Possible Faulty Power Supply?

[dcusick]

Okay, I have had an issue for a while, but just kind of ignored it, until now.. I have a 6-year old, Gateway 710X desktop. A few months ago, I shut my computer down. When I tried to restart it, it would not boot up. Wouldn't even recognize that I was pushing the power button.. I opened up my case, and pulled out the power supply plug from the Mobo. Let that off for a second, and then re-connected it. As soon as I hit the power button, my machine booted up! From that point, I had to go through this process any time I shut my computer down. By the way, it restarts just fine. Only has an issue when I power the PC down. I was able to live with this for the time being, until a few days ago. I went to burn something on my PC, has both a CD-RW drive and DVD+/-R / CD-RW combo drive, and the software didn't see my either of my drives. I looked in My Computer, and the drives were not listed. Went to Device Manager, and they were not listed there either. Did some research and found a solution to remove the UpperFilters and LowerFilters registry entries. Did that, and nothing... In my BIOS, it seems to recognize one of my drives, but not the other. When I boot up my PC, the BIOS asks if I want to boot from my CD Drive, before starting windows.

So at this point, I just don't understand what is happening. With the two issues I described, is it likely to be my Power Supply is going? If so, can I get any ATX PS to replace it? Meaning I now have a 300W PS, can I get a 450W or 500W to replace it? Or do I need to stick with the 300W?

Thanks all!

 

[oldskool]

The sound of the first issue is the PSU. Why not get a new one, or another one you may have on hand and try that ? Try that first, and see if you still have the second issue. Perhaps, but first things first. What is your motherboard ?

 

[KSoD]

It does sound like a PSU. But before we can confirm the concept of just getting any PSU to replace it what type of PC is it? Is it a self built or a pre-built? As most pre-built comes with proprietary PSU that cant be replaced easily.

 

[oldskool]

Good call, Mak.

 

[dcusick]

I have a Gateway 710X. From the original machine specs, the motherboard is an Intel (Wasp) Pentium 4 Motherboard No CPU 710 R0 [Part #2520577], Processor is an Intel (Northwood) 3.0GHz/800MHz CPU R0 [Part #4500944], and the PSU is a 300-Watt ATX Power Supply R0 [Part #6500837]. I have not taken the PSU out of the case, but it looks like a standard PSU. I have a full-tower case, so it's not like they had to re-engineer the PSU to fit in there. My question is this... If I have to pull the connection from the PSU to the mobo in order to get my computer booted, isn't that most likely a mobo issue? I would assume that there is some built up charge in the capacitors, which is why it won't boot. When I pull the plug, it releases that charge, and allows the machine to boot. Does this sound about right? Or am I just overthinking this?

A little more insight on this.. I checked again in the BIOS, and noticed that only my CD-RW was showing up as the secondary slave. The DVD RW was not showing as the Secondary master.. So I took the drives out and checked the jumpers. Both were on Cable Select.. So I set the DVD to Master and CD-RW as slave, and checked the BIOS. Still only detected the CD-RW, and showed no drives in Windows.. So I set the CD-RW to master, and DVD RW as slave. BIOS still only showed the CD-RW, this time as master, and then windows now showed the CD-RW! So I am guessing that the DVD RW blew out on me. And since the CD-RW was set as slave, it wouldn't show up wihout the master. I went out and picked up another DVD RW drive. I haven't had the chance to hook it up yet, but I am hoping that will fix the 2nd issue...

The main issue I have, is that I don't want to sink too much money into this machine. It is 7-years old, and really runs slow. I had to get the DVD-RW, to back up some stuff before I re-format my machine, to get some speed back. But other that that, I would rather just save up, to buy a new PC at some point. I guess even if the PSU and the Mobo fail on me, I will now have my data backed up. Thanks all for your responses. I'm going to keep an eye out, and see if any cheap PSU's pop up. Maybe I'll end up picking one up, if the right price comes along.

 

[KSoD]

It will look like a standard PSU. They all do. My Dell looked standard but it was far from it. I wouldnt jump to the Mobo right away. As even when you pull the plug from the mobo, the charge will still be in the caps until you hit the power button to release all stored up power or let it sit with no power running to it for a period of time.

It isnt like the stuff loses it power the instant it isnt connected to the PSU anymore. It takes upwards of a minute to release all the energy stored.

I would search around for a Gateway replacement PSU. From what i seen on some sites, it is exactly what i had said.

 

[Slaymate]

I looked around and the PS #6500837 is listed as a Fortron PS but it is actually made by Sparkle. Here is a link to the specifications http://www.sparklepower.com/pdf/FSP300-60ATV.pdf and here is a Newegg link Newegg.com - SPARKLE FSP300-60ATV 300W ATX Power Supply - Power Supplies

 

[dcusick]

Thank you for the info Mak. I always enjoyed my EE classes, but don't remember too much from back then... I actually think that this PSU has a start wire, which tells the mobo that the PSU is in good order. Maybe that has something to do with this.

Thanks for the link Slay... I did a very quick search the other day for a PSU but didn't have time to fully research it. The first one I pulled up was like $60, so I didn't bother looking further into it. Good to know that Newegg has one, if I need it.

I think at this point, I will keep that link, in case I get desperate. But I would probably prefer to save up to buy a new PC. $30 will get me a nice 500-600 watt PSU, for a new system. I have always built my own, and this Gateway was my first venture into Pre-Built PC's. It has been pretty reliable, but I would prefer to get back into a BYO machine. And I'll save a ton of money, building my own.

Thank you everyone for your knowledge and advice. I guess it's time to venture over to the BYO forum, and start my research!

 

[jdbaker82]

Hey guys how you doing? My gfs mom actually has this same Gateway 710X Desktop and it just now stopped powering on. Oddly enough it has had an issue for about 3 years maybe even since she had the computer but what she would have to do to get it to power on is unplug the power cord for 10-15 seconds and then plug it back in.. sometimes you would have to do this a couple times but eventually it would always power on and be fine once you got it going... Now it has intermitantly got progressivly worse to the point where it will not power on period. I can only assume it was the PSU from what I know but now reading more about a possible CPU or Mobo issue I am wondering if I should just order the new PSU from newegg and give it a shot? Or does someone else think it could be something else?

Also will I be able to install this PSU inside of this factory gateway case without any problems? I do have some experiance with building desktops as I just built one a couple months ago but that was in a large tower with tons of room and I do not have experiance with pre-built factory PCs.

Thanks everyone!

 

[dcusick]

Hey JD.. I was purely speculating about it being a possible mobo or processor issue. I think I was proved to be wrong, in this scenario. The issue that your gf's mom is having, sounds very similar to mine... I think a good start would be to pick up a PSU for the system, and install that. That should fix your issue.. And if not, be sure to get the one that Slaymate found, since you can return rather easily to NewEgg... If you end up doing this, I would greatly appreciate you popping back on here and posting the results... From the looks of it, the PSU should be pretty easy to replace.. Looks like a couple of screws. The only thing I would be sure to look out for, when you are disconnecting the old one, is where all of the connections are to the mobo. You have to be sure you repalce all of the power to all locations on the mobo.