Power Supply Blowing Fuse

[stryker617]

I bought 2 new power supplies for 2 computers. One is my own, one is one I built for someone else. After doing a lot of process of elimination I found that my power supply was bad, or so I thought. Basically, after running the computer for awhile, and restarting, the PSU would blow out the fuse in my room. I'd reset it, and go to turn it back on, and it would blow again. I switched it out with a different PSU, the other new one. Same thing, blown fuse. Now, here's the kicker. I have a PSU tester. If I use that, BOTH PSU's are good. I found somewhere where the new PSU's send an arc message or something to the fuse box causing it to blow. Apparently the new PSU's are the only ones to do that to the fuses in my home. It seems homes built between 2002 and 2005 might have these fuses.

My question is, do I attempt to upgrade my fuse box, or do I return the PSU and tell them it's faulty?

BTW, PSU 1 is OCZ 600W Modular, PSU 2 is Raidmax 1000W Modular

Thanks in advance!

 

[AdrianPerry]

The chance of 2 PSU's blowing is really really slim. This would suggest its your wall sockets causing the issue.

Using a surge protection plug might be a wise first move before you dive into spending more money on a new fuse box ect.

 

[totalknowledge]

If you have the means to upgrade your fuse box, I would do that. If you are using actual fuses, you should probable upgrade to breakers. Have an electrician do it of course.

Oh, and the Raidmax probably isn't the best psu you can get your hands on. For the future you should look for a better unit. The OCZ is the better of the two.

 

[stryker617]

It's not the wall sockets. Tested 3 different ones and all blew. The ones tested are located in the bedrooms. The ones located in the kitchen area or living room work fine with the PSU. And it is a breaker box. Sorry, I'm just used to calling it a fuse box since that is what I had at my older house.

I know raidmax isn't the best PSU. It was cheap, and is modular. If I had the cash, I'd go with a Corsair modular instead. But for under $100 for 1000W it seemed worth the risk.

The OCZ's I've had before seem to work fine. I'm using a Corsair 850 as of now and it works great, I just hate that it's not modular. I also have a multiple Coolmax PSU's, and have had quite a few others.

 

[AdrianPerry]

It sounds like you've already narrowed down the issue to the breaker box. My suggestion would be to replace this, cost depending of course, if its going to resolve the issue. Your more into the realm of electronics now rather than computing so I don't have much more to offer

 

[stryker617]

Yeah, I kinda figured that's where it was headed. I did connect the PSU to a UPS. Turned on the PSU, and it ran, but it blew the fuse again, lol. I guess I'm just not meant to have that much power in one room. Thanks though!

 

[soundguruman]

OH PLEASE!
The fuse is blowing, There's A SHORT CIRCUIT!
Replace the fuse panel? Good grief....who taught you guys how to troubleshoot?
99% chance the motherboard has dead short. Replace the motherboard, CPU, or whatever else is shorted. It's NOT the fuse box.
The hardware of the computer is SHORTED. Get it???

 

[AdrianPerry]

The system worked when the OP tried the build in a different section of his house though (which is quite likely to be on a different circuit breaker)? Dumb luck that it didn't short when he tried this? :s

 

[totalknowledge]

A short circuit on the motherboard would cause, or should cause, the over protection on the psu to trip, not the fuse box for the house. If the fuse box for the house is tripping he has a deeper problem than what the computer is causing.

 

[gamerk316]

First question: Did you try using a different circuit to connect the PC? Its possible that the circuit you are on is simply drawing too much power once the PC is turned on, causing the breaker to trip. Thats the most likely explanation.

 

[stryker617]

It is not a short anywhere. I replaced the motherboard because I thought that too. Even booted up without a CPU. I had barebones on everything. It is 100% the circuit breaker. Arc Fault Circuit Breaker is what the issue it. Something with the switch itself is causing the blow outs. If it was a short in the motherboard, the known working PSU wouldn't of worked in the computer. I also did this with and without a UPS. All kept blowing. Now, if I connect to a outlet that is not connected to an Arc Fault Circuit Breaker, it does not blow out the fuse.

Trust me, I can troubleshoot. I've been building computers for years and always seem to end up with the issues that no one ever has, lol.

 

[stryker617]

No issues with power draw. When it did work, the PSU was drawing 100W start up, and around 47-50W while idle in windows. At first I thought it was Ubuntu that was causing my problems because running windows it would work great. As soon and I installed Ubuntu using Wubi and it restarted, the fuse would blow. That was another issue I had as well though. It ended up being Ubuntu not liking the GTX 550 I had. Fixed that with a ATI 5770 though.

 

[totalknowledge]

He already stated that it works fine in the Kitchen and living room work fine. It could be that the bedroom breakers are stretched over too many outlets, or that the wrong size breaker was installed. A qualified electrician would be able to determine which one. It could be as simple as unplugging a wall AC unit, or space heater, or it could be a beefier breaker would work.

eta: it could also be a bad breaker, or faulty wiring in the bed rooms. If the ground wires are not correctly connected it could be causing the issue. Or there could be a short in a different appliance that isn't quite tripping the breaker without the added load of the computer.

 

[stryker617]

Here is a link, random one I found, of someone else having around the same issue I am having with the AFCI breakers.

http://ask.metafilter.com/86678/Dont-want-to-die-in-a-fire-but-want-to-use-my-computer-more

I hope links are OK here. Sorry if they're not.

 

[totalknowledge]

Have you tried removing all other items from the circuit and running it? Is the circuit also running any lighting, or other parts of the house not outlet related?

 

[stryker617]

In my room alone, there is a DVD player, a UPS and a wall charger plugged in. I had another computer connected, but shut that down along with a printer and an external hard drive. I was also using an outlet with nothing connected to it. I also tried 2 other outlets as well.

 

[totalknowledge]

Are all of the outlets three pronged outlets? Have you checked the outlets with one of these? And have you tried it with everything unplugged but the one computer?

http://ktoolconnection2.amazonwebstore.com/Klein-Tools-RT200-GFCI-Receptacle-Tester/M/B005GYBFAE.htm

*I am not sure I would keep trying things as the electricity shutting off on your computer could damage it.*

 

[stryker617]

Lol, I think I got this to drag on too long. All plugs are 3 pronged. I shouldn't need everything unplugged to get this to turn on. I have 4 PSU's that work. 2 that I used on the MB that I thought was faulty, and used on the other MB I had to go out and buy.

There is only 1 solution here after all the troubleshooting I did and it's the AFCI breaker in the breaker box. The outlets that work fine do not have those breakers, that's why it doesn't blow. Also, I had a Kill-A-Watt meter to check the wattage and amperage to be sure that it really isn't drawing too much power. I know it's not 100% accurate, but it's a good guess.

Thank you though for the input. This is just one of those weird occurrences that no matter what you fix or replace, it's not the computers fault here.

 

[stryker617]

Best answer selected by stryker617.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey