# What are the symptoms of a failing power supply?



## Bubble99 (Dec 27, 2019)

What are the symptoms of a failing power supply?  * I believe my power supply is failing* and would like to know what are the common symptoms of a failing power supply? Is it not a good idea to use computer if the power supply may be failing?

A buddy of mind said it could cause blow out and you could get very loud bang and lots of smoke and could damage the motherboard. 

The power supply is already making a very loud noise and I'm not sure if it is the fan motor or the transformer.

Note this is 9 year old desktop computer.


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## sam_86314 (Dec 27, 2019)

What power supply is it? Replacing it regardless might be a good idea depending on what it is.

I've had a power supply fail silently without any warning. I was using the computer when it suddenly turned off and wouldn't come back on. Replacing the PSU immediately fixed the issue (I lucked out and the dead PSU didn't take anything out with it).

Loud fan noise could be caused by bad fan bearings. Coil whine is a common thing with some power supplies and doesn't necessarily mean it's dying.


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## freeagent (Dec 27, 2019)

Saggy rails, cant overclock, cant game, excessive heat coming from the psu, smells, sparks, chaos


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## hat (Dec 27, 2019)

If it's a loud grindy noise, it's likely a fan going bad. 

A bad power supply can cause all sorts of issues. Trouble booting, especially on cold boots (starting the system after it was totally off), crashes, blue screens, randomly shutting off... the trouble is a lot of failing components share the same symptoms, so accurate troubleshooting often requires patience and a fair bit of knowledge (or at least, good help).


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## Mussels (Dec 27, 2019)

Grinding noises: bad fan
Squealing: possible bad capacitors
Sudden shutdowns as load increases is a good sign its dying, when the safeties kick in to prevent damage (firing up benchmarks, games, etc)
Shutdowns after X minutes of load could be overheating shutdowns, but that can be more than just the PSU (CPU/MB/GPU can also trigger overheat shutdowns, although less common)


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## bobbybluz (Dec 27, 2019)

Everything people listed above. If it's 9 years old it's time to replace it. Don't take chances of it taking out the rest of your system when it finally goes poof.


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## Hyderz (Dec 27, 2019)

back up your stuff mang


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## Bill_Bright (Dec 27, 2019)

Yep! All of the above. A failing PSU can manifest into many symptoms, some that don't even appear to be power related. While it is rare these days for a failed PSU to take out connected devices, it can happen. 



> The power supply is already making a very loud noise and I'm not sure if it is the fan motor or the transformer.


If the noise is the fan, the pitch of the sound the fan makes will change as the rotation speed of the fan changes. So if you can see the fan, you can carefully press a wooden glue/Popsicle stick on the center hub of the fan to momentarily change the rotation speed. If the noise pitch does not change when you press on the center hub and slow down the rotation speed, then something else is making the noise. 

If a transformer plate or winding, or a coil winding is making the sound, the pitch of that typically changes as the load on the supply changes - though the sound might change as the temperature within the PSU changes too. Transformer and coil noise don't always indicate the component is about to fail. Those plates and windings want to vibrate naturally which is why they typically are glued/sealed in some sort of epoxy resins. But an incomplete seal or some other physical abuse can break that seal, causing them to vibrate and start whining. But they still can continue to work just fine for years - if the user (or their dogs) can put up with it.

If you are getting unexplained and unexpected system lock-ups, shutdowns, or reboots, I would suspect the PSU. 

Unfortunately, there is no way a normal user can thoroughly or conclusively test a PSU. That takes an oscilloscope or power supply analyzer, and a properly trained tech. So the next best thing is to swap in a known good PSU.


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## potato580+ (Dec 27, 2019)

nothing complicated, if my pc getting malfunction feequently thats the only sign for me


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 27, 2019)

Bubble99 said:


> What are the symptoms of a failing power supply?  * I believe my power supply is failing* and would like to know what are the common symptoms of a failing power supply? Is it not a good idea to use computer if the power supply may be failing?
> 
> A buddy of mind said it could cause blow out and you could get very loud bang and lots of smoke and could damage the motherboard.
> 
> ...



Replace it


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## E-Bear (Dec 30, 2019)

Fire ?


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## silkstone (Dec 30, 2019)

Lower voltages or random resets are the problems I usually see. I've had a whole bunch die on me and these are the two most common symptoms.


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## Khonjel (Dec 30, 2019)

For me it was sudden shutdown and restart. Sometimes Windows will also BSOD and restart.


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## Bubble99 (Jan 1, 2020)

hat said:


> If it's a loud grindy noise, it's likely a fan going bad.
> 
> A bad power supply can cause all sorts of issues. Trouble booting, especially on cold boots (starting the system after it was totally off), crashes, blue screens, randomly shutting off... the trouble is a lot of failing components share the same symptoms, so accurate troubleshooting often requires patience and a fair bit of knowledge (or at least, good help).



So far not doing any of that and the system seems to be working okay other than making very loud noise when you turn the computer on. Note sure if it is fan motor or the transformer in the power supply going bad. Is this common for transformer going bad.

The sounds like  a tractor it is very loud and not a coil wine but like a tractor and can hear it in the next room of the house.

Normally what I do is turn the computer on for 5 minutes that it warm up than shut it off than back on and the noise stops.



silkstone said:


> Lower voltages or random resets are the problems I usually see. I've had a whole bunch die on me and these are the two most common symptoms.



It is 9 years old so I don't know what the like is of a power supply. But most warranty is 5 years and some 10 years.

I had two other computers where the power supply last well over 10 years.


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## hat (Jan 1, 2020)

I suggest you take Bill Bright's advice about testing fans with a popsicle stick to find the culprit. It's most likely a fan.


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## GLD (Jan 1, 2020)

If it's a 9 year old store bought/prebuilt pc from a mfg, then surly the psu is questionable from the beginning. If things are happening, especially at stock, non oc settings that makes you question your psu, then don't mess around. Just replace it, as soon as you can.


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