Power Supply failure?

[Radish]

I was using my desktop computer in the middle of a windstorm, because I'm silly like that sometimes. The power flickered often causing my computer to restart a few times. Some time later in the day when the storm had passed, however, the computer restarted again and continued to do so rapidly and repeatedly, usually before ever getting to the Windows XP bootscreen. Finally I flipped the switch on the back to force it to shutdown. When I tried again a few hours later, however, no part of the computer would turn on anymore at all (and I tried the switch in the back in both positions several times, so it's not a matter of forgetting flip it back).

I'm thinking/hoping my computer's power supply died. Would that seem like a good explanation to you folks? And if so, what's the good name in power supplies, and what compatability issues are there to consider when buying a replacement, if any? Do they come in different sizes, etc.?

Thank you, sirs and madams.

 

[King X13]

yes its most likely your psu, but because you left it on durning the storm, that if a surge from the strom blew the power supply there could be damage to your cpu, mobo, hdd, etc. and im assuming since your psu isnt working because of the strom you didnt have it connected to a surge protector.

 

[bobojuice]

Before you go out and buy a new power supply, pull out the power cord and pop in a new fresh one, or one off a different computer. Sometimes, and i have no idea why, the cable(im guessing) gets shorted out and simply removing it or replacing it will allow you to power up. If this doesnt work, i'd say get a PSU tester and see if the power supply is really blown. You can also check on the motherboard to see if any of the capacitors have "popped".

 

[Radish]

There was no lightning, just wind screwing around with power lines. Could that still cause surges?

At any rate, the computer worked fine for a few hours before going splat during a time of mild wind. That combined with the fact I'm currently 1000+ miles away from the computer in question and thus unable to test things much means I'll assume everything else in the computer is fine.

And since I've been thinking I should get a new power supply anyway, but not enough to actually do it without it breaking first, I think I'll take advantage of this opportunity.