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Power supply symptoms

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by jongru, 2002/01/27.

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  1. 2002/01/27
    jongru

    jongru Inactive Thread Starter

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    What are the typical symptoms of an overloaded power supply?
    I installed another hard drive and see a flickering screen once in a while. I have a 250 watt compaq atx in now. I have: cdrw drive, dvd rom drive. 2 40gb harddrives, floppy drive, 384 mb ram, windows 98se, and about 38000 files. Any thoughts or suggestions. How big a power supply should I get if I need one.

    Thank You in advance.....jongru
     
  2. 2002/01/27
    Zephyr

    Zephyr Inactive

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    Your power supply is large enough. The general symptoms of a too small power supply or one going south would be freeze ups, spontaneous reboots or failure to start. Then of course smoke and fire are dead giveaways!

    Your symptoms are more likely caused by a video component failure, either card, monitor, or cable. Check all connections, reseat your video card (if you have such), and try updating/re-installing your video drivers. Gently tap on the monitor to see if it show any flickering as a result of the shock. Pray that it isn't your MOBO based video hardware failing. Presumably that could be disabled and a card used instead but it's not fun or cheap that way.
     
    Last edited: 2002/01/27

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  4. 2002/01/27
    jongru

    jongru Inactive Thread Starter

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    Thanks Zephyr,

    I have a feeling that my power supply is only a 200 watter. I checked the compaq presario 7940 manual and it refers to a 200 watt for that configuration. I will have it checked out at a local store and I think I will upgrade to a 350 watt atx if it fits the case I have. I was told you have to be careful with compaq, that they use odd sized shapes, but from my looking at the measurements, they seem the same as an atx without one of the side screws. Let's hope....jongru
     
  5. 2002/01/29
    cyberpunk

    cyberpunk Inactive

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    Internal Dimensions

    Go inside the case and look/measure it there, many non standard psu's will appear normal on the back of the case, its the internal configuration and dimensions you need to be sure of, plus any non standard power couplings on the loom that are in use.
     
  6. 2002/01/30
    Rancher

    Rancher Inactive

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    psu

    Still, even tho 200 is tiny for what ya got running, the symtoms are more like what Zephyr explained. Is this comp on it's on circut? If it shares with the frig/freeser or microwave, watch for the flicker when these appliances startup
     
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