Are these PSUs ok?

[Badcappy]

I have two PCs, a Core 2 Duo (works ok) and a Pentium III (works ok after replacing the PSU and a few capacitors a couple of years ago). I also have my friend's Celeron D here, which has been pretty unstable according to him (freezes, BSODs, sometimes won't boot).

I've checked out all their PSUs and I don't know if they're ok, so I'd appreciate it if you helped me a bit.


My Core 2 Duo's PSU:

What's that thing at the bottom of the capacitor?


Same here.



My Pentium III's PSU:

Same story:





My friend's Celeron's PSU:

This is the capacitors leaking, right?



Where did that come from? Same leaking?





Thanks a lot.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

You are mostly seeing glue.
It's used at factory to hold the parts in place until they are soldered in.

It's rarely a problem but Enermax PSU's have been found where the glue became conductive after it hardened from heat. Even that isn't a problem as long as it's not somewhere that causes shorts.

White residue looks like something was spilled into it at some time or maybe condensation. Possibly in complete cleaning after assembly left it there.
-
The missing parts in that same shot are for an input filter.
You don't have one.
That's common in cheap power supplies.
[Also note place marked CX1 is for a cap that is part of the input filter the PCB is silk screened for. It has been replaced with a resistor to make it work without the rest of the filter parts. - And wires at LF1 are where the input filter transformer/coil should be.]
.

[i4004]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

i agree with pcbonez.

i think that if you were to show us complete pics(complete pcbs) we would saw these are crappy psus like we can deduce from some of the details from the images.

depending on the budget get corsair or fortron psu(if it's for friends just tell them this is not secure and tell them prices).
there are much higher chances this will wreak havoc to the system than fortron or corsair.

when emi filters are missing things usually range from "bad" to "very bad", very bad being potentially dangerous to other components of the system.

[Wizard]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

This is hot melt glue on big main primary capacitors and some of coils.

The other glue that's tan-yellowish that go brown is more of concern. One Transistor is slopped in this stuff, I'd rather remove this transistor and clean up board and transistor, resolder it back in.

This PSU will need recapping or replaced and check the mainboard that is crashing.

Cheers, Wizard

[Scenic]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

mhhh... what worries me more than this glue stuff is that you mention your C2D PC with a PSU that uses the "4 diode treatment"... :O

[Badcappy]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

Thanks for your replies and confirming it's glue, at least in the first two PSUs.

I know they're cheap crappy PSUs. I live in a small city in Argentina and good PSUs are very hard to find and/or extremely expensive.

I think I'm gonna try replacing my friend's PSU. The motherboard (Intel) looks fine.

mhhh... what worries me more than this glue stuff is that you mention your C2D PC with a PSU that uses the "4 diode treatment"... :O

What does that mean? I'm studying software engineering, not electronics. :-P
I'm planning on getting a new PSU for my C2D, this one doesn't like it when I plug in another hard drive. So what should I look for? I want something good, but like I said, sometimes that's hard to find here.

[bgavin]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

Software engineering... I hope you can find work without relocating to Bangalore.

If power supplies are hard to find, then a system board is even more difficult and more expensive. Crappy power supplies are known to destroy system boards (I have enough dead client machines to prove the point).

There comes a time when you have to pony up the cash to avoid spending more later. Kinda like replacing your tires before you have a blow-out and total your car.

[i4004]

Re: Are these PSUs ok?

>I want something good, but like I said, sometimes that's hard to find here.

like i said fortron..and it's not really too expensive at all...
still it may be 2x or 3x the price of cheap crap...

if your town doesn't have 'em see in next bigger town...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...rtron%20Source)

scenic said some of the components don't look that good...ie 4 diodes instead of one element that replaces them...it shows design was cutting corners...(even though on itself these diodes or element that replaces them rarely fails)

we have another bloke from argentina on forums...jpdoe...try contacting him, if he doesn't see this thread..
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/member.php?u=4255
he probably knows where to find good psus in argentina...