Shoutbox

I got bored, so i decided to flick a little red switch on my desktop pc from 230 to 115 (i believe it must be wattage). and i heard a strange noise, and suddenly my pc has no power going to it (even when i press the on button several times - whoopsie)
So, i go ahead and switch it back to 230, and my pc refuses to have power. Have i lucked out and fried tne power supply, or is the motherboard screwed?
Although you can't see the digits, you can see the red switch on the below image.

Yes you have, because there's 240v going into a "115v" power supply.

I did the same thing with my old old pc ages ago (brand spanking new), and i blew everything!

the switch is used to adapt the power supply for usage with different voltages, not wattages.
230v (220v) is used in most (if not all) european countries, whereas 115v (or 110v) is used in the USA amongst others.

so basically, when you switched from 230v to 115v and tried to turn it on while plugged in to a 230v socket, the power supply got twice the voltage it was expecting to get...

in short: yeah, it's fried... might be just a fuse, depending on your specific model.
This does not mean that the other parts in your pc are totally unharmed; the power supply could have taken some parts down with it.

Ok, so when im looking for a replacement power supply, do i need to be specific, or does any 230V supply work?

you'll need one that has all the plugs you need, so it depends on your pc.
Check your mainboard to see whether it has a 20 pin or 24 pin connector, and also if it requires any additional 4 pin or 8 pin 12v lines.
If your graphics card requires its own power plug, make sure it's on the psu you're going to get.
Also, if you have any SATA drives, you'll probably want some SATA power plugs on it too.

In short, make sure all plugs that were in use on the current psu are present on the new one.


edit: yay 500 posts

quote:

---

Originally posted by Oxy
I got bored, so i decided to flick a little red switch

---

Sorry, but , that's classic!

Like Jesus said, i t could be the fuse only. A fuse costs just a few cents, but you need to open up the power supply to get there. You may have damaged other parts of the PC too, but you wont know before you restored power.

You power supply seems to be fairly old (judging by the power output for the monitor). You should check what kind it is: AT or ATX. If unsure, get a picture of the connector connecting the power supply to the motherboard.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MenthiX
Like Jesus said, i t could be the fuse only. A fuse costs just a few cents, but you need to open up the power supply to get there.

---

maybe not the smartest move to make for someone who just fried their PSU like this considering there are quite a few capacitors inside which can hold power for quite some time even after it's been switched off (or blown up for that matter)

but if you know someone that can do it, it's worth a shot.

And as well the fuses arent your normall kind. They have special ends. A friends dad thought they were the same, replaced it, nearly died as the power supply sparked out electricity. (Or so friend says)

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jesus
Check your mainboard to see whether it has a 20 pin or 24 pin connector, and also if it requires any additional 4 pin or 8 pin 12v lines.

---

mine appears to be 24pin, a few IDE power cables (4pin  each), power supplies for gfx and an additional 4pin cable.
I've yet to take it out because 1) i lack a screwdriver atm and 2) the mainboard connecter is a bitch to get out.

MenthiX, juding by pictures on wikipedia, mine is ATX.

quote:

---

Originally posted by MenthiX
Sorry, but , that's classic!

---

Shush.

model number would help, my friend did that to, but he did it so his parents would replace his pc