(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Judging by the noise, I can only assume that our new upstairs neighbours are currently moving in granite elephants, neutron stars, and those God-created boulders used to settle the old philosophical paradox about the limits of an omnipotent being's powers.

Anyway, what can anyone tell me about changing the power source of my computer. Mine caught fire a few weeks ago, and my computer has been sitting idle since. The rest of my computer looks fine -- the mother board, drives, and various cards have been untouched by flame.

Is changing a power source the sort of thing one does by oneself, or something you need a professional for? And how do you go shopping for a new one? What are the criteria? What should you look for, and what should you avoid?

Comments

[seal7.livejournal.com]

I've done that once when I thought a thunderstorm killed my old one (when in truth the motherboard had just slid out a little). I took the old one out and showed it to the guy at the computer store, on which he sold me a new one. This is, I think, a good idea in general, cause then you don't have to collect any and all info about your computer's performance the vendor may have to know.
If you take out the old one, try to remember what cable goes where, then you won't have problems putting the new one in. You certainly don't need a professional for that. Just remember to unplug everything before you open your comp us :P
The store I went to was a very small computer hardware store, I can only recommend that. I had the feeling the guy knew very much what he was talking about. He even explained to me why that new power source wouldn't explode my comp even though it wasn't exactly the same.
So ya. It's not too complicated really. Good luck with that.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

There's such a store right not far from my job, so I'll go after work tomorrow.

As for unplugging, I did that when the thing caught fire. The fire went out quickly after that. 0_o

[seal7.livejournal.com]

Lol >_>

[esprix.livejournal.com]

I've changed out a power source before, and it's quite easy. Just find someone who knows what they're talking about when you go to get a new one.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I don't think I'll be able to bring anyone with me, but I've done the next best thing by soliciting advice from people here in Montreal.

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

You want to make sure that a new power supply is a) the same form factor and type as your old power supply (i.e., ATX, AT, etc.), and b) at least the same wattage, if not more, as your old power supply. Your old ps should say on the label what the wattage is.

The only fiddly thing about changing out a ps is making sure that you've plugged in everything in the right places on the motherboard (it's hard to screw up plugging in the drives and such because the plugs are keyed), and even that isn't difficult, just fiddly. You may want to obtain the assistance of a friend who has done it before just in case.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

How easy is it to mess up, and what are the consequences...?

[yumemisama.livejournal.com]

Difficult to plug anything in wrong unless you use a large hammer. All the connectors are keyed so they can't go in backwards. If you somehow manage it you might burn out the widget you were trying to supply power to, or you might pop the power supply again. Fire is unlikely in this case, although you may get a cloud of magic smoke.

You'll know immediately if you have the wrong form factor. This actually does not matter in the slightest, except the screws and the fan vent won't line up with the case. Cat has a micro-ATX computer which has an ATX power supply sitting on the bottom of the case, and it actually runs fine.

If something doesn't work, the most likely scenario is that you have forgotten to plug it into the power supply. ^_^ Easy to fix. Also, it's perfectly okay to have extra plugs dangling off the power supply -- do NOT look for some place to plug them in just so they don't look so lonely. And don't plug them into each other, either.

If you're short on one kind of power plug, you can get Y-splitters cheaply wherever you got the power supply. I doubt you'll have this problem; it mostly strikes people like my father, who has about 87 widgets inside his desktop case which all require the same mini-connector.

The biggest issue is probably going to be creeping spaghetti. Desktop computers tend to be a mess inside. You may have to partially or wholly remove some of the drives to get to their power connectors, if the case is cramped. Make sure not to pinch any wires when you put the case back together and keep them away from fan blades. Double check to make sure the switch on the back is set to 115V instead of 220V before you turn it on, or you might find yourself staring at another fire.

Good luck, and godspeed.