Power Supply Unit kicked the bucket

[utopian]

My fan's been on and off for the last few months and today it's absolutely refusing to spin at all. So tomorrow I'm off to a computer store to remedy the situation. My question is do I buy a new PSU, or do I just replace the non-functional fan. It still supplies power, so that goes on the side of replacing the fan, but on the other hand, it's pretty old and I'm not sure how long it will continue to do so.

The warranty sticker's already been broken (my cousin was the previous owner), so I'm not particularly concerned with voiding that. I'm fairly sure that such a device contains capacitors and coils, so there's the risk of electrocuting myself if I replace the fan. How large is this risk?

Should I just cut my losses and buy a brand spanking new power supply complete with warranty, or should I continue my current trend of only replacing the exact parts that are broken.

Alternatively, I've got a spare PSU from an old, old computer. While there's no way in hell it will fit in the case, the fans are probably the same size seeing as I haven't noticed any huge leaps and bounds over the last ten or so years when it comes to supplying power to computers. Should I just rip the fan out of the current PSU and replace it with Ol' Faithful?

[kré]

just get a new PSU, they're not very exy

[BlueBoy]

Just go the new PSU. They aren't that expensive, plus I seem to remember PSU fans being a bitch to pull out. :)

[durus]

Go the new PSU. Being electrocuted sucks ass. If you cause a short in your psu you could melt your mobo and replacing the fan would be a pain. New psu is only about 35 for a generic thing.

[thingy]

PSU fans are a piece of piss to replace. Just open the PSU, unscrew the fan, if the fan is not a pluggable one but soldered (some are soldered, some aren't), then just cut the red & black cables as close to the dud fan as you can, strip em back a cm or so, cut the cables on the new fan as FAR from the fan as you can, strip em 1cm. Twist black to black, red to red, electrical tape around it, screw new fan in, bob's your auntie.

I've done a few in the past. My file server, couple here at work. Costs you $5 instead of $100.

[utopian]

Originally posted by durus
Go the new PSU. Being electrocuted sucks ass. If you cause a short in your psu you could melt your mobo and replacing the fan would be a pain. New psu is only about 35 for a generic thing.
I would obviously have the whole thing unplugged and removed from the system while doing it. Fiddling with plugged in electronics is a bad idea. They taught us that in EEB112 :)

Thingy, that's what I was thinking. It can't really be all that hard. I've got the old one sitting next to me and it looks very simple to unscrew about 10-20 screws and cut and twist wires. If I had a soldering iron I'd probably go with that, but seeing as I don't I'm going to have to go looking for some electrical tape.

I'm strapped for cash at the moment, and if I buy new gear, I'll want it to be good quality. So spending $100+ on a new one is out of the question, as is spending $30 on a piece of shit that will break.

What's the cost of a new fan?

[durus]

New fans range from $5 to $30. Which is why I say just go for a new PSU. And the 5 buck ones are usually very shit.

[thingy]

You can get them for more than $5? Woah!

Fans are pretty much try and see. I don't see the point in spending more than $5 on them (avoid brand names like dick smith, two to three times the price ... just find any computer store, they all stock $5 ones).

[utopian]

Replaced the fan with the one from the older PSU and it's a lot quieter now, as nothing's grating or rubbing against anything else. It's only a temporary solution, though. I'm planning on buying a new hard drive for this baby, and will buy a new power supply when I do.

[geggle]

Originally posted by utopian
If I had a soldering iron I'd probably go with that, but seeing as I don't I'm going to have to go looking for some electrical tape. If you want to borrow a soldering iron, just drop me a line... alternatively, pop around and we'll look at fixing it at my place. Can't be too hard. I'm not sure if I've got a spare fan sitting around here - depends on the size you need.

[utopian]

Had a small issue with one of the wires not being connected properly, and I only found that out once I'd put everything back together. Re-joined them and tested it before putting it back in, everything's working now.

[RASPUTIN]

Originally posted by utopian
Replaced the fan with the one from the older PSU and it's a lot quieter now, as nothing's grating or rubbing against anything else. It's only a temporary solution, though. I'm planning on buying a new hard drive for this baby, and will buy a new power supply when I do.

I wouldn't worry about getting a new PSU. What you did is fine. Save the money and buy a bigger HDD or if into gaming put it towards a new video card.

[utopian]

It's about time I got a new video card. I've only got a GeForce2 MX400, and I'm trying to play GTA:VC on it. It runs, but with a few stutters every once in a while.

On the other hand I don't game much these days, so a new hard drive to store more music and videos would be cool.

[sparky]

"just get a new PSU, they're not very exy"

:swear:

Heh, exactly Y Utop's PSU kicked it in the fisrt place

This is probably the worst and scariest part of new PCs: 350W + PSU's made in guangzou provence. Don't get me wrong... some good shit has come out of there, but PSU's ain't one of them. If you buy a cheap, non-brand-name PSU for your computer you are asking for trouble. When I see ad's for 350W + PSU's in the paper for less than 60 bucks I shudder. It'd be like some one coming up to you on the street and offering you a car for 50 cents, Your 1st question would be "Whats wrong with it?"

"You get what you pay for"

[utopian]

Drugs are bad.

My PSU isn't dead, it isn't broken, it was just the fan. I fixed the fan, the problem is solved.

[frednurk]

Switch mode power supplies can be very cheap and nasty. They are all generally subject to degradation over time due to heat. This causes permanent damage to internal components, namely electrolytic capacitors. They can of course be repaired- I do it all the time at work- however IMO they are best replaced if you can- because it is far less agro, and parts are not cheap when you use a heap of them. A power supply with dried out filter capacitors that chucks high frequency noise into your motherboard is not desireable. I have seen some gruesome failures on mobos because of this. I keep the dust out, but only give them a few years in an unairconditioned operating environment, and dump them at the first sign of trouble.
420 watt atx with 2 years warranty from Hardly Normals is around $70.