Green wire jumped to ground - Can I leave this way?

[doczenith1]

A few days ago my computer would not turn on. Found out it was because the psu was not functioning properly. I found a thread that suggested shorting out the green wire on the 24 pin socket to ground as a test to see if the psu would turn on. That worked and the computer is up and running. I have a few questions though.

1. Can I leave it this way permanently?
2. Can the psu be repaired? It's a 500 watt Enermax Liberty that I paid $115 for back in 2005.

Thanks!

 

[saaiello]

It sounds to me that the problem might be the switch on your computer it self to test that take the wires from the switch on the front of the computer and just touch them together for a second if it turns on then its not the PSU its the switch.

 

[doczenith1]

I also suspected the switch as the problem. First I swapped the power and reset switches with no luck. Then I tried shorting the power switch pins on the mb. Neither worked.

 

[jsc]

No, you cannot leave it that way. Remember, on a working PSU, if you push the case power switch in for a few seconds, the PSU shuts down.

Can it be repaired? Sure - if you can find schematics for it. I know of no sources for PSU schematics. The manufacturers seem to regard that as proprietary information. But you can always try.

If you do, you should make certain that the PSU is dead by trying it in another computer.

 

[doczenith1]

I don't think I've used the power switch on the case to shut down the computer in over 3 years. I guess I was thinking that if I had to shut down the computer I would just issue a restart and then switch the psu off right at the computer started to POST. That's sort of how I got it started up after I jumped the wires. I hooked everything up and then switched the psu on and it started right up. It's not uncommon for me to go a few months between restarts and the only reason I would shut it off would be to install new hardware.

If you do, you should make certain that the PSU is dead by trying it in another computer.

I tried my mb in a different computer and it worked just fine so I'm fairly certain it's the psu that is not working properly. And, as previously mentioned, "I also suspected the switch as the problem. First I swapped the power and reset switches with no luck. Then I tried shorting the power switch pins on the mb. Neither worked." so that leaves the psu as the issue unless I'm overlooking something else.

 

[jsc]

I agree with you. It is almost certainly the PSU.