What happens when a power supply overheats?

alphabetbackward · Post by **alphabetbackward** » Tue Jan 15, 2008 10:14 pm

I have an Antec NSK3480 and for whatever reason, the computer decided it wanted to shut down, like if I just pulled the power cord.

Ultimately, I think I damaged the Earthwatts power supply and it overheated. I saw yellow melted "goop".

Anyway, I got a Corsair HX520 on sale and it worked for about 48 hours. The computer did the same thing. This time, I accidentally put my router on the top vent so I assume that was the cause. However, I took it off, and about two hours later, shut down.

Is it safe to assume that a power supply has some built in circuitry to kill the power if it overheats?

Ambient temperature is ~60 F.

Are the top vents too restrictive?

System specs:

MSI K8NGM2-FID (Socket 939)
x2 3800
1 GB (2 x 512 MB) DDR400 Corsair
Antec Tricool 120mm fan
Seagate 300 GB PATA 7200.8

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:10 am

Hello,

The yellow goop you saw is probably a dampening glue put there during manufacturing -- it is meant to keep things from vibrating or squealing. I also doubt very much that your system is even causing the PSU fan to ramp up; let alone overheat the unit. Is the PSU noisy?

I think your machine has some other problem that is causing it to shut down. You should probably check the RAM, by running MemTest x86 for a day or so.

Atmosper · Post by **Atmosper** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:35 am

I agree, there's a good chance that something other than the PSU is the problem. RAM, CPU or motherboard should be the prime suspects. Borrow someone elses RAM or CPU if you can. I don't think you have gotten two PSUs in a row with the same fault.

Also, PSUs usually don't overheat that easily.

tehfire · Post by **tehfire** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:08 am

Last time I had a PSU die from overheating, it filled my room with a strong "computery" smell - you know, the smell of a new vid card or MB? Something like that. I agree with everyone else, it probably isn't your PSU.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 7:57 am

yea if you've replaced the PSU, and you still get the same problem, then its obviously not a PSU issue.

I agree with the others. Likely memory. May also be software related though. I know theres an option in winxp that if it gets a critical error it will auto turn off the system instead of just giving you a BSOD.

If you have multiple sticks of memory, try booting the system with only 1 stick at a time. If the computer fails to boot with a specific stick of memory, then thats your problem. replace the stick and your good. Almost all memory manufacturers have a lifetime guarentee now a days, so you can likely call up the manufacturer and get it replaced for free.

djkest · Post by **djkest** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:20 am

Could this be a problem with the voltage regulators on the motherboard? The yellow good makes this thread more interesting.

alphabetbackward · Post by **alphabetbackward** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:47 am

At school at the moment but I'll just add...

This system has been running fine for about a year.

I did an inspection of the motherboard and power cables and nothing looks burned and no funny smells.

The yellow goop is also on parts of the heatsink (Earthwatts) and on top of the what looks like capacitors. I also messed up the warranty sticker when I had to remove the PSU multiple times so no replacements.

I thought about running Memtest but I removed my optical drive a while ago due to it being quite long. I think it might actually be 7 inches. I just got a 5.25 enclosure so I'll try running it tonight. I just thought that if it were a RAM issue, I'd get a blue screen but this odd instant power down makes me want to believe it's something else.

It's just weird because it ran fine for 10 hours straight on Sunday. Fine on Monday. Then yesterday, when I installed a router and left it on the top of the case partially obscuring the vent, that's when it powered down. I also left it on for another 7 hours and then finally shut if off around 3 AM.

subsonik · Post by **subsonik** » Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:09 pm

Isn't your CPU overheating? Most motherboards will shutdown when the CPU overheats. Other failures (memory, graphics, ...) usually cause just a reboot.

PSU's usually don't have a temperature shutdown. When they do, it won't shutdown until you notice various kinds of funny smells.

I once put a pen between the fan blades of my Zalman 300W psu (to check its noise level). Unfortunately, I forgot about the pen. About an hour later, the thing was spreading an unpleasant sour smell. When I removed the pen, the air coming from the fan had the same temperature you get from a decent hairdryer... The PSU didn't shutdown! It must have been around 100C.

alphabetbackward · Post by **alphabetbackward** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 9:01 pm

The CPU is <30 at all times.

I ran Memtest via USB optical drive and via the PATA channel. Got some type of interruption which I saw as an error. I RMA'ed it last Friday and got it back today. Ran the test again and got the exact same error.

Hmm...I'm not sure what to make of this but I thank you all for your suggestions.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:20 am

Hello,

You may have some faulty RAM?

QuaiBoy · Post by **QuaiBoy** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:38 am

What's the error? And what version of memtest are you running?
Try swapping your memory between banks. If it still errors out, try one stick or the other.

-Evan

alphabetbackward · Post by **alphabetbackward** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:25 am

I tried 1 stick each and swapped them. Still the same thing.

I did read about my particular motherboard and Memtest errors depending on the BIOS version. I'm looking into it.

So far, I haven't had any crashes.

QuaiBoy · Post by **QuaiBoy** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:48 am

Try a different version of memtest, or try booting it from a floppy drive. I've had it flake out on me for no good reason on a few older boards that a different version (newer or older) will work fine with.

-Evan