I think my power suply is screwed...

[sodapopinski]

Well, last night we had a damn good lightning storm. Power went off while I was playing CS:S. When it came back on a few minutes later I booted back up, and started playing CS:S again. Well, 5 minutes later the power in my house went off again. I waited until the storm passed this time before booting my PC back up. Everything was running fine until I loaded up CS:S. After about 5 minutes of playing the PC rebooted itself unexpectedly. (No power outage in house, just PC reboot). So, I loaded up CS:S again. I was curious now, and after about 5 - 10 mins my PC rebooted again.

About 3 years ago I had a power supply get completely fried in a similar situation. There was smoke and everything! I'm just wondering, is it possible for the PS to work, but be damaged enough that when running under high stress, i.e. playing a computer game, it wouldn't have enough power? I've been working in MS Office all morning, and cruising the web and havn't had any problems. Is there any way to test if my PS is screwed without expensive equipment? Like, is there a software program I can run?

Anyway, what do you all think? I'm gonna load up 3dmark2006 here in a bit and see if I can get the PC to reboot again. Than maybe I'll swap this PS out for another one at the office and see what happens.

 

[sodapopinski]

I do have a pretty good surge protector. Picked up a better one after I blew the last PSU. Yeah, could be mobo. Oh well, if that's the case I'm building a new core 2 duo system anyways. This will just be an excuse to get it done sooner if its the mobo.

 

[ConsciousTech]

It SOUNDS like the PSU, perhaps when it gets into a higher load it can't handle it anymore (i.e. Gaming power consumption), but don't rule out a somewhat damaged motherboard.

About the furthest thing in the back of my mind is the video card maybe being slightly damaged and causing reboots, although I don't see that totally happening I suppose is a scarce possibility.

 

[doormatderek]

what's the power supply specs?

 

[PCKid777]

You can always buy a power supply tester (they're about $20). But swapping components if you have them always works too.

And oh, thought I'd share. We had a lightning storm the other night too. We actually had a serious surge that dimmed all the lights, WHILE I WAS ON MY PC. Good thing was that I invested $80 on a battery backup that adjusted for the voltage fluctuation and probably saved my PC. You might want to look into one of those too, or just not play during a lightning storm .

 

[sodapopinski]

You can always buy a power supply tester (they're about $20). But swapping components if you have them always works too.

And oh, thought I'd share. We had a lightning storm the other night too. We actually had a serious surge that dimmed all the lights, WHILE I WAS ON MY PC. Good thing was that I invested $80 on a battery backup that adjusted for the voltage fluctuation and probably saved my PC. You might want to look into one of those too, or just not play during a lightning storm .

Not play?! Gasp! lol

Well, I actually havn't had any problems now. Odd. Oh well. Thanks for all the input anyways.

 

[PCKid777]

Well I'm glad that everything's working now. Hopefully you won't have future problems.