power supplies

[Metgod]

Have talked to Cobby about this before and he was very helpful.

But curious what everyone's suggestions are, since looking around I've seen various ideas.

I have been very unlucky with power supplies in the last few years. So naturally when one of mine makes a racket (and not just the same racket but changes from loud to not so loud back to loud etc), I'm a bit worried about it.

What does everyone think could be causes of this ? From what I can think of, dust is one possibility. Another possibility is tight screws on the case (though not sure about this) or loose bearings.

But I'm interested in hearing what everyone else thinks and any solutions, because I am not interested in the noise it's making or buying any power supply any time soon (other than for my new dual cpu system I bought yesterday).

Any ideas ?

[benthehutt]

I've worked on a few systems with freaky ps's like that.  What was wrong with one of them (and this very probably is not the case) was the outlet they plugged the computer in had a fluctuating voltage.  I found it out when I tested the outlet with my cheap Sears multimeter.  You might try it in a different outlet (preferrably on a different breaker).

Also, power supplies are all solid state and usually rock steady so I'd suggest plugging it in and testing all the leads with a multi meter (+12v, -12v, 3.3v, 5v, etc...).  If they all test pretty well than it's most likely the fan on the dumb thing.  Though if cleaning it doesn't help then I'd probably buy another PS.  If you need one just give me holler, I can get 350-450W PS's for $14.

[Metgod]

I'm fairly sure the outlet is fine, since I have 3 of my puters in my network attached to a UPS. And my servers are fine.

But yeah it does concern me, the power supply in this machine. If I do have a problem, I'll give you a shout. Thanks for the offer.

As I said, I'm getting a new server and I'll see about actually putting X on it, so if that works okay I can actually have a 'backup gui'.. hehe. Right now my only gui is win2k and then I just ssh into my linux boxes.

I'll see about cleaning it (when I shut down next) though.

Thanks for the ideas and offer.