Power Supply Going Bad

[Narn]

I believe my power supply is failing. My computer is freezing up trying to do anything and this seems like the most likely culprit. I started having issues after a storm with lots of lightning.

I have 2 questions. Anyone know of a good Power supply tester i could buy? I could use this for work as well so not a bad idea to buy one.

And what's a good power supply under 100 that would support the computer specs below?

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
AMD Phenom II x4 965
Asus M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 - AM3 - AMD 890GX
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Power Supply
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850
Samsung 1 TB Spinpoint 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.5
XIGMATEK BALDER SD1283 120mm Long Life CPU Cooler
Kingston HyperX 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Thanks
Narn

[vesseblah]

Random crashes can be also related to RAM or HDD or even motherboard...

Lightnings do strange things to computers. While working at PC repairs I've seen a computer that had half inch hole burned into 3.5" floppy through the read/write heads. Amusingly, everything else on the computer was destroyed except modem which was hooked on during the storm, and the floppy drive (motherboard, cpu, ram, hdd and cd drive all fried).

Good PSU at less than $100 -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371021
Doing search for "psu tester" returns this at Newegg, can pick your favourite -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tester&x=0&y=0
And last I recommend surge protector with or without UPS. APC is good brand.

[ispano]

Pretty much. If the PSU was affected, then most likely other things are as well. I would test other things as well.

[Narn]

Thanks for the replies. The storm was 3 weeks ago. It started freezing and I managed to get it to stop. Then last night the freezing started again. It especially freezes when windows is loading. I've even tried loading Ubuntu on a usb drive and it freezes too.

I have everything running through an APC UPS. It's about 3 years old. So the last storm might have pushed it over the edge.

The RAM tests out fine with Memtest and Microsoft memory test. Doesn't mean it isn't bad but isn't as likely.
I took out the video card and tried with the onboard video and still had the same issue.

I need to find a good utility to check the hard drive on boot.

As far as testing the motherboard and processor. I've never really know a good way to do this besides swap out parts? Does anyone else know a better way?

Thanks Narn

[ispano]

With the CPU you can run a stress test like Overclockers do.

[vesseblah]

As far as testing the motherboard and processor. I've never really know a good way to do this besides swap out parts? Does anyone else know a better way?

Not really... What you could do is run some heavy CPU benchmarks and OC stress tests to try out CPU stability. For motherboard testing the best you can do is try out every single port and connector that it works as it should by swapping things back and forth.

If memtest, HDD testing and CPU stress tests goes through without errors, and also you dont' see any strange results when monitoring voltages and temperatures while the computer is running, next step would be doing clean install of OS to rule out any and all software issues. After that you're really out of options and the problem is probably isolated to PSU or motherboard. Or both.

Or it could be also your UPS failing and not giving proper power, especially if it took a hit from lightning. Can try running the computer without it, just get a cheap surge protector meanwhile.

[Narn]

That's a good idea. Do you know of a good CPU stress test that will is bootable? It seems bootable tests work fine but any performed from an OS cause issues.

That's why this is such a frustrating problem. It could be any or all of the components in the computer.

[ispano]

If it's only in windows, files might be corrupted. You should run "sfc /scannow" and see if it needs to fix anything.

[Narn]

I tried a new powerstrip so no go there. I've ordered a PSU tester.

I'm getting utilities to try to test the hard drive and CPU. If you guys think of anything else let me know. I'd be happy for it too be able to boot up in safe mode at this point.

---------- Post added 2011-04-17 at 06:07 PM ----------

I found the Samsung hard drive utility if anyone needs it, http://www.samsung.com/global/busine...ort_in_es.html

---------- Post added 2011-04-17 at 10:23 PM ----------

3 hours of running the hard drive utility and no freezes. Might just need to reinstall the OS.

[Narn]

I got the digital PSU tester in. The Sata connectors and Molex were reporting LL on +12V2. According to the manual it came with this means below 10V, Everything else checked out fine. I'm not sure if this is normal. Anyone who has experience with this things know if this means it's bad or if these connectors just don't supply power for +12V2?

[vesseblah]

No clue, but assuming the tester is not broken, it sounds like (one of) the 12V rail(s) is damaged and not working up to spec. It could easily explain instability and random crashes.

[Narn]

So i found out that on Sata and Molex connectors, they do not use the +12V2 rail for power. So that's why it was giving me Low. I tested several power supplies and got the same results on each one.

I talked to AMD and the got a RMA for my processor. Basically they said there was no real bootable way to test the CPU, send it back to us and we'll test it out and if it's bad replace it. Only way to test would be to stick it in someone else motherboard. I don't know anyone who happens to have a socket AM3 right now. AMD also suggested i RMA the Motherboard with ASUS as well. I'm still waiting to hear back from ASUS.

So far AMD and Antec support have both been really helpful.