Guess how he blew up his computer's power supply

garirry

So, my father has moved to another country for, various reasons. That country uses a European 220V/50Hz electricity standard. So, when he plugged in his computer in there, since you have these manual voltage switches in standard PSUs, it obviously blew up (excessive voltage) and is now dead, since being the idiot that he is, didn't bother to move the switch (and apparently didn't even notice it). This legitimately frustrated me, because I worked a lot with this computer (setting it up, installing software, upgrading to W10, even packaging it!). I mean, I understand that he thought that they automatically switch voltage, but when I wanted to read the info and stuff, he just said that he'd figure it out by himself. I even told him to check the PSU label prior to plugging it in, which apparently he hasn't done. Now he's blaming everyone else but himself, since that's what he does 99% of the time. It's a bit hilarious to hear the news to be honest, even though it made me angry.

So, now I have no choice but to try and replace the power supply, since he obviously can't do it. This computer is an Acer AXC-603 mini-tower, so it uses a Flex-ATX/Mini-ITX (not sure which one is the proper name) power supply. The PSU model is a DPS-220UB-3A I believe. If anyone has tips on which power supply to choose and where I can find one for not too much, I'll be more than grateful.

Thanks in advance!

capcor

Is this what you're looking for?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CN30-Flex-ATX-1 ... 5d43527e77

TCPMeta

Here is one for 20 bucks before shipping.
LINK

Now since it killed the power supply there is a chance it has killed the whole system.

garirry

Thanks. I really hope it didn't kill the entire computer. Although, the shipping to his country is 40$, so I'm not sure whether it's worth it or not (I'll keep looking).

TCPMeta

Most of the supplies I looked at range from 45 and up.

garirry

Okay, so apparently, his PSU is different from other ones, since the power socket is a bit lower (normally it's right against the edge). On top of that, the holes at the back of the case are modeled specifically to fit this type of power supply so standard PSUs will not even fit this case. So now the only choice I have is to have him shell out a lot of money for the specific power supply. Most of them don't ship to his country, so the only solution is to order them to my address and then send to him myself. All of that will most likely cost $150+. This whole scenario pisses me off. Repairing the PSU (buying capacitors) doesn't seem to be a safe or even worth it idea.

TCPMeta

If the board is ATX/ITX then I would just order a cheap midsize case that comes with a power supply. You can get some cheap cases for about 20 to 30 bucks.

BOD

Depending on how well the PSU was designed, it shouldn't have broken the system. You might even be able to fix the thing if it's just taken out a few small passive components.

garirry

Is there any way to determine which capacitor has burned?

TCPMeta wrote:

If the board is ATX/ITX then I would just order a cheap midsize case that comes with a power supply. You can get some cheap cases for about 20 to 30 bucks.

The thing is, if I buy an entirely new case with a power supply with it, it'll just start at 50-60$, then the shipping. Then, he'll still have to move the entire computer to the other case, which won't be easy for him alone.

TCPMeta

This is why I tell people why not to buy a fancy small looking computer. Uses non-standard parts and is costly.

To tell if a capacitor has blown there are a few signs.
Burnt to a crisp. Hole/puncture marks. Or most of all the fail safe has blown and the electrolytic crap has came out.


Thing is the caps should be rated for 215/220 volts. Probably the transformer is gone. Maybe a diode or two.

BOD

TCPMeta wrote:

Thing is the caps should be rated for 215/220 volts. Probably the transformer is gone. Maybe a diode or two.

Indeed. I'd hope that any PSU that gets certified for any kind of sale would be designed in a way that if the wrong voltage was selected damage would be minimal, if any.

garirry

I tried looking for broken pieces, but I couldn't find anything. He took a few pictures of the PSU, maybe that'll help: http://imgur.com/RfmuOYW,qdWV4pr,PHdMz4s#0 Also, are there any fuses that could simply blow up and not cause damage to anything else and that can be easily replaced?

TCPMeta wrote:

This is why I tell people why not to buy a fancy small looking computer. Uses non-standard parts and is costly.

He bought it because it was a total bargain. A quad-core Pentium and 8GB of RAM all for about 350$ (100$ sale and 50$ because he had an issue with Best Buy). Normally, I would just build my own PC, but this time it was an offer I couldn't let go of.

TCPMeta

Yeah they always look great in price but when they break it's cheaper to buy a new one at times. It's like a BIC lighter. It breaks you buy a new one.

Most power supplies don't have fuses because they have overload protection but your dad overloaded it by 10 fold.

garirry

Good news. We decided to purchase the power supply directly from Acer's part distributor (Acer's customer service was quite mediocre if you ask me). It was a bit expensive, totalling at nearly 100 CAD. I received it yesterday, and I took the time to test the whole thing, the PSU powers without problem and the fan spins, tested the voltage on each pin on the ATX and CPU power cables, and tested both SATA ports, everything worked just as expected, and while the PSU is made by a different company, the form factor is identical and so is the max wattage. A friend of his is supposed to come to my country for three weeks and they will most likely take the unit with them. I don't see any purpose of getting it shipped to there as it'll take the same amount of time but it'll cost 20$.

garirry

Massive bump. While he received the power supply that seemed to be fine, apparently, it wouldn't work anymore, on neither voltage setting, and I'm sure forcing it to turn on didn't work as well. So, I guess that it was damaged during transport. Anyway, he pretty much said fuck it and he went to a computer repair store that changed the case entirely along with the PSU, while keeping all other parts. Seems to be working fine, except for one USB port, which I think they will gladly fix for free. The whole process costed 430 ILS (110 USD), so basically everything else I've tried doing just to keep the case and original shape of the computer was pointless and he wasted plenty of money and time over an incredibly stupid mistake (although, the fact that manual voltage switching PSUs still exist is embarrassing).

TechnoType1

That's a shame, hopefully that wont happen again with a new PSU