Power Supply

[max0071]

I inadvertantly switched from 115V to 230V and now my pc is dead...........won't start..........what have I done to my pc and what should I do??????????

[clavicle]

Switching the power supply from 115 to 230v generally blows fuse in your psu alongwith few active and passive filters, and subsequently the high power diode package, and even worse, a few power regulating ics get blown off, but beyond that, the pc generally is not affected.

You can get another psu to start over your pc, but the psu can be repaired also. Good luck!

[max0071]

Thanks clavicle...........thought I may have lost or destroyed my hard drive.........i'll sleep better tonite knowing all I have to do is get my powe supplied replaced............

My UPS also went down ............. can't get it to work............I guess I have to get a new UPS as well???????????????

[Zxian]

Umm... are you sure there's a problem here? If your power supply is set at 230V and is only fed 115, then there isn't any question about feeding in too much voltage into it.

If you were to live in an area with 230V power and set your PSU to 115, then you might have a problem.

[max0071]

Zxian..........it was on 115V and flicked the red switch to 230V and the computer shut down and I could not get it to power up again..........so i presume its the power supply..........but I'm not sure.........thats why I posted here??????????

[Scubar]

You should pray that it hasnt fried you motherboard, If the PSU is gone its very rare that it doesnt take out something else with it, Unless of course you have a good PSU that has things like SCP, OVP, OCP.

Buy a New PSU anyway and just hope that you havent kiled anything else inside your pc.

[LLXX]

Switching from 115 -> 230 shouldn't damage anything, it'll just be undervolted and shut down. Tried moving the switch back to 115?

On the other hand, going from 230 -> 115 will cause a display of sparks and possibly a small explosion.

If the PSU is really dead, get a new one that doesn't have the selector switch (e.g. 90 - 270v input range).

[Zxian]

You flicked the switch while it was on? That's not good.

Try a different power supply and see what happens. If there's still nothing, you've probably fried your mobo.

The ONLY switch on your computer you should be touching while it's on is the power switch (and possibly reset). Fan controllers are ok, but definately not the PSU itself.