[Nirune]

So, i'm looking for a little bit of help. Yesterday i was sitting playing a game when i heard a click from my computer screen froze and it was un responsive. I thought what the [bleep], and hit restart. when it was starting to reboot something just didn't seem right about the sound of my computer now that i was paying attention so i touched the side of the case toward the back and it was BURNing hot. I instantly shut off the computer and cracked open the case to let it cool off. After about half an hour it was all good and cool so i started it up again. Started up fine talked to a friend that works at computer place about cost of replacement power supply fans, cause yes the fan stopped working. Said it could cost me around 20 dollars to replace. Then i remembered that fan in my room was so covered in dust the other day that it had trouble starting up...so i decided to take a look at the fan in the power supply. i took out the power supply cleaned the fan a little spun it to make sure it was able to spin it was all good....put it all back in. Hooked everything back up went to go started it up and it doesn't load in to windows...every time it tries to load into windows it just crash's starts over again never loading into windows. So at this point i'm at a lose i cant think of anything to do so i just walk away from it for the night hoping it could just be an electrical grimlen. Wake up this morning go to start it up....ask's me if i want to start it in safe mode and what not...i pick last known config(which i had tried the night before) and to my great relief it worked!! but by the time that it finished loading all programs in start up it had frozen and i had to restart and its back to not loading into windows and just crashing over and over. So thats my story and i don't know what to do. i really have no money to replace anything right now, and i need my computer for school. If anyone has an idea please please help me. thanks. oh and the fan has not started up at all even after cleaning it off.

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Welcome to G2G Nirune

If the fan inside the power supply is not working, then this is obviously causing the PSU to overheat and as a result the computer will shutdown (as you have already experienced).

Do not attempt to keep turning the computer on in this case as you risk losing data and possibly damaging hardware. I'm not sure how you were able to clean the fan whilst it's inside the PSU but if you removed (or are tempted to remove) the PSU cover to get to the fan, then DON'T. The capacitors inside the PSU are capable of giving you a nasty shock if after the power has been disconnected for a while.

As for replacing the PSU fan - this probably isn't advisible. To start with, many PSU fans are soldered to the circuit board and so can't be unplugged and simply replaced. Whats more, there's no guarantee that it is the fan itself thats faulty, it could be the fan controller instead so replacing the fan won't help. Your best bet is to replace the entire PSU I'm afraid.

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G Nirune

If the fan inside the power supply is not working, then this is obviously causing the PSU to overheat and as a result the computer will shutdown (as you have already experienced).

Do not attempt to keep turning the computer on in this case as you risk losing data and possibly damaging hardware. I'm not sure how you were able to clean the fan whilst it's inside the PSU but if you removed (or are tempted to remove) the PSU cover to get to the fan, then DON'T. The capacitors inside the PSU are capable of giving you a nasty shock if after the power has been disconnected for a while.

As for replacing the PSU fan - this probably isn't advisible. To start with, many PSU fans are soldered to the circuit board and so can't be unplugged and simply replaced. Whats more, there's no guarantee that it is the fan itself thats faulty, it could be the fan controller instead so replacing the fan won't help. Your best bet is to replace the entire PSU I'm afraid.

[Nirune]

Alright...and i did open up the PSU case...but i'm well aware to stay away from capacitors cause i am enrolled in an electronics engineering program. And though i could solder a new fan to the board....from the slight burnt smell of the PSU i may as well look into getting a new one,and maybe a good idea anyway..cause where one of the resistors should be there is one missing the wires that held it are there but the actual resistor is missing haha...also maybe i'll upgrade to a larger more powerful one in the process for when i have more money to build a new PC. Thanks for the advice. Glad to know that you think its just the PSU making the computer freeze up or restart over and over haha rather then other hardware or somethings haha...

[Samm]

I can't promise it is the PSU that's causing the problems. All I know is that if the PSU fan isn't working (plus the additional PSU issues you described) then you need to replace it. There IS a good chance that the PSU is indeed the cause but until you replace it we won't know for sure...