Hi guys. I'm having a problem where my PC makes a click noise (just once), then I get a Nvidia "your device isn't getting enough power" error, then the PC either freezes or shuts down. This has happened twice now, both times while playing a game. First was Ragnarok (which uses 100% CPU), second was Freelancer (also 100% CPU). I suspect the PSU as it kinda... exploded 2 days after we bought it. We took it back, they plugged it in, it worked, so we kept it. Also, it didn't happen like, 2 times this week, it first happened about 25 days ago, then again about 25 minutes ago. I haven't really changed anything in my PC recently, either. I added 512 MB RAM and a Creative SB X-Fi Xtrememusic sound card about 2 months ago and I removed my TV tuner after this happened the first time (it didn't wanna tune any channels, for some reason. Pretty pointless having it in). Any help would be much appreciated. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1GB RAM 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus/Seagate Barracuda 60GB HDD Nvidia GeForce 6600LE 256MB 16x DVD-ROM 42x CD-RW 16x External DVD RW

"I suspect the PSU as it kinda... exploded 2 days after we bought it. We took it back, they plugged it in, it worked, so we kept it." How about telling us the make and specifications of the powersupply. What wattage rating and how many amps on each rail? Particularly the 12v rail. What do you mean "kinda exploded"? Sure sounds like it's heading south. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

Hey. I'm not entirely sure about any of it's ratings, it's a KMex v1.3 PSU, which I couldn't get much info on (except forum signatures with system specs and japanese sites). I'll give you all the info I can get, but it's not much (the sticker on the side of the PSU is badly printed, the box has very little info). It's 500w, 12v is 18A, 5v is 30A, from what I can tell. When I say "kinda exploded", I mean... me and my brother were playing Mashed, we started smelling smoke (we thought it was the guys across the street). After a little while there was a pop (with some sparks) and the PC shut down. We took it back to the guys who sold it to us, they plugged it into some fans and a motherboard (in a half-built PC) and it worked, so they wouldn't refund it. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1GB RAM 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus/Seagate Barracuda 60GB HDD Nvidia GeForce 6600LE 256MB 16x DVD-ROM 42x CD-RW 16x External DVD RW

Gah! Just happened again. I'm gonna leave my PC off overnight, see if it helps at all. Though I highly doubt it will. I can PROBABLY get a new PSU on Sunday, but it's gonna have to be from the same place I got this one - the local computer fair. Let's hope I can get a DECENT one, this time. I also noticed something, which makes me think this problem could be rather bad for my hard drives. After the click, I heard the HDDs spin down and start spinning up again. This time, I didn't get a Nvidia device error. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 512MB RAM 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus/Seagate Barracuda 60GB HDD Nvidia GeForce A6600LE 256MB 16x DVD-ROM 42x CD-RW 16x External DVD RW

If I were you I would not turn on the computer again until you have a new power supply - in fact ATX power supplies are always powering the ATX mboard in some places, even when Windows is Shut Down or in Standby or Hibernate modes, and PS's can fail even in that state and possibly damage your mboard and anything connected to it - unplug the computer, or otherwise remove the power to it! Failing power supplies can cause all sorts of strange symptoms and error messages, usually because of too high or too low voltages, but more importantly, the damage they can cause while failing is random, and you risk damaging your mboard and anything connected to it if you continue to use a failing PS, especially if it is producing voltages that are too high or it shorts. You should have demanded that you got a new power supply after your PS "exploded". A power supply that does that is definately defective, even if it didn't "blow up" when they tried it. If it was a new PS, the vendor would have no problem getting the defective PS replaced by the manufacturer or distributor they got it from. If it was a used PS, it's a matter of buyer beware - you should have gotten another PS even if they wouldn't give you a refund. There are lots of el-cheapo power supplies out there that are likely to fail early and/or are more likely to damage your system while failing. Steer clear of the cheapest ones. It should be a brand with a good reputation, it should have a warranty of at least a year, preferably three years, and it should have anti-short and overvoltage protection built in (it will shut down in those circumstances). If you are looking for a PS online, don't just look at the selling vendors info - check out the manufacturer's web site for that model - make sure it has a decent warranty - if there is no web site, or the web site is poor, look elsewhere. How do you tell if the PS is malfunctioning or dead? The best way is to borrow a known good PS with enough capacity and try it, or try your PS in a working computer. Make sure all the wire colors and numbers of wires on the main connector from the PS are the same - if they are not one PS is not compatible with the other! If you can't do that.... take it to a computer repair place and have them try another PS, or....... If the computer will not fully boot or the PS will not start up, or the computer re-boots or shuts down for no apparent reason...... Sniff the PS fan outlet area with the power off - a strong burnt wiring / burnt plasticy smell indicates the PS has been overheating or has been malfunctioning, regardless of whether the PS fan is spinning properly. Try turning the PS fan from the back of the case with a pencil or something slim - it should move in jumps, but be easy to turn - if it is harder to turn, the fan is spinning slower than it should or has stopped spinning, the PS has probably overheated and damaged itself, and the PS is probably in the process of dying. Look in your bios Setup at the current voltages (if you have the monitoring chipset for that) - +3.3, +5, and +12 volts should be within 10% of nominal values - your Vcc (cpu core voltage(s)) should be within 5% of nominal value(s). Voltages that are too high can do a lot of damage in a short time. The PS fan should be spinning at the speed it is supposed to be - some spin according to how warm the PS is, slower when cooler, but it may not have that feature and in that case would spin quite fast. If it spins too slow or has stopped, the PS will overheat and fry itself, malfunction for a while, and eventually die. Some PS problems only show up intermittantly, or only when you add an additional load to the computer - when the computer is booted, or when you are running something that stresses it more, such as when you are burning a CD or DVD, or playing a recent game. You could try installing a mboard monitoring utility that can monitor your temps and voltages in Windows, and set it up so that it is monitoring all the time and will warn you if something goes out of whack, particularly the voltages. .....

Woah, long post, heh. Thanks for the info, and yeah, I unplugged the PSU from the wall after switching it off. We're gonna get one tommorrow, definitly not a cheap one. I'm looking into shops near me selling Antec, Coolermaster and Thermaltake, as I know they're high quality. About the guys who sold us this one; we tried to get them to replace it, we even got 2 guys who were walking past agreeing with us. They actually said they didn't have any more, so I asked for my money back, they said they couldn't do that due to... something... it was a while ago =/ Also, later on I might try running it out in the kitchen (just the PSU (tester suppply trick :D)) and test it with my trusty multimeter. Yeah, I think it's been doing it thanks to me putting the PC under load. Playing music off one hard drive, games off the other (The video card uses a seperate molex), that could probably do it. Thanks for all the info, I really appreciate it. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 512MB RAM 120GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus/Seagate Barracuda 60GB HDD Nvidia GeForce A6600LE 256MB 16x DVD-ROM 42x CD-RW 16x External DVD RW