Computer Questions
Aug. 17th, 2008 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
willow_redAs I might have mentioned to some of you, my desktop crapped out about a month ago. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
j_b suggested it might be the power supply, and I am inclined to agree. I copied everything from that hard drive onto my laptop to be safe, and then tried to start up the desktop last night, after it had been "resting" for several weeks. It worked (huzzah!), but the internal clock had reset itself to 11:00pm on December 31, 2000. I know approximately zilch about power supplies, so here are my questions:
1) Would it be just the power supply getting flaky that would cause the clock to reset, or does the battery on the mobo need to be replaced too?
2) I can't find a label on the power supply itself, but the parts list pasted to the inside of the box says it's 250 W. I've started looking for replacements, but haven't found anything that small. The smallest I saw in the Tiger Direct catalog (that conveniently arrived in the mail last week) was 400 W. Is bigger better, or even safe?
3) Do physical dimensions tend to differ on these? In other words, do I have to make sure I buy one that fits in the box?
4) Should I be looking for a name brand (if so, which one(s)?), or are power supplies pretty much all the same?
5) With a dying power supply, is it safe to leave the computer on when I'm not home? I'd prefer not to set my house on fire, especially with Akito locked inside.
6) Is there anything else I should know that I haven't asked about already?
A big thanks to anyone who can help me out with some advice here!
j_b suggested it might be the power supply, and I am inclined to agree. I copied everything from that hard drive onto my laptop to be safe, and then tried to start up the desktop last night, after it had been "resting" for several weeks. It worked (huzzah!), but the internal clock had reset itself to 11:00pm on December 31, 2000. I know approximately zilch about power supplies, so here are my questions:1) Would it be just the power supply getting flaky that would cause the clock to reset, or does the battery on the mobo need to be replaced too?
2) I can't find a label on the power supply itself, but the parts list pasted to the inside of the box says it's 250 W. I've started looking for replacements, but haven't found anything that small. The smallest I saw in the Tiger Direct catalog (that conveniently arrived in the mail last week) was 400 W. Is bigger better, or even safe?
3) Do physical dimensions tend to differ on these? In other words, do I have to make sure I buy one that fits in the box?
4) Should I be looking for a name brand (if so, which one(s)?), or are power supplies pretty much all the same?
5) With a dying power supply, is it safe to leave the computer on when I'm not home? I'd prefer not to set my house on fire, especially with Akito locked inside.
6) Is there anything else I should know that I haven't asked about already?
A big thanks to anyone who can help me out with some advice here!
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-17 06:40 pm (UTC)Most power supplies are a standard size/form. Unless your box is a prefab (aka, some wierd configuration from dell/compaq/apple where they only want you buying from them) you can pretty much buy one off of any shelf at best buy. The main thing to check is whether or not your computer uses an AT or an ATX power supply. Honestly I haven't seen an AT motherboard since the 90s, but I don't know how old your box is...
bigger is better where wattage is concerned. They pretty much don't make 'em smaller than 300W these days because all the new hard disks and video cards are power hungry. my computer doesn't even run without a 500W+ power supply due to the video card.
i wouldn't leave it on if I were you. It won't burn your house down, but if the fan is dead (the most common reason why power supplies fail) it could over heat your computer and damage the motherboard or other components.
Personally I wouln't worry about losing the system clock. It does point to a dying mobo battery, but its not like it would really effect you if you had a workign power supply.