BleepingComputer.com: Power supply broken?

Hello all,
My husband just had my brother in law build him a pc. Apparently my brother in law used a free power supply he probably got at work. I used to be able to turn my hubby's pc off every night with no problem. Now after he got his newer pc back from my brother in law, I shut it down as usual and it would not come back on. Everything lit up but nothing would happen. The screen would stay blank. So I had to reboot it from the switch in the back a couple of times and finally it started again. Well I turned it off again the other night (have not done that since that last problem with restarting it again).............well this time it did the same thing. I tried to fix it again and nothing would work right. Now I left it off for awhile again and this time I tried to turn it back on and nothing is happening at all now. Do you think it could be the power supply? Please help me if you can. He is running XP but like I said, nothing is happening now at all. It doesn't even turn on

Moved to Internal Hardware

Well...the way to test power supply failures (for me) is to switch either a power supply in temporarily...or switch the suspect out to a known working system.

No other computer system available with a power supply?

The switch takes about all of 10 minutes.

And then you know what it's not.

Louis

This is how you can test the power supply. You can also purchase a Power Supply Tester at Newegg.com for a reasonable price.

The purpose of this procedure is to bypass the motherboard to test the PSU.

Caution: This procedure will involve working with live 12VDC electrical potentials which if handled improperly may lead to electrical shock. Proper precautions should also be taken to prevent electrostatic discharges (ESDs) within the case of the computer. For safety purposes please follow the instructions step by step.

First, shutdown your computer. Then unplug the power cable going into your computer.

Once you have opened the case, touch the metal of the case to discharge any static electricity.

The connector of the PSU which connects to the motherboard is readily recognizable by the number of wires in the bundle. To disconnect it you will need to press on the plastic clip to disengage it and then pull the connector up and away from the motherboard. Please take notice of the location of the locking tab and the notch on the socket of the motherboard, this will only connect one way as it is keyed. This wire bundle will have a memory of the way it has been installed and will want to bend back that direction, you may have to play around with it to find a position that the connector will stay in the same position while you run the test.



From the top left to right the pins are 13-24, the bottom from left to right are 1-12.


Please notice that there are PSUs with 24 pin and 20 pin connectors, the location of the green wire in the 24 pin connector is #16, and the green wire in the 20 pin connector is #14. If you look at the connector with socket side facing you and the clip on the top the number one pin will be on the bottom left corner. This makes the pin out for the 24 pin connector from left to right 13-24 on top, and 1-12 on the bottom. The pin out for the 20 pin connector from left to right is 11-20 on top , and 1-10 on the bottom. If you look at the connectors you notice that these are sockets that fit over the pins on the motherboard where the PSU cable attaches, this is where you will place the jumper. For a jumper you will need a piece of solid wire about the size of a paper clip (20-22 awg), preferably a wire with insulation. It will need to be large enough to fit firmly into the socket so that it will not need to be held in place while testing. You are at risk of electrical shock if you are holding the jumper when you power up the PSU. Insert one end of the jumper into the socket of the Green wire, and insert the other end into the socket of any Black wire.

Once the jumper is in place plug the cord back in. If the PSU is working properly the case fans, optical drives, hdds, and LEDs should power up and remain on. I would suggest that you not leave this connected any longer than is necessary for safety purposes.

To reconnect the 20/4 pin connector unplug the power cord, remove the jumper, and reconnect the connector. Take a moment at this time to make sure that nothing has been dislodged inside the case.

Ok, so am I to understand that even if I see everything powering up that it could still be the power supply? Because we turned the computer on as much as it will go anyhow and everything in the pc seem to be in working order. We even see the keyboard and the mouse light up like they do when you usually start the pc. It just doesn't do anything on the monitor. Yes, I have checked the monitor and it is working correctly. I was hoping that it was the power supply because at least then we would know what needs to be replaced. Thanks so much for all the advice......I love this forum!

Could you please tell us what motherboard is being used, and is there a graphics card or is the video from a onboard chip?