Ok, the scenario is as follows: I was sitting and chilling on some Wow last night when i start noticing the faint aroma of burning plastic. A few moments later my computer completely shuts off. After confirming that it was not a power surge or brown out, I opened my computer to inspect the hardware i suspected to be the culprit, my power supply (PowMax 580W ATX, $30.00 at Newegg.) In my rage i inspected the inside of the psu only to find that the burning plastic smell was strong inside. I acquired a different psu from a friend and decided to test it out, only to find it was a 20 pin instead of a 24. So, believing all hope was lost, i plugged in my PowMax again to give her one last go and was surprised to find that she powered up my system! However, now my problem lies in the fact that my monitor displays no picture and reverts to power saving mode when plugged into my video card (Radeon X850XT) and my USB mouse is not recieving power along with my PS/2 keyboard, my hard drive and dvd-rom drive have no power. This perplexes me because all my mobo LEDs light up my Heatsink fan spins, RAM fans spin ,and chipset fan spins. Also, any fan on my case i plug into a power connector that WONT power my HDD or Dvd-rom drive, will spin and light up like normal. I took my DVD-rom drive and HDD over to my friends house and tested them on his power supply and mobo. They fire up and operate as normal. My CD-Rom drive, which was not hooked to my mobo or psu when this happened, DOES power on when hooked to my psu now though its green LED is on constantly. Sigh. I guess my dilemma is this: I will definitley have to scrap my psu and buy a higher quality one due to fact that this whole problem started there. But now that my mobo doesnt seem to want to detect any peripherals or my Video card and really hope to find a solution so as to not have to scrap it also. BTW: I did follow instructions in my mobo manual to clear the CMOS to no avail. Also, when my faulty psu fires my computer on the only way im able to turn it off is by using the switch on the psu itself. My case power button and mobo button dont work to power the system down, but do work to turn it on. I would really appreciate any suggestions as to how to fix this problem. thanks again

PowMax = garbage. And $30 isn't enough to pay for a PSU. Here's a decent low cost PSU with good specs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103013

After you smelled the burning plastic, why did you reinstall that same power supply? That just doesn't make sense at all.

Roger all that - a $30 580W power supply is just not quality. Could be you just lost one or more of the voltages and some are still functional. Get the wallet out for another PSU. 580W is kind of an overkill for just a home system. 400W - 450W should be enough. Make sure to compare AMP ratings on all output voltages. You will find some 400W quality PSUs that have higher AMP ratings than cheaper PSUs with supposedly higher Wattage ratings. Search Engines Are Your Friends ☺ Morpheus: There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. "The Matrix"

Definitely dump the Powmax. BTW - When using the front power switch, be sure to push and hold it for 4 - 5 seconds & chances are it will work.