A friend dropped off his PC for me to look at because he couldn't get it to boot. From his description I thought it was a software fault that might just require repair or re-installation of Windows XP. However on plugging it in to the mains and switching the PSUs switch on the system fans started to spin up (very much like they were doing on the PC I build myself earlier this year).
The PSU in this PC is a Thermaltake TR2-500W unit and the PC is just over 3 years old. I originally built the PC for him so know it was put together properly originally and has been working fine until now.
The PSU has a status LED on the back next to the on/off switch. When power is switched on at the wall the PSU is jumping straight to Green, showing an on status and not the orange standby status it should be doing, and all system fans (including CPU, GPU, northbridge and case) are spinning up but the system doesn't start to boot. On pressing the soft power on button on the front of the case nothing happens. I can't get the system to boot at all. The HDD is spun up and power is going to the Motherboard as it's green light is lit.
Does this therefore point directly to a PSU failure? I sadly don't have a spare PSU to try and test this at the moment, other than pulling one from one of my working PCs, I would need to buy a replacement before I know for sure.
Question. If a PSU is on its own out of the case and connected directly to the mains power and switched on, am I right in thinking it should always remain off with no internal fans spinning unless I short the green/black soft on pins on the motherboard connector?
I've also read in a few places that powering up a PSU on its own by shorting the soft on pins can damage some PSUs because they need to be connected to some hardware that draws some power. Is there any evidence of this being true? I've been doing this since forever and not killed a PSU this way. Anyone know?
The PSU in this PC is a Thermaltake TR2-500W unit and the PC is just over 3 years old. I originally built the PC for him so know it was put together properly originally and has been working fine until now.
The PSU has a status LED on the back next to the on/off switch. When power is switched on at the wall the PSU is jumping straight to Green, showing an on status and not the orange standby status it should be doing, and all system fans (including CPU, GPU, northbridge and case) are spinning up but the system doesn't start to boot. On pressing the soft power on button on the front of the case nothing happens. I can't get the system to boot at all. The HDD is spun up and power is going to the Motherboard as it's green light is lit.
Does this therefore point directly to a PSU failure? I sadly don't have a spare PSU to try and test this at the moment, other than pulling one from one of my working PCs, I would need to buy a replacement before I know for sure.
Question. If a PSU is on its own out of the case and connected directly to the mains power and switched on, am I right in thinking it should always remain off with no internal fans spinning unless I short the green/black soft on pins on the motherboard connector?
I've also read in a few places that powering up a PSU on its own by shorting the soft on pins can damage some PSUs because they need to be connected to some hardware that draws some power. Is there any evidence of this being true? I've been doing this since forever and not killed a PSU this way. Anyone know?