Is There No End To The End

[Mike S]

We just had the longest brown out I have been through since I have lived here in the Philippines last  Fri & Sat ..... power went out about 2:15PM on Fri. and came back on about 10:50am on Sat. ..... most others have only lasted maybe an hour or so ...

 

Anyway so why is this in the computer section ..... well as some of you know (or maybe not) I have an APC UPS attached to my Desktop and monitor ... when the power went down I had enough time to shut both off with no problem nd then like I always do I let the battery drain down until the unit shut down .... this way the battery will always take a full charge .....

 

When the power came back on I fired up my computer to check you fine people out only to find all it did to me was give me 14 short beeps pause and another 14 short beeps etc. etc.over nad over again .... so I did a search on Google for the beep codes for a Gigabyte MB and it is supposed to mean a problem with the power supply ..... seemed kind of strange as everyting started up and it posted but no start .....

 

Anway we took off today to find another PS and as mine is a 750w I was looking for a 1000w to cover all the stuff I've added sense I built this system just as a kinda safety net .... I looked on line and both CDR King and Octagon carry one close to that .... not to crazy about CDR King but with the power situation here in the Phils I didn't want to buy an expensive one ....

 

Well CDR King didn't have any ... "out of stock sir" (how many times have we heard that ... :mocking: ) finally we went all the way to the Ayala mall north of Bacolod where the girl told us that she hadn't seen any PS from CDR King in 2-3 years .... so why are they stil showing them on their website .... she said she could order me one but it would take at least 1 month ..... :bash:

 

I did find one in Octagon but they wanted p11,000 for a 1000w Antec ...... now I know they are good but I'm not going to spend that much only to have it spiked the next time they deside to crank up the wattage on the power poles ..... there is one more shop I can check downtown which appears to be the only real computer shop but I won't know until tomorrow ..... 

 

Now is when I miss living in Cebu ..... I keep forgetting that there aren't to many high end or power users here ..... in fact one guy laughed when I asked him and said good luck we don't carry that stuff because we can't sell it .... I can understand that but then he didn't offer to order me one either .... :unsure:

 

So I guess I'll continue to limp along with my lil' tablet till I get the desktop fixed ..... :hystery: :hystery:

:cheersty:

Edited September 22, 2013 by Mike S

[Dave Hounddriver]

Or order one from Sulit and have it couriered to you.

 

http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/22508448/Brandnew+Silver+Stone+Power+Supply+for+Sale?referralKeywords=1000w+power+supply&event=Search+Ranking,Position,1-3,3

 

Also accept shipping thru other parts of the country(Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao)

For the charges it's depend upon weight of the unit you purchase.

The client will shoulder the expense of the courier fee.

 

[Jake]

Hey Devil Dog,

 

I guess it's that time of year when it rains, it's really pouring in Bacolod....he, he.  It's probably one or more

voltages that took a nose dive (3.3vdc, 5vdc or 12vdc).  If you're curious enough to open and inspect your

old one, you may find one or more electrolytic caps blew its wad.  You could probably smell it too.  Which

leads me to this question: any repair shops with a good inventory of electronic parts like fuses and other

components?  

 

I'm sorry to say that UPS's made by APC are not that reliable, especially after taking only one hit (blackout).

When you think you have stable power and your APC is fully charged, monitor its AC output (unloaded) and

then compare it when you turn on something connected to it, like your sex toys....he, he.  The 120/220 AC

outputs should remain stable under load.  

 

Your next test is to continue measuring the APC outputs as you remove its input power from the wall.  This

will give you an idea about response time and voltage stability according to the specs.  If out of tolerance,

do not use it to protect your desktop.  However, your electrical sex toys should be OK.

 

Let's see, that's three paragraphs of troubleshooting advice -- which comes out to 3 cases of cold San

Magoo.  If I use my crescent hammer, that will cost you more....he, he.

 

Jake the Snake

Edited September 22, 2013 by Jake
spill chek

[Steve & Myrlita]

You could use an AVR connected after the UPS to help keep the PS input stable. The only drawback would be the extra juice CENECO would charge you @ P10.1/KWH!

[Jake]

You could use an AVR connected after the UPS to help keep the PS input stable. The only drawback would be the extra juice CENECO would charge you @ P10.1/KWH!

Head shot bullseye Steve!  I would suspect that you will have a massive voltage swing before it finally dies on you.  

Power supplies inside your electronic items (desktops, LCD TV, stereo components) have very limited capability to

smooth out those voltage swings (175 - 240).  These power supplies convert AC to DC.  Sooner rather than later,

those PS will prematurely fail -- they were overstressed, like those big electrolytic caps trying to filter out spikes,

dips and massive voltage swings.  Not to mentioned about heat is the killer because of buildup of dust and being

overworked repeatedly.  

 

In my opinion, I would rather protect my electronic toys with a heavy duty AVR, as you suggested Steve.  The AVR

is designed to smooth out the AC before it gets to your desktop.  During a brownout, where it will roller coast before

everything goes dark, the automatic voltage regulator should continue to provide a steady 220VAC.  The AVR will

shut itself off if the input voltage swings are too much and will cause a cleaner hit to your electronics (instant off).

 

Anyway, are there any electronics stores that sell parts for the DIY (do it yourself) repair? 

[Steve & Myrlita]

In Bacolod, we have Discover Electronics downtown on San Juan St a few meters from The Blade.

[jpbago]

Say Mike, there are 3 more PC supply/repair stores in Bacolod. Jegabytes on Areneta near Rizal School, Enigma and Bacolod Computer on Hilado (shopping) Enigma is not far from Doctor's Hospital on Hilado and the other one is further up near to Tita Ping's both on same side of street.

[Mike S]

Thanks for all the info guys especially the AVR ... I thought i was pretty well protected with just the UPS ..... and now for the rest of the story ....

 

If i live to be 300yo I will never understand electronics .... last night I tinkered around with it again and started disconnecting each piece of hardware one at a time (and there's a lot) shut the computer down and started it back up each time ..... ( I also cleared the bios just in case) .... I finally ended up with only the CPU ... PS and one case fan left running .... EVERYTHING else was disconnected .... plugged the computer right into the wall outlet bypassing the UPS .... still the same 14 short beeps pause 14 more over and over again .... 

 

So I said the hell with it and went to bed .... this morning i got up and said what the hell lets try it again before i start scrounging for a PS again .... fired it up and now I get a post beep and a long steady beep but no short beeps .... WTF .... a long steady beep means the graphics card is bad or not seeded right .... we that sounds right as it is sitting on my desk .... so I shut everything down and hook it up (still no fans ... HD's or anything else installed) long beep continues .... pull that card and install another old one that I have same thing so I moved the card to a different PCI slot ..... still the same so I took my original card and installed it in that slot and it posted .... no beeps and the monitor lit up .... 

 

OK so it was a bad PCI slot ... right .... nope because the card (which takes up 2 slots because it is so thick) now sits right on top of my PS with the cooling fan on the card sucking hot air right off the PS so I tried the card back in the original PCI slot .... and I am posting this from my system which is now all put back together and running once again .... :unsure:

 

Now I have no damned idea what happened or how it got fixed .... just one of those wonderful electronic fubar that occur out of the blue ..... 

 

I do have a question .... can I put the AVR between my electric outlet and my UPS??????  .... the reason being that I will have time to shut down my computer without loosing any data .... if the AVR shuts down due to a spike I can still run off battery back-up ... :thumbsup:

:cheersty:

[Jake]

Hmmm.....bery interesting.  Possibly by removing and reinserting the graphic card cleaned the PCI contacts?

However, a more probability is that you may have an intermittent, heat related problem when the computer PS

decides to take a dump again.  Remember your problem started during brown out conditions, where the power

supply was being overworked trying to produce correct DC voltages with the AC input fluctuating wildly during

a brownout.

 

There is a golden rule that states: if it ain't broken, don't touch it.  You're in that position now but I strongly

recommend to take some measurements on the power plugs motherboard during normal operation.  Here's

the skinny on that: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-7.html.  You will now have a reference to compare when

it dies on you again.  

 

Having the AVR feeding your APC is OK with me.  But please determine that your APC is working properly after

taking that hit. Take AC measurements (probe another APC outlet plug) while under load, like powering up a hot

iron. Take these measurements while unplugging power from the wall.  Look for a very quick response time (10 ms)

of the battery kicking in and for how long.

 

I worked overtime replacing several hundred UPS modules after the casino encountered a major blackout (floor

wide, about 4,000 slot machines).  Care to guess what was the brand name -- APC.

 

As always, my crescent-hammer is available -- Jake 

Edited September 23, 2013 by Jake
spill chek

[MikeeW]

I use a Nippo voltage regulator plugged into the wall and the UPS into that.  I am now on my second UPS in ten years.

 

Not sure I follow all the technical discussions above, so I may be repeating something.  I had a video card burn up on me with a desktop system I kept running all the time.  I was unfamiliar with the sleep method and the continuous running burned it out.  i now use a MacBook and iOS exclusively.