Computer power supply issues?

[Terry Smart]

Hi

This isn't about the actual power supply in the computer, more the AC coming to the computer... I think.

We need a small computer in the warehouse, nothing fancy, just for printing labels, delivery notes etc. Problem is, we've tried two and neither of them will boot up. They start ok, then fail to find the C drive and ask for a boot disk to carry on the process.
When I try them at home they work perfectly.

The theory is that the power supply coming into the warehouse is the problem. Although it's all checked and certified, of course, the suggestion is that it's not consistent enough for a computer and that is what's causing it to fail. Hopefully that'll make more sense to some of you than it does to me, but it sounds plausible. The warehouse is in a fairly rural location and I've had other people report similar situations.

A laptop works perfectly as the battery, I guess, compensates for this fluctuation. But I don't really want to put a laptop in.

So the question is, could this be the cause of our problem and is there an easy way (a converter of some sort?) to solve it?

Fingers crossed!

 

[CHJ]

Might be an idea to try a mains filter socket adapter.

Something along the lines of this.

http://www.clasohlson.com/uk/Mains-Sock ... er/18-2077

Do you have a Maplins near you? they may have something on the shelf that might help.

 

[Terry Smart]

Hi Chas

Thanks for that... got to be worth a try! I'll see what I can dig up.

 

[mseries]

Perhaps introduce a UPS in the circuit (Uninterruptable Power Supply). The intention is that it will not let the power be interrupted. If the power blips the computer should not notice, I am not sure what will happen if the original supply isn't good enough for the computer though which is what your problem sounds like. In my view it's worth a try though these things are not very cheap. They are worth having if you don't want the incovenience of the computer suddenly going down due a power failure. They contain big batteries that give 15 mins or so to allow a controlled shurdown (or restoration of the supply).

EDIT the UPS under my desk is made by a company called APC.

 

[bugbear]

Upmarket PCs, and those intended for travelling tend to be able to handle supply voltages from 50-250 V.

The practical upshot is that in England, a "brown out" is treated by such a power supply as a low voltage source, and handled nicely.

But cheap PSUs are much more dependent on supply voltage. I suspect you may have bought a "just good enough" PC for the warehouse, and the PSU is not sufficiently adaptable.

I'd use a laptop, with external keyboard and monitor if preferred.

Laptop's are designed for travel (see above), and also have a built in UPS (sort of)

BugBear

 

[dm65]

Do as mseries suggested if you can - they will boost the voltage if it drops below certain parameters so will prove the point, but in 20 years of working with computers, I've never heard of insufficient supply - is there something else you can swap as surely this would play up as well ?

You could always try a power supply from another pc in that one

There must be something else going on - are you using a power strip in each location ? if yes, swap them round as well. Different keyboard mouse etc, ditto even the mains leads - I've seen those kettle leads arcing due to poor contact

 

[RogerS]

Could be noisy mains but I'd go with mseries and get an APS UPS as they are pretty good and handle fluctuating voltages well.

Are you on some business estate? Any arc welding companies share your site? Anyone using lots of power? I tried using Google maps to see where you were located but your postcode is your registered office at a guess and in the middle of Ipswich!

 

[monkeybiter]

Is the computer reasonably ventilated, not getting too hot inside? I've killed a hard drive with poor internal venting.
Not close to any magnetic fields or vibration sources; motors etc?

 

[Terry Smart]

Hi Folks

Got a bit busy this afternoon and wasn't able to reply to each individual response, but thank you one and all.

Other equipment works fine, but it's been suggested to me that a computer can be more fussy.
There's plenty of ventilation and no magnets, but these have failed from the start rather than developing problems later.

I don't really want to splash out on a laptop (yep I'm mean, I know) so I think I'll try a UPS. Could be a good thing anyway if the power flicks out, I hate waiting for computers to restart - even fast ones!

Thanks again for all the suggestions, I'll let you know how I fare.

 

[Sheptonphil]

From the description, I would firstly remove all other cables except the mouse, keyboard, monitor and power. This will test if the printer is causing the stop error, especially if the comp is set to boot from USB and is looking for a boot sector on a card in a card reader on the printer. I come across many PC's that will refuse to boot if a memory stick is in the USB. If It is the case, reorder the boot sequence to HDD only. Just a thought.

Phil

 

[Terry Smart]

Hi Phil

I'll give that a go - I'm not in the office for a couple of days now but will have a go when I get back...and have caught up with everything else!