A friend of mine recently got her new computer custom made by a friend of a friend, when she first tried to set the machine set up the moniter refused to come on, to fix the problem she asked a friend to help, he decided it would be a good idea to flick the red voltage switch at the back a few times. Now the machine is completly dead.
I have opened the beast up and nothing on the motherboard seems to have blown or though this would not always be apparent, I have also looked inside the PSU and I can see a fuse which has gone, it appears to be soldered in from the underside, are these fuses easy to come by? Or would it be cheaper and easier to fit a PSU + are they generic?

Get a new PSU. Your better off leaving it the fuse alone since you dont know the rating. RMA it (if its not generic) and get another PSU

Im assuming your talking about the switch that switches between 120 and 220V. How do you know that her friend didnt fry something already and had given it to her broken?

little red switch on the back.... are you talking about the power switch??

i hope you are not talking about the 110/220 switch... if so have fun with your new paper weight =)


if you havent fried everything... i would take the system apart.... get a test powersupply

plug in only the video card, memory and the heat sink... try posting it... if no go reset the bios...

Quote: Originally Posted by Reza It was the 115V to 230V switch, no idea why anyone would ever want to flick it, common sense would say stay away from the red switch. She says that the machine was powering up but the screen wouldn't come on, so I guess it was ok, is there much difference between PSU's?

Yes big difference. Its like buying a Ferrari Vs Some junk car. Sure they both run, but how good do they run? PSU's that are not generic have better stablized rails along with higher power ratings.

Yep thats the one, luckily it won't be my paperweight, I'm hoping since the fuse blew in the PSU then the rest of the system may have escaped (touch wood). *crosses fingers, toes and eyes*.

If a new PSU doesn't solve the problem are all the components a lost cause or could some of them be salvaged for another build?

Hard to say until you test all the components. SOmetimes they get fried, sometimes they don't... but it is a possibility.

interesting story... a battery charger at school it set to 230. I was about to change it, then figured not to, since it was working. Expensive battery charger for $300 camera batteries, I didn't want to break it by fixing it.

Just related, but I hope that fuse did its duty!

Nope, its all fried. ill buy the parts from you for 25 bux since non of em work .

do you have a pc supply store close by? if so then go get a cheap psu plug it in real quick and see if you can post..if you can post then take that psu back and get a good one...if it doesnt post then its your vid card, cpu, memory or mobo...any of them could be the culprate.. so its a matter of testing each component

vid card, put in another working pc to see if it will post.
cpu, put it in another working pc with the same socket to see if it will post.
memory, make sure you put it in a working pc that exepts your type and see if it will post.
mobo......lol, buy all new parts and try to post. if you can, retern all the parts.

why not just get a good psu from the start?

If it was powering up, but the monitor wouldn't come on, that means it isn't POSTing. You obviously had problems from the beginning with this machine, and adjusting the red switch in the back (which I assume is for International compatibility), only made things worse.

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbum86 Nope, its all fried. ill buy the parts from you for 25 bux since non of em work . do you have a pc supply store close by? if so then go get a cheap psu plug it in real quick and see if you can post..if you can post then take that psu back and get a good one...if it doesnt post then its your vid card, cpu, memory or mobo...any of them could be the culprate.. so its a matter of testing each component vid card, put in another working pc to see if it will post. cpu, put it in another working pc with the same socket to see if it will post. memory, make sure you put it in a working pc that exepts your type and see if it will post. mobo......lol, buy all new parts and try to post. if you can, retern all the parts.

Yeah i've got a PC supply store nearby, i'm gunna try just a new PSU first to see if that will fix the problem, my friend doesn't really have the cash to by and return components at the moment thats why i'm hoping to fix the machine as quickly and cheaply as possible. If the PSU doesn't work then I guess i'll have to go down the route of testing each component seperatly. Cheers for the advice mate!

Phil is such a Geordie tw*t for touching that switch. Although I suppose it's my fault for running and hiding when Scouse asked me to set the PC up in the first place. I wouldn't have touched the voltage switch.