PSU woes

Mr. Fork meets Mr. Wallsocket

unless it spiked, you might be ok. Follow about suggestion, & clear your CMOS jumper, reboot, imediately go into BIOS, re-identify your CPU etc.
Troubleshooting a Dead/Unbootable PC

Now I'm worried

Thx for all the help.
I am about to ring the comp shop where it's at and my fingers are crossed.
Will let you know what they reckon is wrong. ( hopefully they have looked at it already)
Once again thx for help as it will help me when I talk to them.
Muchly appreciated.

Finger lickin' good

Everything fried except for;
1. 2 sticks of el cheapo 128 sdram (pc133)
2.CPU convertor card

Have lost;
1. Mobo (Intel se440BX)
2.P3 700 CPU
3.Hitachi GD7000 DVD rom
4.Teac burner( was on loan from a mate-he was understanding which is good-will get him replacement)
5.GF2 MX 400
6.Vibra pci sound card
7.3.5 FDD( some brand-didn't use it much but they do come in handy)
8. The dang 250W PSU (already replaced-300W)

They said it was either a spike(too much oomph) or a "brown out"(too less oomph).
Warranty will replace;
1.Mobo
2.HDD
3.CPU
I have to supply the rest, or at their cost.
One thing I learned was that I can get a surge protector(about $30) that plugs into wall socket.It will protect against medium power flunctuations but not against something like a lightning strike.A UPS is about $3-400.
It will take me about 1 and 1/2 months to get the cash to get my system back but a word of advice:
Spend the $30 to protect yourself against normal conditions.
I mean if there's a thunderstorm happenin' you'd have to be crazy to keep your comp on(unless you have an UPS-apparently)

Thx once again for your help as when I was speaking to them I had that extra bit of knowledge up my sleeve.
:grinthumb

p.s. Ironic that one that one of the things that survived was my "el cheapo" ram.If only all components were el cheapo.

ouch! :evil:

Your post scared me, man.

Keep that evil power surge away from my baby!

Precautions are called for

Keep that evil power surge away from my baby!

Click to expand...

I will try my dangest as I would not wish this on my worst enemy.
This was a once ( I hope) in a lifeime occurence.But it taught me a few lessons.
1.Find a reliable and trustworthy(certified) comp shop.
2.Read the warranty conditions and if you don't understand them ask.
3.If you have a burner (use it-frequently)
4.Protect yourself against power flunctuations.(if not -keep a few bucks under your matress)
5.AND most importantantly-never underestimate the power of the Dark Side.
Maybe 3DS could have a article on the consequences of a PSU that trashes your system.I think that it would be in the best interest of all members( and non), and the safeguards we can take against it happening.It may not happen overnight, but it could happen.
Thx all again, e'en tho it has been an expensive lesson for me.But as they say "I never saw it coming"

Not a very nice lesson...

Unlucky Dogstar.
Hope it doesn't take you too long to get it back up and running.
The PSU is an important part of your PC. I don't think I would run a PC with expensive parts inside from anything but a surge protected bar socket. Plus quality PSUs generally have some protection built in

Enermax :

OVER LOAD PROTECTION
105% - 150% of max load

OVER VOLTAGE PROTECTION
+5V: 5.6V-6.9V
+3.3V: 3.6V – 4.6V

Click to expand...

The PSU... is something that should never be overlooked when building a system, i.e. don't be cheap when it comes to the PSU.

i agree with arris, its important to source a good quality PSU when building a machine.

We had a similar problem at my house, and we even had a surge protector plugged in. The problem wasn't to a computer, but to our Cable Modem and our Linksys Router. Fried both of them in a matter of seconds. Of course i didn't know that and spent about a month trying to get them to work by myself, and finally when i called linksys to find out why i couldn't get a regular ip address they determined it was fried. They sent out another one and i would get ip addresses but not internet. After about an hour and a half on tech support with Toshiba they finally replaced it. What was it about the key and Benjamin Franklin?

Hey DogStar,

Sorry to hear that too. But I want you to look into a different surge supressor. Go here

http://www.tripplite.com/products/family/surge/index.cfm

These are some very good surge suppressors. They are in the $45-85 US. They also protect against some wicked lightining strikes and spikes.

One word to the wise, mabee two, first get a very good surge suppressor, what I mean is one that will stand behind your computer and pay you if it is dammaged. Mine covers me up to $25,000. I even talked to the rep and questioned him about warrenty, he said, all we require is you send the unit (suppressor) back to us so we can look at it. And second, get a very good power supply. Some come with redundant cooling and all. It is an essential part of any computer but gets overlooked to often. Also remember to keep the inside of the case cleaned out and free of dust build up. That can do alot of componants in.

Good luck on the rebuild.

Another word. IF they replace all the componants they say you NEED, tell them you want the bad ones back. How do YOU know they are bad and not the business trying to make a buck.

At last

Yippee
Got my box back yesterday.
From warranty I got back;
P3 850 instead of P3 700.
20 Gb fujitsu instead of 8 Gb.

Same SE440bx-2 mobo.

I replaced Hitachi DVD with Samsung 16/48 DVD (sd-616).
Eagle3D GF2MX with Leadtek A 170 DDR T.
Panasonic FDD.
Another Vibra sound card.
And another Diamond Touch keyboard (as when I got it home and set up the blasted keyboard had copped it too )

All plugged into a 6 outlet surge protector.

Am now in the process of replacing all the software I had (most of it anyway) but slow process with dial up.

It's good to have it back.I think I was starting to get withdrawal symptons.

Thx for all the help and suggestions.

And I got all the old parts back too boeingfixer.

GREAT to hear Dogstar, I am glad everything worked out for you. Its nice to see you back and know that you won't be going through withdrawals anymore....I hate the shakes as bad as the next person.