Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

Power Supply Compatibility Issues

Last response: in Components

A few months ago i thought i had lost my hard drive when it emitted an ominous rythmic clicking during any strenuous action. It turned out that the fault was in my power supply. After swapping out my faulty one for a new one cannabalized from my brother's computer, the clicking stopped and the computer ran fine.

A few days ago a friend of mine ran into the exact same problem, rythmic clickign of the hard drive. I figured that the solution would be the same thing: New powersupply = no problem. The computer is rather old, and the power supply only ran at 200 watts. I dragged a 300W supply from my house over, hooked it up, and got nothing. The computer woudlnt even turn on. Figuring that my donor was simply dead, i tried a brand new 350W supply, and again, no luck. Coudln't even get the computer to turn on.

Everyone that i have talked to has said that there should be absolutely no issues with compatibiltiy in power supplies, but after trying a brand new one in the machine, i am beginning to think that the ones i have tried are somehow incompatible.

Has anyone come across a similar problem? I can't even get the machine to turn on with a power supply other than their old broken 200W one. Please Help


Dude, you're getting a dell! Seriously, was it a Dell computer? Because they used completely different power supplies. In fact, they're made to set the power supply on fire if you put on a non-Dell part. Ocassionally the motherboard blows some chips as well.

If you need a Dell supply I have a couple here.


Funny you mention it.
I had the same experience a week ago with my harddrive, it started to click and it had also been making a sort of 'whining' sound for a few months.
Then it happened, the hd clicked and powered down and after a few seconds my computer froze.
I restarted the computer and it worked for a couple of minutes, after answer from the hd.

I tried another hd with the with the exact same result, what are the odds of 2 harddrives giving up the ghost in that short timespan?

I have checked both drives in my friends computer and they seem to be fine and Ive also checked it in my old computer but with the same psu.

So this means it has to be a psu related problem right?

it was an Chieftech psu, 350w btw.

<font color=blue>Youth is wasted on the young</font color=blue>

That does sound a lot like the problem i had. I can't guarantee that swapping PSU's will help, but your problem does sound a lot like my original one, so it's defiantly worth a try.

There is a very good chance this computer was a Dell. Where would i be able to find a Dell powersupply? (And thank you for your help)

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Foolie on 07/19/04 01:56 PM.</EM></FONT></P>