I saw sparks in my power supply

The Snert

Title says it.

I was moving my computer from one bedroom to another, I plugged it in and turned it on, and suddenly I see a flash and hear 'ZzzzzZT' noise. I think "wtf", unplug everything, open the case and look around. I didn't smell the tell-tal sign of burning, so I plugged it back in. Same deal. More flashes and crackling electrical noise. So I unplugged it and I have it sitting alone.

I ordered a new powersupply, but I guess I wanna know if this has happened to anyone else, and if it causd them any more problems? I really don't want to find out this caused my mobo to die. What are the chances something worse happened?

NotYou

Ummm, that sounds terrible, and I would say there were fairly decent chances something besides your PSU got fried.

Madpanda

Chances are good everything attached to it suffered some kind of damage. This might manifest in the component not working at all, or just being flaky and dying out sooner than it would. Were you by chance wearing socks and did you walk across a carpet while moving the computer?

Figgy

The chances are pretty good that something worse happened, and there is absolutely no way on God's green tits that we can diagnose this simply by "sparks and ZZZzzzt."

Once you get the new power supply, switch it out and see what happens. You can't do any damage to the new power supply if something else did get fried, so the best you can do at this point is pray.

You could be okay.

Your CPU should be fine, as long as you didn't leave it on for more than a second or two. If that thing was running for a good while and the fan wasn't spinning, that's toast.

Your RAM should be fine.

Your hard drive should be fine.

Your mother board should be fine.

Of course.. all of the above could be totally untrue because there could have been a short that went through and fried everything. Again, all you can do now is wait and see. Even if you bring it into a shop for repairs, they're just going to swap the PSU and see what happens.

Madpanda wrote: »

Chances are good everything attached to it suffered some kind of damage. This might manifest in the component not working at all, or just being flaky and dying out sooner than it would. Were you by chance wearing socks and did you walk across a carpet while moving the computer?

It takes a lot of static and even more luck to completely fry a PSU from simply pressing the power button. Even replacing components is relatively risk free. The whole "static discharge" thing is a good precaution to take when installing/removing hardware, but for simply pressing the power button you really have nothing to worry about. Even if he was touching a metal part of the case, that's grounded once he has plugged in the PSU to the wall.

Don't scare the poor guy.

The Snert

fuck

I did walk across a carpet, but I wasn't wearing any socks or anything. Could a buildup in static electricity cause this though? Well.. argh that really blows. I was gonna give my computer to my brother because his laptop died, and its just shitty timing. I guess i'll wait and test it with that new psu and keep my fingers crossed..

edit: I def didn't leave it on for more then a few seconds. Once I saw that flash and heard that fizzle noise I quickly shut that shit down. So.. I guess I'll just pray!

Figgy

The Snert wrote: »

fuck

I did walk across a carpet, but I wasn't wearing any socks or anything. Could a buildup in static electricity cause this though? Well.. argh that really blows. I was gonna give my computer to my brother because his laptop died, and its just shitty timing. I guess i'll wait and test it with that new psu and keep my fingers crossed..

No. It wasn't because you fucking built up static by walking across the carpet.

Edit: To add some form of qualification to my statement here, I've been building PCs recreationally for about 10 years and I've never had anything fried becuase of static discharge. The worst I've seen was a CPU die because of a faulty fan I didn't notice until halfway through the startup process. These days, the system would have shut itself off as a fail safe if the fan wasn't spinning.

The Snert

Yeah, I didn't think that could be possible, i figured i'd ask since it was mentioned above. I couldnt tell if the fan was spinning or not, but thats mainly because I wasn't looking, and pulled the plug as fast as I could.

LaCabra

I always find it pretty hilarious when I see people take ridiculous precautions against static when doing anything with a computer. I've never taken any at all.

Figgy

The Snert wrote: »

Yeah, I didn't think that could be possible, i figured i'd ask since it was mentioned above. I couldnt tell if the fan was spinning or not, but thats mainly because I wasn't looking, and pulled the plug as fast as I could.

Just leave it. I wouldn't suggest trying again to see what happens with the fan.

Regarding static, I remember in grade school when we had ICON computers in our library, and the computer teacher would make us touch the metal table legs before working on them. I used to think it was some voodoo magic that required I discharge some evil energy from my body before having the privilege of the trackball and "Action Key," but now I realize it was just some old goof who was told he had to teach this class, read the manual, and took the "HAZARD" page a little too literally.

The Snert

lol, oh I'm definately not dumb enough to tempt fate another time. yeah, I''v built 5 computers for myself and family and i've never worn an anti static wrist band or anything, and nothing has gone wrong. It just took me by surprise that I just pressed the on button and this happened.

So was it just a random failure? time to go, etc?

LaCabra

Yeah, only course of action is to get a new PSU, put it in, and see if all's well or if your shit's broken.

Sir Carcass

I build my computers on a carpeted floor in my socks.

tsmvengy

Sir Carcass wrote: »

I build my computers on a carpeted floor in my socks.

While my roommates rub balloons on my hair.

Arrath

tsmvengy wrote: »

Sir Carcass wrote: »

I build my computers on a carpeted floor in my socks.

While my roommates rub balloons on my hair.

While wearing a wool sweater.

permapensive

LaCabra wrote: »

Yeah, only course of action is to get a new PSU, put it in, and see if all's well or if your shit's broken.

Is there a way to get the PSU started without being attached to CPU, mobo, RAM, and hard drive? I actually can't remember if you can turn one on by itself. You'd think you could.

LaCabra

I can't remember how, it is annoying, but possible.

Foomy

AresProphet wrote: »

LaCabra wrote: »

Yeah, only course of action is to get a new PSU, put it in, and see if all's well or if your shit's broken.

Is there a way to get the PSU started without being attached to CPU, mobo, RAM, and hard drive? I actually can't remember if you can turn one on by itself. You'd think you could.

yes there is.

you touch pins 13(ground) and 14(power on) together and bingo it'll start up. you can either just touch them with a bent paperclip or short bit or wire, or get a small switch if you have any lying around.

pins 13/14 are 2 down from the top if you turn the atx connector with it's clip to the right. like so:

1 11
x x
x x
x 0 <-13(black wire)
x 0 <-14(green wire)
x x #
x x # <-- thats the clip
x x
x x
x x
x x 

edit: just don't touch the paperclip when the ps is on. hence wire or a small switch with wires is a better choice. at the very least wrap some electrical tape over a paperclip

you also need a load on the ps somewhere, such as a fan.

Monoxide

or you could go pick up a power supply tester

they're like 15 bucks

sligmasta

Speaking of static charge, i once went to press the power button on my computer, and shocked it hard enough that it turned on without me actually pressing the button. scared the shit out of me, i was sure it was going to start screaming error beeps any second

The Snert

obviously that was your latent, mutant powers over electricity becoming active for the first time.

sligmasta

does this mean that i now have power over all electricity, yet will be inexplicably defeated by chain link fences?

why couldnt i have been blessed with virus based shapeshifting, urban god like powers?

The Snert

So, I got the power supply, but that sumbitch in and everything booted ok! I got into windows, started moving files and stuff, etc. I created a user account for my bro, , logged out into the one i created and then deleted mine. I rebooted.
Now I have a new problem. Windows hangs at the splash screen, the loading bar scrolling but never actually getting anywhere.
Any ideas as to what I could try? I can get into safe mode fine, but then I'm at a loss as to what to do next. Any help would be muchly appreciated!

Figgy

How long have you waited at the splash screen? Leave it for a good ten minutes and come back, it might just be sluggish. Alternatively, you could try popping in your windows disc and trying "Repair," but that is famous for doing jack shit.

It most likely has something to do with you fucking with the account structure. How many accounts are there now, and which one is the admin?

The Snert

I've let it sit at the splash screen for awile, so I'm pretty sure its def hung. There was originally just one user account, mine. I then made another one, my brothers. So there were two, both admins. Then I deleted mine, so only my brother's was on the machine.

LaCabra

When you deleted it, did you delete it through the GUI for that sort of thing or just delete the folder?

The Snert

I did it through Start>Control Panel>User Accounts.

LaCabra

Wacky.

Well, if this is XP and you still have your CD, you could try repairing the installation (boot from CD, don't go to recovery console, wait until it offers to repair your existing installation and tell it yes) but that takes roughly as long as a fresh install. I dunno of any other way to fix what you're gettin'.

Tofystedeth

Foomy wrote: »

AresProphet wrote: »

LaCabra wrote: »

Yeah, only course of action is to get a new PSU, put it in, and see if all's well or if your shit's broken.

Is there a way to get the PSU started without being attached to CPU, mobo, RAM, and hard drive? I actually can't remember if you can turn one on by itself. You'd think you could.

yes there is.

you touch pins 13(ground) and 14(power on) together and bingo it'll start up. you can either just touch them with a bent paperclip or short bit or wire, or get a small switch if you have any lying around.

pins 13/14 are 2 down from the top if you turn the atx connector with it's clip to the right. like so:

1 11
x x
x x
x 0 <-13(black wire)
x 0 <-14(green wire)
x x #
x x # <-- thats the clip
x x
x x
x x
x x 

edit: just don't touch the paperclip when the ps is on. hence wire or a small switch with wires is a better choice. at the very least wrap some electrical tape over a paperclip

you also need a load on the ps somewhere, such as a fan.

Alternatively, most power supplies have a power supply test button somewhere on the case, often just below the info label.

As far as ESD goes, I once wrecked a PS2 controller merely by holding it when I stood up from a nylon chair. Zapped right through the casing.

The Snert

I'll try to repair it when I get home from work today. I reeeaally don't wanna reformat unless I havto, lol.