You can pick up a power supply testing tool for $20-ish or less. You
just plug in the cables to it and turn on the PS. The LEDs indicate
Good/Bad (among other things).
Alternatively you can try the DIY method. First refer to the pin-outs
for your type of power supply (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX is a
good place to start.) You can try this:
** IMPORTANT: Remember proper electrical safety precautions. If you
don't know them, do NOT try this.
1. Put the power supply on a desk (or other safe place) with a little
room to work around it.
2. Plug in the PS and make sure the master switch in the back is on.
3. "Turn On" the PS. You do this by shorting pins 15 & 16. As long as
this short is in place, the PS is "on".
4. Use a multi-meter to test the voltages on the various pins. Connect
the black lead to one of the grounds, and the red lead to the pin you
are testing. The voltage should be what is indicated in the pin-out
charts, plus or minus a little.
If they all test good, then the PS is probably fine. But I would still
test some more. Maybe test the power on the drive lines in a similar
fashion once the PS is on. (you can find the pinouts for those online
as well) Or better yet, plug the PS into another box/motherboard you
know to be good and see if it boots up right.
I also have a PS that is suspect. I'm fairly sure it is bad, seeing as
I saw bright pink sparks coming out of it. But I can't see any scorch
marks or blown elements either. Still, for the price, I preferred to
just replace it (with an $80 model - not cheap cheap, but not one of the
real expensive ones either). The cost was worth my piece of mind (and
never mind the further down time on the business box if the motherboard
got fried). If you choose this route, make sure you get one that is big
enough (wattage wise) to power the box. Asking more from the PS than it
can deliver is a sure way to either kill them outright or drastically
decrease the life span on em.
(Aside: knowing these pinouts and how to "turn on" the PS by shorting
pins 15 and 16 is a GREAT way to get a good power supply for your
electronics projects. If you need 5V or 3.3V, you can pull them from
any of the connectors. The amount of Amps you can pull is far greater
than trying to do it via a cheap battery - but you still need to do the
math to make sure you don't ask too much from the PS...)
Hope that helps. But please choose the "safe" option - electricity can
hurt/kill or burn the place down. (for whatever constitutes "safe" for you)
Shawn
On 12-01-11 09:22 PM, Joseph Szikora wrote:
Friends:
have damaged my ATX power supply and removed it already from the case.
My question: how can I test it to confirm, that it is damaged and not
the MB, before I buy an other one? Which are the pins on the main plug,
which connect the PS to the front panel switch?
Regards,
Joseph.
[email protected]
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