Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Epic list of total FAIL.

[Dale]

Alan Grimes wrote:
> The PSU is an Antec EarthWatts 750.
>
> Biggest hoggs outside the motherboard are the, um, er, well [nvidia 980
> gpu] and an aging Western Digital Velociraptor boot drive. There is also
> a 3TB drive for all my p***, er kerbals   ( Kerbal Space Program ) .
> There is one optical drive and four chassis fans in the system. All fans
> are operating perfectly.
>
> As far as I know the operating conditions for the PSU are nearly ideal....
>
> I did have some noise issues with it a few years ago but it seemed to
> settle down and hasn't really given me any grief since.
>
>


That noise could be what the problem was.  Just a example.  A fan's
bearings starts making noise.  Eventually, the bearings lock up and the
noise stops.  Guess what, the fan has stopped too.  Of course, the noise
is gone now but that doesn't mean the problem is gone does it?  Odds
are, some component was making noise because it was under pressure or
age was catching up or whatever.  When the noise stopped, it had likely
stopped working at all.  This sounds like a capacitor to me.  They will
make weird noises sometimes before they fail.  I used to work on TVs a
lot years ago, you know, the old tube type stuff.  Anyway, those caps
did all sorts of weird things.  Some would swell up until they were
shaped like a hot air balloon or something.  Some would blow out the
bottom and maybe even stink real bad.  I've even seen some that blew the
metal can completely off and the TV is full of that sticky paper stuff,
which also stinks, and the foil part.  Some just smoke and make a
hissing sound, then all heck breaks out in the TV.  Usually it stops
filtering and the rest of the TV is now getting a unfiltered DC which is
about like A/C.  Some components like those tubes don't like that much. 
They tend to revolt.  FET type components, when they go, they usually go
quick, with a bit of stink or smoke.  Usually. 

Yea, I'd be looking for a new power supply.  Some of those on that last
link I posted aren't that expensive.  Just calculate up what power you
need.  I tend to add at least 50% to that, for future expansion and
start up power.  Doubling it wouldn't hurt.  It just means your P/S is
running at half power most of the time.  On my current P/S, it is a 650
watt unit.  According to my UPS, my entire computer system pulls about
150 watts idle and about 160 to 170 when compiling the crap out of
something like GCC, Libreoffice etc.  Now that includes my monitor,
router, modem and speakers.  If I were to guess, the puter itself only
pulls around 100 to 120 watts.  My power supply has some overkill issues
for sure.  I could likely easily use a 300 watt unit but would likely
replace with a 400 watt since they are more available.  Technically, I
could use a 200 watt if the power supply was a well built model. 

As it is, my power supply likely never even gets warm.  Add in that it
is in a Cooler Master HAF-932 case and I'm sure the fan gets bored.  The
key thing on power supplies.  If you are going to buy cheap, buy big. 
Cheapos tend to overrate themselves, sometimes a LOT.  If you buy a well
known and well tested brand, it will likely deliver what it claims and
you can pick closer to your actual ratings.  Of course, that cheapo P/S
will likely fail you at some point.  That means risking losing a lot
more than just the P/S too.  It could mean a new CPU, mobo, memory and
whatever else it takes with it.  When cutting costs, protection is one
place to do it and by the time you realize it, it's to late.  I've
bought cases with P/Ss built in.  They get removed and disassembled for
little junky projects.  I mostly get heat sinks and such since most of
the components aren't reliable anyway. 

Hope you get this fixed soon. 

Dale

:-)  :-)