Power supply keeps popping, I have replaced my power supply twice already and I'm about to give up. Need some major help. I had a 450watt power supply to start and then the fan quit in it and replaced it with a 480 watt and as soon as I turn on the power it popped. Then I replaced it with a other 450watt power supply and it popped. PLEASE HELP    
 
 
 
 
 
CPU = Intel Pentium 4 651 3.4GHz
Motherboard=Asus p5b
Video card = ATI radeon sapphire x1650 512mb
Hard drive = Seagate barracuda 7200 500 GB
Ram = 3 GB

What PSUs did you have?
 
ALWAYS go for a known and recommended brand.
 
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088

I looked at the list and saw one of the psu’s on there but what would make them blow as soon as I turn it on. The two I have tried are Powmax Demon 480W and the other was an Echo Star 450W. I also went to www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp put my info in and came up with about 250 watts is what I was running. If I have a short in the computer what is the best way to find it? My main question is what would cause the psu’s to blow as soon as I turn them on?

I would remove the board from your case to insure no shorts are causing the popping. Place it on a non conductive surface such as a phonebook, and remove the power supply from the case so the leads will reach the board. Using just the 20-24 pin main connector and the 12v 4 pin connector, see if you can post. I use just the video card, one stick of memory, and cpu/heatsink, touching the power switch lead pins with a screwdriver to power on.

Powmax are crap.
I wouldn't trust anything named after a 1960's satellite.
Get a good quality tier 3 PSU and do the out of box test, when you remove the MotherBoard look for stand offs in the wrong place, metal touching where it shouldn't.

Even if you have a short on the motherboard, only a cr@ppy no name PSU will 'pop'. A proper PSU will just shutdown or fail to powerup. Did you pay $20 for that heap! Stop being a tightwad! You should be spending about $70 for a decent quality PSU. Even if they don't 'pop' cheapies will be unstable.
 
      Mike

Ok I just got ThermalTake / PurePower W0100RU / 500-Watt / ATX 2.0 / 120mm Fan / 20/24-Pin / SATA-Ready / PCI-E Ready / Power Supply I plugged it up and got nothing. I even took out the motherbroad and plugged it up while it was out of the case and still nothing. Still looking for more help, Thanks

Ok I got the new PSU and when I plug it up to the mobo I get power to it but nothing esle. What esle could be the problem?