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Unusual Power Supply Failure
was gone. It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've done this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, no noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini fireworks sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? Thanks much! Mike MF wrote:
Show quoteHide quote > POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it A capacitor probably blew. Sometimes they will make a loud popping noise.> was gone. > > It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > > Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've done > this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and > upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. > > Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because > the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button > were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, no > noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no > visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So > I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. > > But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has > been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer > simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini fireworks > sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? > > Thanks much! > > Mike > > > "Rightard Whitey" <eeld***@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message That;s what I was thinking, but it hadn't happened to me before so i didn'tnews:aGrTd.116066$JF2.59039@tornado.tampabay.rr.com... > MF wrote: > > POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it > > was gone. > > > A capacitor probably blew. Sometimes they will make a loud popping noise. know if i was thinking straight. Figured I would check on others' experiences before I had four or five vodkas to consider the problem in an altered state.::} cheers Mike On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:11:22 -0500, "MF"
<highnoon@spammersgotojail.net> wrote: Show quoteHide quote >POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it I suspect something really was shorted. It "should" turn>was gone. > >It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > >Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've done >this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and >upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. > >Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because >the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button >were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, no >noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no >visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So >I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. > >But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has >been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer >simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini fireworks >sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? > >Thanks much! > >Mike > off in such events but maybe was on it's last leg already and that was enough to do it in... not exactly an unstressful event.
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"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message What??? No video ..:)news:1fjs11d3m2eiihofre3k651knaf46313ev@4ax.com... > On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:11:22 -0500, "MF" > <highnoon@spammersgotojail.net> wrote: > > >POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it > >was gone. > > > >It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > > > >Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've done > >this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and > >upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. > > > >Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because > >the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button > >were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, no > >noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no > >visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So > >I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. > > > >But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has > >been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer > >simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini fireworks > >sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? > > > >Thanks much! > > > >Mike > > > > I suspect something really was shorted. It "should" turn > off in such events but maybe was on it's last leg already > and that was enough to do it in... not exactly an > unstressful event. -- <B0N3H3@D> "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein "«BONEHEAD>>" <hatterisqueer@spam.not> wrote in message Nah, the fireball took out the monitor and desk...:)news:lesTd.8712$az1.5569@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com... > Bonehead wrote: > What??? No video ..:) > > -- > <B0N3H3@D> > "I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein
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"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message could be. But the absence of evidence during and after the toxic eventnews:1fjs11d3m2eiihofre3k651knaf46313ev@4ax.com... > On Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:11:22 -0500, "MF" > <highnoon@spammersgotojail.net> wrote: > > >POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it > >was gone. > > I suspect something really was shorted. It "should" turn > off in such events but maybe was on it's last leg already > and that was enough to do it in... not exactly an > unstressful event. leads me to think - or hope, even though I'll probably junk the mobo - that it didn't. cheers, Mike MF wrote:
Show quoteHide quote > POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it A component failure may provide its own signal. The good news is that there> was gone. > > It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > > Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've > done > this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and > upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. > > Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because > the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button > were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, > no noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no > visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So > I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. > > But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has > been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer > simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini > fireworks sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? > > Thanks much! > > Mike was apparently no damage to the connected loads. That's usually the case. I had a power supply act up in a newly-built box. Abrupt reboots, lockups, etc. It did this a few times and then came a bang and smoke. M/B and video card were damaged; other cards, memory, HD survived. Fortunately, I had purchased everything from the same vendor on one order, so there was very little haggling to get the bad stuff replaced. And it happened before I handed it off to my client. It wasn't a Sparkle power supply. Interesting name though. Roby
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"MF" <highnoon@spammersgotojail.net> wrote in message A year or so ago, I'm not sure exactly, Tom's Hardware did a power supplynews:aa-dndt675Ro34PfRVn-1w@comcast.com... > POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it > was gone. > > It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > > Circumstances: kill switch turned off, hard drive being replaced. I've done > this many times, about twenty times on this computer alone (for tests and > upgrades, not twenty failed HDDs) with nary a snafu save lost screws. > > Like a typical user, I can't remember _exactly_ when it happened, because > the act of turnning the kill switch back on and pushing the power button > were almost (not quite) simultaneous. Everything was connected properly, no > noise or visuals from anywhere else in the computer, and afterwards, no > visible scorch marks or other anomalies anywhere else in the computer. So > I'm about 99.25 percent sure that nothing shorted anywhere else. > > But there's that other .75%. My experience with power supply failures has > been the standard: intermittent error and/or quiet death - the computer > simply doesn't turn on one day. Has anyone experienced these mini fireworks > sort of flameouts - and does anyone know the cause? > > Thanks much! > > Mike shoot out and that was the symptom they got sometimes when they overloaded one. They used a complicated series of resistors to overload them to see whether they would give the rated power. AG "MF" <highnoon@spammersgotojail.net> wrote in message Just out of curiosity, what kind of system were you trying to power up withnews:aa-dndt675Ro34PfRVn-1w@comcast.com... > POP, ZZZZZZT, SPARK and a tiny puff of smoke out the back of the PS and it > was gone. > > It's a Sparkle, ATX, 250 Watt, a bit over 6 years old. > a 250 Watt? 
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