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Is my PSU dead if it flickers on power-up then goes off?

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First post, by Malik

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This is a CoolerMaster 850W PSU (about 2 years old now) I used to use with my main system.

The symptoms:

Initially, when I pressed the power button, the system powered on.. and after about 3 seconds, it goes off. The power LED at the back of the PSU is still on and so does the motherboard's LED.

Then I noticed that when I leave it like that without doing anything, the power led on the casing started to blink up after about 30 seconds. Each blink becomes more and more brighter upto the normal brightness of the LED usually seen. Then it goes off. After this, when I pressed the power button on the casing again, the system boots up normally and runs till I switch it off. No in-Windows errors either. That was sometime ago.

About a week later, the system didn't respond. When I pressed the power button, the whole system powered up for not even half a second - just a flicker of the fan movement and then,....nothing.

I had to pull out the power plug from the PSU to recreate this "flicker of life" again; - it happens only once per plugged-in status.

So is it dead? Is there any hope of repair for this?

Just that I miss this PSU which used to power my GeForce 9800GTX SLI rig.

(Just saw this PSU while rummaging in my cupboard, and thought of asking.)

Thanks for any clarification.

EDIT : Also, Not related to the question above, the label on the PSU mentions "With active PFC" - what does that mean? -Thanks.

5476332566_7480a12517_t.jpgSB Dos Drivers

Reply 1 of 13, by sgt76

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Looks like its dead. You might be able to repair it but i personall wouldnt take chances with a psu. Few mths back, i threw out a faulty tagan 750w with those symptoms. All its major caps were bad.

Reply 2 of 13, by AdamP

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You can test the PSU with a multimeter or PSU tester.

It is generally not recommended to try to repair a PSU. It's far easier, cheaper, and safer to just replace it.

About the pfc:

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/faqpfc.html

Reply 3 of 13, by jwt27

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I'm thinking it could be the overcurrent protection suddenly kicking in. That might mean you have a short circuit somewhere, either in the PSU itself or in your other hardware.
Have you tried powering it up without anything attached? If it works then, measure the output voltages with a multimeter. If they're all good, try connecting a hard drive or something while it's powered up and see if it turns off again. Just some things you could try.

Big chance the electrolytic caps are just bad, these are usually first to fail. If one of them is shorted, well then there's your problem.

Reply 4 of 13, by Malik

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Yeah, I too feel the PSU is a goner now...

It's sad to see the PSU go so "early" while my other not-so-well-known 500W PSUs still working well.

Thanks for the link too.

I just tried powering up another working motherboard with the PSU, both bare on the table. After touch-shorting the power jumper pins, I get the same flicker of fan movement. For control, I used another PSU (CoolerMaster 550W)by the side - which is working normally when I short the pins.

Thanks for the info.

5476332566_7480a12517_t.jpgSB Dos Drivers

Reply 6 of 13, by maddmaxstar

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Sounds like a bad PSU, like a Filter Capacitor has gone in it or something. Before giving up on it, I'd try the PSU on a different system and see if it has the same issues, or try replacing it to see if that fixes it (easier said than done).

Coolermaster has some nice Fans and Cases (I'm using their stuff in my main system now) but their PSUs from what I've heard/seen are just rebranded Generics, cheap on the inside. Hopefully there's warranty left.

= Phenom II X6 1090T(HD4850) =
= K7-550(V3-3000) =
= K6-2+ 500(V3-2000) =
= Pentium 75 Gold(Voodoo1) =
= Am486DX4-120(3DXpression+) =
= TI486DLC-40(T8900D) =
= i386sx-16+i387(T8900D) =

Reply 7 of 13, by sgt76

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maddmaxstar wrote:

Coolermaster has some nice Fans and Cases (I'm using their stuff in my main system now) but their PSUs from what I've heard/seen are just rebranded Generics, cheap on the inside. Hopefully there's warranty left.

Their high-end is as good as anyone's. Lower down, they use(d) rebranded AcBels and such. Not really bad provided you take their rating conservatively and don't load them too much.

Reply 8 of 13, by SquallStrife

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maddmaxstar wrote:

Coolermaster has some nice Fans and Cases (I'm using their stuff in my main system now) but their PSUs from what I've heard/seen are just rebranded Generics, cheap on the inside. Hopefully there's warranty left.

Hell yeah, my main system is in a HAF-X!

I have a Corsair HX750 PSU though. Very nice quality PSU, heck, even the packaging reeks of quality.

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Reply 9 of 13, by maddmaxstar

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SquallStrife wrote:

Hell yeah, my main system is in a HAF-X!

Nice case! I went a bit conservatively and got an Elite 341, but it's loaded with CM 120mm fans and a Hyper TX2. Keeps my 1090T and 16GB RM nice and cool.

As for the power supply, I've never personally used Coolermaster's PSUs, but I've heard a fair deal of heresay. When it comes to something like that I'd want to trust a manufacture that at least makes their own PSUs like Enermax, Antec or even FSP/Sparkle (I'm running a Sparkle 600w now, going strong for years.)

= Phenom II X6 1090T(HD4850) =
= K7-550(V3-3000) =
= K6-2+ 500(V3-2000) =
= Pentium 75 Gold(Voodoo1) =
= Am486DX4-120(3DXpression+) =
= TI486DLC-40(T8900D) =
= i386sx-16+i387(T8900D) =

Reply 10 of 13, by Tetrium

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sgt76 wrote:
maddmaxstar wrote:

Coolermaster has some nice Fans and Cases (I'm using their stuff in my main system now) but their PSUs from what I've heard/seen are just rebranded Generics, cheap on the inside. Hopefully there's warranty left.

Their high-end is as good as anyone's. Lower down, they use(d) rebranded AcBels and such. Not really bad provided you take their rating conservatively and don't load them too much.

I have one of these AcBels. A Coolermaster rebranded one, 450W. Been running my 3500+ for about 5 years now without problems.
And yes, I purposefully don't load it too much 😉

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Reply 11 of 13, by elfuego

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Guys... Ehm... Isnt this "Marvin" ? "Discussion about old PC hardware and Retro PCs ?" 850W PSU cant be that old 😜

Reply 12 of 13, by h-a-l-9000

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These guys are calling their Pentiums retro too, so I guess it doesn't matter that much...

1+1=10

Reply 13 of 13, by Tetrium

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h-a-l-9000 wrote:

These guys are calling their Pentiums retro too, so I guess it doesn't matter that much...

Not that discussion again 🤣!
Anyway, a Pentium is retro. A 850W PSU is not.
Retro is defined by the idea of going backwards and with a Pentium 1 that's exactly what you do.
Same with 3DFX, that's retro

It's really that simple.

Whats missing in your collections?
My retro rigs (old topic)
Interesting Vogons threads (links to Vogonswiki)
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