PSU Blew up...

[khubani]

I've been having issues with my GPU, lately. CPU shutting down on it's own, escalating to the GPU suddenly saying it loses signal to my monitor while gaming and locking up the PC to force a manual restart. I decided to download OCCT to run a GPU test on it. It reached 100 degrees within 40 minutes of the test, and I hear the loud shortage sound from my kitchen. It smells like I vaccumed a rubber band (sort of), now I'm assuming my PSU just blew, would anyone agree to this? Additionally, I've come to hear that other parts blow in the process - what are these chances? Does anyone have any experiences relative to this? I have a crappy, Sunbeam 580W PSU from Newegg for $20, purchased ~3 yrs ago. These issues are less than a week old. I'll be going to BestBuy soon since they agreed to run a diagnostic for free - but I wanted to check with the community here. Any advices, thoughts or educated guesses on what exactly happened?

 

[khubani]

I currently have the EVGA Geforce 8800 GTS 320MB video card. I don't plan on purchasing anything from Best Buy.

 

[khubani]

That's definite, my PSU is long gone. I just don't know what components have been taken with it. I'm hoping none but my hopelessness at the moment is leading me to believe that everything is fried.

 

[obsidian86]

only reason to visit best buy

 

[hunter315]

This time around get a good PSU, a 550W with ~40A on its 12V rails and a 5 year warranty. It will be hard to check to see if any of the IC's received damage without a functional power source.

You can visually inspect the motherboard to check for damage, you are looking for blown or bulging capacitors, especially in the voltage regulator near the CPU. If you see any that appear to have any damage or any good leaking out of them that component is toast.

 

[khubani]

Hunter,

Thanks for your response. Can you explain more clearly for me where exactly to find these components to check for damage?

 

[hunter315]

the majority of the voltage regulators will be right around the CPU, what motherboard do you have?

Here are a couple of pictures of what you are hoping not to see

 

[khubani]

Hunter,

Thank you for explaining this to me. There are no leakages in any of the capacitors. Is there any other way of checking for damages to other components?

 

[hunter315]

Not without a functional power source, the functionality of the integrated circuits will be best checked using stuff like prime 95, memtest, and furmark, that will cover your main components. If you fail prime95(its tends to BSOD if you do) and you pass Memtest then you likely have CPU or motherboard damage.

 

[khubani]

I see. I used memtest back when my CPU was working, and it successfully passed all the tests. I believe my issue was cooling considering my PC functioned better with the case off, even though it still crapped out on me, just not as frequently. I will post an update after my fishing expedition @ Best Buy. Thanks for your help, I selected your post as best answer with the photos you provided, it was very educational. Thanks again, Hunter.

 

[khubani]

Best answer selected by KHUBANI.