If there is no warranty anymore, there is no issue of voiding warranty by opening it. If you open it, leave it unplugged from AC for several minutes before doing so. However, unless you find vented capacitors inside, it is not likely to be worth repairing because as a 250W PSU, it was not sufficient capacity for your system and would be expected to die an early death due to running at the edge of it's capability. Burn a candle at both ends and it won't last as long. I suggest a replacement PSU of at least 350W, a trusted name brand rated for at least 18A of 12V current. If this is a mATX instead of full ATX PSU, you may have to accept a lower wattage than 350W and end up having to replace it again, every so often, because these parts in the system are a bit too much of a load for a typical mATX PSU. If you feel it is likely you might want to reuse a replacement PSU with other (motherboard, CPU, video card) upgrades in the future, you might even consider something a bit higher than 350W. Although the system needs nothing more now, that will make it a lot more likey that any future parts' current needs are covered, plus as briefly mentioned above, running a higher wattage PSU at a lesser % of it's total capability will tend to make it last longer - so long as it was a decent quality unit rather than an overrated generic. |
#3
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Ticking and Powering Off
kony wrote: On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:36:27 +0200, "I.C. Koets" wrote: My PC has been behaving very well for the last two and a half years, working constantly, day and night. Very recently it developed a strange ticking noise when I was operating it. The tick is quite sharp and soft, like an electrical spark from a comb. First it seemed like moving the mouse caused the ticking, but I found out that it also ticked when the scheduled tasks were launched. It was audible also when the speakers were disconnected. Soft ticking is not such a big deal, and since the machine functioned fine otherwise, I made no big deal of it. Now, however, it has started to power off spontaneously. The fans and disks stop immediately, the screen goes blank. The 'mains' LED on the motherboard stays on. Hitting the power button doesn't start it back up. Unplugging and replugging resets the computer to normal operation, although the ticks start up shortly after boot. Some exploration of the box suggests that the ticking must come either from one corner of the mobo (where all the cables come in) or from the PSU (which is neither hot nor filthy). All fans spin nicely, the temperatures do no strange things, the voltages also stay within limits during operation. Any clues? My prime suspect thus far is the PSU, but I'm loath to open it needlessly (voiding sticker). My system: Asus P5GD1 AOpen 250 Watt power supply P4 3.0 GHz socket 775 3 WD disks NVidia 6200 (or something) This does coincide with a typical PSU failure-in-progress. You might inspect the capacitors on your motherboard, if some have vented that can result in a problem for the PSU to operate properly, but since it is only 250W it was already a candidate for replacement, better to do so before it fully fails rather than later. The symptoms are most common from it being purely a PSU failure and having to unplug it is a sign the PSU's safety shutdown circuit was triggered. I doubt you have a warranty on this PSU that is still valid after 2 years. If there is no warranty anymore, there is no issue of voiding warranty by opening it. If you open it, leave it unplugged from AC for several minutes before doing so. However, unless you find vented capacitors inside, it is not likely to be worth repairing because as a 250W PSU, it was not sufficient capacity for your system and would be expected to die an early death due to running at the edge of it's capability. Burn a candle at both ends and it won't last as long. I suggest a replacement PSU of at least 350W, a trusted name brand rated for at least 18A of 12V current. If this is a mATX instead of full ATX PSU, you may have to accept a lower wattage than 350W and end up having to replace it again, every so often, because these parts in the system are a bit too much of a load for a typical mATX PSU. If you feel it is likely you might want to reuse a replacement PSU with other (motherboard, CPU, video card) upgrades in the future, you might even consider something a bit higher than 350W. Although the system needs nothing more now, that will make it a lot more likey that any future parts' current needs are covered, plus as briefly mentioned above, running a higher wattage PSU at a lesser % of it's total capability will tend to make it last longer - so long as it was a decent quality unit rather than an overrated generic. I just put in a new 650 W PSU. Problem hasn't reoccurred. Now to see what I can salvage about the old one. Thanks! |
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