Insight from repairing my Win desktop

[mab52]

Hi guys,
Haven't been on the forums for awhile. Thought I'd share my success with fixing my HP desktop. Back in September, the computer would start up fine, run for awhile, and then shut down. I figured it was overheating and opened it up to do some cleaning. It wasn't dirty as was a previous desktop I owned. Tried reinstalling Windows. It was ok for a bit and then it shut down again. I have another machine, so I just set it aside and thought I might just have to get a new computer at some point.

So I shopped around and I noticed something. Most of the desktops the usual users buy come with a generic power supply and it's often underpowered. Mine had an HP label and it wasn't puny. Well that's almost ok. But how would I know if something was wrong with it?

Then I read that you can't tell if the power supply is the problem unless you replace it. So I decided to order a Corsair 500W supply. Slightly more power than the one I had.  On sale and a mail in $20 rebate. Very easy to remove the old one and install the new one. Four screws and about five plug in wires depending on your machine. Removal and installation took me about an hour and that's only because I hadn't done it before and I wanted to make sure I was doing right. Now that I know the routine, it would take about half that time.

Works great now. I have new appreciation of power supplies and the relative ease of repairing the desktop. Being able to do this myself probably saved me $75.00 or so.

[foxgrove]

Well done, brother!!    You're right that you saved yourself some shop time... anywhere from $50-110 per hour for diagnosis and repair.  I've seen pretty nasty bills for work that shouldn't have cost much more than the parts.  Well done. 

[ronr]

  

[mab52]

Thanks guys. There are things I know I can't do. Still a whole lot more that I don't know.