Wednesday, September 14, 2011

PC blowing Power Cord Fuse?

I have my PC, and two 650W PSU's have blown on it. On both of those occassions, I had an extension lead plugged into the wall, then another extension lead with 6 seperate slots, plugged into the 1st extension lead.



I then had my PC plugged into one of the slots.

On both occassions my PC had been left on overnight to do things, and the next day, around mid-day, everything on the PC just turned off, I replaced the PSU both times.



This time, I bought a surge protection board. A 30 Belkin one from Argos. The company I bought my PC from said they'd send me an 850W PSU, instead of my 650W replacement since the previous broke, and my 16 Postage costs which they said they'd refund.



So, I wired up the new 850W PSU (real easy job, impossible to go wrong). Turned everything off, plugged the surge protection board into the wall, then plugged the PC cord into the surge board. I turned it on. It ran for about 30secs, the PSU was buzzing weirdly, then got louder and cut out. I replaced the power lead, same thing happened.



I changed the fuse in the same lead, the lead worked again.

A surge or something is breaking the fuses in my power leads for the PC.



A note:

When I used to have a TV and a fan plugged next to each other, in the wall, in 2 seperate slots, when I turned the fan on/off, the TV fuzzed, as if it surged.



Why is this PC surging and breaking my power cord fuses?

The surge protector board does its job, but how what is causing the constant surges, and how can I stop it ?



P.S, we use many other PC's/TV's in the house, they have never surged or broken from a surge. It's just my PC/ my room by the looks of it.



Plz help!



P.S, I am a UK, London (British) resident, in a house. So my voltage/electricity is different to anyone out there who may be in America etc.PC blowing Power Cord Fuse?Have a look at your socket point,take it off the wall.There's a possibility that the wires supplying it are loose or the socket is on it's way out(because of age and use).Also check all of your extension leads,plugs and socket outlets and make sure no wires are loose,tighten all terminals anyway,just to make sure.Why don't you also try moving pc to another socket point to see if it does same thing.Don't forget to turn supply off before you remove socket.There could also be an overload on the circuit your pc is plugged into if it's a radial circuit,depending what else is plugged into it.PC blowing Power Cord Fuse?Are you near an industrial area? If there are welders, large induction motors and cold-room compressors nearby, they place large spikes on the line if they're on the same phase as your house.



Try buying a U.K. designed UPS and ask for under and over-voltage adjustment protection. The american designed APC units just are not designed for voltage fluctuations that you are experiencing (Am in Australia with 240-250 volts 50hz too). Will get back to this if I can find a link for one.



...perhaps something like http://www.upssystems.uk.com/acatalog/Fr

Eaton Powerware 5115 500VA has 'buck and boost' or under and over-voltage adjustment



A UPS is an uninterruptible power supply that filters and conditions the supply voltage as well as powering your computer from internal batteries when you lose power.



A cheaper alternative is to just buy a line conditioner which conditions your line voltage much more than a surge protector.



Is all well inside your tower/computer? No power HDD power leads shorting or anything silly? Perhaps get someone to check the voltage at the outlet. How old is the house?

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