Problem with PSU. Or the cable. Or something else. I don't know.

[RaZarati]

Okay, I'll try to make this as clear as possible.

A year ago, I upgraded my PC. I bought a new motherboard, CPU and RAM:
-MSI P67A-GD53 (B3)
-Intel i5-2500K
-8GB G.Skill RipJawsX (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz

On top of these, I have the following GPU, HDD, PSU and sound card:
-PowerColor HD 4870 1GB
-Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1TB
-Be Quiet 650W Dark Power Pro Modular PSU
-X-Fi sound card

In a:
-Coolermaster HAF 932 Full Tower Case


Soon, after I upgraded last year, I switched my PC on but only one phase light was shown on the motherboard. The case fans and CPU fan seemed to spin but the PC wouldn't boot; nothing was shown on the monitor.
Oddly, this issue then seemed to stay away for almost a year.

Now, about a month ago, the same problem started to occur; only more regularly. As stupid as it sounds, it only seemed to turn on after it had a considerable break (12+hours) from having been powered down.

Today, it happened again but I noticed that the red and green lights on my surge protector (which I use to plug several things in to, including my PC) weren't lit. I don't know how long it has been like this (bad, I know), but everything still seems to work, bar my computer every now and then.
I then tried plugging just my PC into another surge protector. The PC did the same (failed to boot up) but when I plugged everything that was previously plugged into it (lamp, phone charger), the whole protector had blown and was now useless.

I currently have my PC working, as it likes messing around with me.

Can anyone draw any conclusion as to what is wrong? Due to the other surge protector blowing, would that indicate a faulty PSU? Or is the cable the culprit? Or maybe I'm way out.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[socialfox]

Might be a faulty PSU, what brand is it? Overtime most power supplies lose their initial wattage and maybe that's why yours wont start up.

 

[RaZarati]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2008/07/29/be-quiet-dark-power-pro-650w/1

I bought it back in August 2009.

 

[cats_Paw]

Its actually very hard to guess, but ill give it a try.

You said your surge protector blowed up. Question here: is it normal in your city to have power surges or blackouts?

If so, there is a posibility the PSU was underpowered due to the power surge protection beeing damaged.

If so, the PSU "might" have been damaged and how send wrong voltages (2 unstalbe for your PC).

Second question: Did you overclock your CPU? If so, the 12V rail might not be able to handle it, or might be a bad overclock.

Third question: Have you any way to test a diffrent PSU on your PC? If so, try it to rule out PSU beeing the problem.

4th question: if you go from idle to gaming, does your PSU get louder? If not, it could be the PSU.

5th question: Can you check with your hand if the PSU is actually cooling itslef down? Maybe its overheating?

hard to be able to guess more than that for now 8(

 

[RaZarati]

Its actually very hard to guess, but ill give it a try.

You said your surge protector blowed up. Question here: is it normal in your city to have power surges or blackouts?

If so, there is a posibility the PSU was underpowered due to the power surge protection beeing damaged.

If so, the PSU "might" have been damaged and how send wrong voltages (2 unstalbe for your PC).

Second question: Did you overclock your CPU? If so, the 12V rail might not be able to handle it, or might be a bad overclock.

Third question: Have you any way to test a diffrent PSU on your PC? If so, try it to rule out PSU beeing the problem.

4th question: if you go from idle to gaming, does your PSU get louder? If not, it could be the PSU.

5th question: Can you check with your hand if the PSU is actually cooling itslef down? Maybe its overheating?

hard to be able to guess more than that for now 8(

Thanks for your response.

1. Not really, but we have had a power cut a couple of times over the course of the year.

2. No.

3. Unfortunately not.

4. I'm not sure. Not that I could tell.

5. It felt warm but nothing that I would consider abnormal.


I turned it on today but it won't have it. The same problem occurs. I've removed some dust from the entire case, but I feel like I'm clutching at straws a bit. I checked the fan of the PSU and it does appear to be spinning; whether that means that it is okay, I don't know.

As the PC always turns on with one phase light lit, how likely is it that the problem is a motherboard issue? Or is it more likely to be the PSU that isn't supplying the right power (voltages?) to boot the PC correctly. If the power from the PSU is fluctuating all the time, does it make sense that the PC boots correctly some of the time? And could that be a reason for it blowing one of my surge protectors? Would a power supply tester indicate a faulty PSU with it being like this?

Another thing that I should point out is that the GPU fan doesn't work when I switch on the PC, even though the CPU and case fans do work. The GPU isn't the problem though because that is something that I have been able to swap in order to check it.


I apologise for all the questions and appreciate all responses.

 

[socialfox]

You claim the gpu fan is not spinning? I highly urge you to disconnect the video card at once due to serious overheating, do you know if the fan is defective? If its not defective then either its the power supply not delivering enough wattage or you may have disconnected the video card's two pin fan connector.