Can't jump-start ATX PSU
I've bought a new ATX PSU on the internet. I was planning to use it as a lab power supply and as soon as it arrived home I've tested it by shorting the green wire with a black wire. It worked for less than a second. As soon as I shorted the two wires the fan started to spin but it stopped shortly after. When I used the tester it showed me the same thing: when it boots each output reaches it's normal voltage (3,3V, 5V, 12V), and then it goes to 0V. What should I do to make it work?
63 Answers
Attaching that green wire to (any) black should do it (as you expect). If it's behaving as you describe then I would file it under "G" for garbage and go get another ATX PSU.
I managed to find the problem. I'll try connecting them back and try agai. Who knows? Maybe I'm still lucky after all?Look at theese resistors: two of them are disconnected from the board.
You should quit trying to break your own equipment. Why are you trying to send electricity to somewhere that it's not supposed to go?
If we want to protect against external electrical problems, then a Surge Protector can offer some protection (against "surges"-- too much electricity), and an Uninterruptible Power Supply can protect against some more things (like "brownouts" that may supply inferior amounts of electricity). The purpose of an ATX Power Supply Unit is not to do these things. The purpose of such a Power Supply Unit is to convert Alternating Current to Direct Current.
If a Power Supply Unit does have some super basic protection, and I'm not even saying that it does this, then I would expect that to be a nice little bonus. However, if your testing has any likely effect, the effect would be to use up whatever protection may exist.
Don't break your unit by testing just how much you can mistreat it. I can understand doing some hardware testing. Crossing wires of different colors is beyond what a normal consumer should be doing.
3
