I’m posting this because it may be of help to somebody else encountering similar problems.
Disclaimer: I’m not a tech (PC or otherwise). All I have is a healthy curiosity, a basic understanding of electronics and a determination to uncover the mystery.
And so our story begins…
I have an old PC running XP (still my favourite MS operating system). It’s not connected to the internet and I use it for stuff like writing and photo editing. There are no temptations to simply surf the net when using this machine and that’s why I like it.
A few weeks ago, it began to show some strange behaviours. Often, it wouldn’t boot up and would take a few tries to get it going. When it did boot up, it sometimes crashed. These characteristics got progressively worse over time, rendering it unusable. I decided to investigate rather than ditch.
Through some basic trial and error, I noticed that if I shut the power off at the mains for a few seconds and then back on, it would often boot up straight after. It still tended to crash a lot unfortunately.
Then I noticed something else. If I knocked the power of at the mains for much longer than before, it would take between 5 and ten minutes before the PC would power up. I began to suspect a capacitor. As I thought more on this, I reasoned that a faulty capacitor in the power supply could be causing voltage spikes and crash the machine. A capacitor is often used to smooth out voltages.
trivia note: A capacitor is normally filled with paper that is impregnated with an electrolytic solution and can dry out over a few years, diminishing the component’s ability to do its job. It’s also worth noting that if you get the polarity mixed up when fitting a capacitor, it can blow and leaving a mess like somebody had just gone amok with a chainsaw at an origami convention.
It all seemed to make sense.
The time delay would also fit in with my theory. A capacitor along with a resistor in series can be used to create a time delay (capacitance*resistance=time in seconds). A faulty capacitor could also be generating a high resistance. By switching off for a few seconds, I was discharging just enough to let the capacitor do its proper job. By leaving it off any longer, the capacitor/resistance combination could be creating a large time lag.
At this point, I bit the bullet and bought a new power supply for £20. It’s now installed and the old machine is running as smooth as a baby’s behind – in fact, I’ve never seen it boot up so quickly in years.
Of course, if I’m right and the problem is a capacitor, I could have dismantled the PSU and checked every one of them. Finding and replacing the faulty component would only cost a few pence but maybe take a few hours finding it. Instead, I preferred to spend £20 and have the old PSU out, new one in and PC running within half an hour.
The downside is that the new power supply doesn’t quite fit the old case and I have to leave the lid off. Still, it’ll help with the cooling and make cleaning it a breeze. There’s nothing untoward or dangerous exposed by the lack of lid (it’s covered by the power supply), it just looks a bit unfinished. Still, I’m not complaining.
Disclaimer: I’m not a tech (PC or otherwise). All I have is a healthy curiosity, a basic understanding of electronics and a determination to uncover the mystery.
And so our story begins…
I have an old PC running XP (still my favourite MS operating system). It’s not connected to the internet and I use it for stuff like writing and photo editing. There are no temptations to simply surf the net when using this machine and that’s why I like it.
A few weeks ago, it began to show some strange behaviours. Often, it wouldn’t boot up and would take a few tries to get it going. When it did boot up, it sometimes crashed. These characteristics got progressively worse over time, rendering it unusable. I decided to investigate rather than ditch.
Through some basic trial and error, I noticed that if I shut the power off at the mains for a few seconds and then back on, it would often boot up straight after. It still tended to crash a lot unfortunately.
Then I noticed something else. If I knocked the power of at the mains for much longer than before, it would take between 5 and ten minutes before the PC would power up. I began to suspect a capacitor. As I thought more on this, I reasoned that a faulty capacitor in the power supply could be causing voltage spikes and crash the machine. A capacitor is often used to smooth out voltages.
trivia note: A capacitor is normally filled with paper that is impregnated with an electrolytic solution and can dry out over a few years, diminishing the component’s ability to do its job. It’s also worth noting that if you get the polarity mixed up when fitting a capacitor, it can blow and leaving a mess like somebody had just gone amok with a chainsaw at an origami convention.
It all seemed to make sense.
The time delay would also fit in with my theory. A capacitor along with a resistor in series can be used to create a time delay (capacitance*resistance=time in seconds). A faulty capacitor could also be generating a high resistance. By switching off for a few seconds, I was discharging just enough to let the capacitor do its proper job. By leaving it off any longer, the capacitor/resistance combination could be creating a large time lag.
At this point, I bit the bullet and bought a new power supply for £20. It’s now installed and the old machine is running as smooth as a baby’s behind – in fact, I’ve never seen it boot up so quickly in years.
Of course, if I’m right and the problem is a capacitor, I could have dismantled the PSU and checked every one of them. Finding and replacing the faulty component would only cost a few pence but maybe take a few hours finding it. Instead, I preferred to spend £20 and have the old PSU out, new one in and PC running within half an hour.
The downside is that the new power supply doesn’t quite fit the old case and I have to leave the lid off. Still, it’ll help with the cooling and make cleaning it a breeze. There’s nothing untoward or dangerous exposed by the lack of lid (it’s covered by the power supply), it just looks a bit unfinished. Still, I’m not complaining.
