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Guys, anyone ever had odd power supply problems?

My 'puter shut down, with no warning whatsoever. Wouldn't power up again. I tried the switch on the back of the case, and there was no familiar sound of power turning on at all. Changed the socket on my power strip, it turned on fine.

I thought that was it, but I checked the socket and it actually works. Now I tried with a lamp so it does require 'less' power so it could be it, but am weary of trying with the puter in fear of a power surge if it is a faulty socket there.

On the other hand could it be a power supply issue, of one about to bork and if so any way to check that without endangering the rest of the rig? And of course not taking it to the shop.

EDIT: Forgot to mention one very odd thing - when the puter powered down, all the lights on the street turned off at the same moment. It could be the two are connected of course, it's possible

Easily the power supply, it's either old or just really well used. You can get new ones that work just fine for like 20 bucks.

Well it's not old and it is a Chieftec and should be a good one, cost me about 100 Euros (what's that, around 140$) ... but yes, I am going through the prices right now, although I am still hoping there is a way to check if it is the PS, as I'd rather not throw out a good one, and I am low on money at the moment for buying something really good.

There's no actual way to check, but 80% of the time when a computer just shuts off with no warning, no shutdown procedure, and doesn't come back on, it's the power supply.

You can get power supplies cheap too, and though you're low on money, if you can afford a $20 dollar power supply, dunno what that is in euro's, then you can not only test to see if it is the power supply, but one of two possibilities will arise. It will be the power supply and you have a new one that's probably just as good as you're old one, AND if it's not the power supply, well you didn't exactly waste money as now you have a backup one in case the first one really does shut down.

You're probably right, it is the best thing to do. I can get a decent one for something like 35$ (25E) and that's ok right now financially so yes, I think I'll go with that, as you've said if nothing else I'll have a back up in case anything happens, and PS do tend to go bad all the time (which is why I paid the money I did for this one, hoping to avoid the usual mess). Thank you for the help!

Yeah, usually the more expensive the power supply, the more output it can generate for what your computer might need. It almost never increases in durability based on price, as I've had 70 dollar power supplies last a shorter amount of time than a 10 dollar used power supply.

Yes, I know, that's also why the price goes up. I need around 500 W to be comfortable with this machine, and if you want a 'reliable' PS you get to pay for it. But you are quite right, in the end it often means absolutely nothing. I had this really cheap one for a long time, some 4 years, and it worked with no problems at all. And look at this one. Meh.