Powersupply go bye bye?

[BeezerBlanks]

I think mine might be on its way out. I plugged in my DS usb wifi dongle(teehee) and my computer started acting funny.... now granted I'm using quite a few things through usb (paltalk cam,ext.hard drive,mouse,stereo headphones) but I didn't think anything of it since I do have 6 usb slots.... So my screen shuts off.....:icon_eek: .
I thought, maybe my monitor cable came loose off my video card, since I was pluggin in the usb through the back. So I check it,...its fine... plugged it into my ol' montior slot and it worked... so I'm thinking my video card is shot now.... I pop open the computer, find its slightly loose, tighten it up plug everything back in.... still no go....and now I have no video signal whatsoever.
Now I unplugged all the usb but my mouse and tried turning the computer back on and its still doing the same shit. One thing I did just notice is that on my case theres 2 lights lit up, one green and one red.... and red = bad so I'm deducing right now its my power supply since when I was unplugging usb devices the light would turn off....then back on after a few seconds.... any ideas?
Never had a problem before this, IIRC its a 250w power supply, the comps like 3 years old my friend helped me make. If its really shot I might consider actually just upgrading...... a least I have my laptop for now...

[thelord68]

First - the two lights are usually power (green) and hard drive (red).
Second - just because you have the slots doesn't mean you can use them all at the same time. You may need a powered hub.

Do the following:
Remove remove the power cord either from the outlet or from the back of the power supply before yo udo the following:
Unplug any external devices except for the monitor, mouse and keyboard.
Remove any add-in cards (modems etc) except for the video card.
Completely remove the video card and reinsert to make sure that it is seated properly.
Remove and reinsert your memory.
Remove the power and data cables from all drives (hard drive, optocal drives, etc.)

Plug the power cord back in and try booting. If this works, reconnect your internal drives and try again. If this works, reinsert and cards. If this works, reconnect your external devices.

If the computer did not boot with only the video card, try clearing the CMOS by using jumper 1 (JP1) - or pulling the battery and reinserting it. This will reset some basic settings, so you will have to retweak it, but may work.

If this still doesn't work then replace the power supply. Get at least a 400 watt one. They are cheap enough.

[JoeyDVDZ]

Agreed. 250w is crap these days. I'm amazed that you're able to get minimal functionality out of it if your graphics card is a decent one. I needed to upgrade mine, because when I upgraded my vid card, I couldn't use my 2nd DVD drive w/ my 300w PS. Upgraded to a 400w & problem solved.

[KakTheInfected]

On another note...if it's not too late, you may want to return the USB wi-fi (I refuse to say the word) thing and buy an actual wireless router. I bought one that Nintendo recommended with 5 stars for only 10 dollars more than the...thing.

[BeezerBlanks]

Ok I tried removing everything/reconnecting the essentials with no luck.

I'm just debating where I should just upgrade the computer (new case/ps/mb/cpu) .... I should've known something was up cause my cd-r stopped working right last year when I put the video card in, but I never really thought about it. Its nothing real fancy, just a geforce 5200 128mb.

Oh and I ended up getting the usb wifi cause my wireless router oddly enough isn't supported by the ds. I checked it on nintendo's supported router list, its like the only d-link router not supported too :icon_sad: .

I might end up getting a new setup just so I can actually have a pci-e slot and have a processor good enough to run games...

EDIT: I'll prolly wait till the new amd systems come out and they reduce the prices of the current processors, should be out soon enough...

[thelord68]

Ok I tried removing everything/reconnecting the essentials with no luck.

I'm just debating where I should just upgrade the computer (new case/ps/mb/cpu) .... I should've known something was up cause my cd-r stopped working right last year when I put the video card in, but I never really thought about it. Its nothing real fancy, just a geforce 5200 128mb.

Oh and I ended up getting the usb wifi cause my wireless router oddly enough isn't supported by the ds. I checked it on nintendo's supported router list, its like the only d-link router not supported too :icon_sad: .

I might end up getting a new setup just so I can actually have a pci-e slot and have a processor good enough to run games...

EDIT: I'll prolly wait till the new amd systems come out and they reduce the prices of the current processors, should be out soon enough...

Swap the power supply, but as I said before get a decent sized one. Go for at least a 500 watt if you think you are going to upgrade the motherboard/chip/video. The money spent on the power supply won't be a waste because you'll need it either way (fixed or upgrade). The AM2 socketed 64 bit AMD chips are about $150. The dual-core (X2) chips are still at least $300 but dropping fast.

[Garm]

Do you have another pc? swap out power supplies to see if its broke.

[BeezerBlanks]

Do you have another pc? swap out power supplies to see if its broke.

Just my laptop so thats a no go. Its no big deal, I'm just gonna wait a few weeks till I get my bonus from work and then redo the computer. I've got my monitor,dvd-r,hd's so it shouldn't be too expensive... depending on what graphics card I go with...It'd be nice to do some PC gaming but I coudln't even run AOE3 w/o choppiness on my old piece of crap.

[thelord68]

Go for the AMD 64 AM2 socket chip (3500+ or higher) takes DDR2 RAM. Athlons are generally considered better for gaming.

Sample:
Athlon 64 3800+ AM2 socket $146 (Dual core version X2 will run ~$300)
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 $147 (can handle X2) (there are cheaper options)
2gb DDR2 Ram $145 (you can get 1 gig for ~$85)
Geforce 7600 GS 256MB PCI x16 $120-150
Case < $100 w/ power supply

Its possible to go crazy on the video card and spend double or more, but these are two decent options). With SLI you can get two video cards with the same GPU (I don't think they have to be the same exact card, but I would think it helps) and they will work together to nearly double your graphics performance. So you can buy one now and add a second one later, or by two slightly cheaper cards (say the 6600 at $100 or less).

[Death Metal Moe]

Powersupply go bye bye?

Maybe it just wanted it's ba ba.

[Death Metal Moe]

Or maybe it wanted "ninnie."

[BeezerBlanks]

Go for the AMD 64 AM2 socket chip (3500+ or higher) takes DDR2 RAM. Athlons are generally considered better for gaming.

Sample:
Athlon 64 3800+ AM2 socket $146 (Dual core version X2 will run ~$300)
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 $147 (can handle X2) (there are cheaper options)
2gb DDR2 Ram $145 (you can get 1 gig for ~$85)
Geforce 7600 GS 256MB PCI x16 $120-150
Case < $100 w/ power supply

Its possible to go crazy on the video card and spend double or more, but these are two decent options). With SLI you can get two video cards with the same GPU (I don't think they have to be the same exact card, but I would think it helps) and they will work together to nearly double your graphics performance. So you can buy one now and add a second one later, or by two slightly cheaper cards (say the 6600 at $100 or less).


I think I might go with the 7900gtx 512mb. It brings it to $1,200 at newegg... not too bad at all.... might have to do this....