Symptoms & Temporary Remedies

• Upstairs PC was delivered to us in October 2001.
• Power supply unit (PSU) fan has been noisy for some months.
• Had been blowing on it to accelerate past the noisy speed.
• Used a squirt of GT85 lubrication oil on it worked on a few occassions.
• Blowing gradually became less effective.
• Is now noisy for first several minutes, then gets past resonance speed by itself.
• It is on the way out, to use technical jargon.

Online Guides

• Found a photographic guide to changing a power supply in a system extremely similar to ours!
• Couldn’t see the stickers on our one.
• Unplugged the PC and removed the PSU.
• Could now see the stickers. It’s rated at just 250W!
• A guide to buying PSUs said take it to a shop and ask the staff for a suitable replacement.
• Apparently getting one of identical width is the way to go. I also notice the screws take a somewhat trapezoidal arrangement.

Getting the Replacement

• Dad’s camera wouldn’t focus automatically.
• Took a photo of the current innards using mum’s camera instead.
• Removed the PSU, following the guides which say wiggling is safer and more comfortable than tugging. (As with so much in life.)

Getting the Replacement

• Went to the Fleet branch of Bulldog PC.
• It had moved to new premises, said a sign on the wall near the door!
• A staff member from out back came around and told us the new location was up and running on Albert Street.
• Drove down there and had a wild goose change searching for parking.
• Eventually found a space under a sign covered in moss. (Not my problem if it was actually prohibiting parking there!)
• Went in and immediately noticed all the consumables were on shelves but the store wasn’t finished.
• The member of staff asked if we wanted help.
• “Yeah, I’m here for a replacement power supply,” I explained
• He replied asking if it was for a laptop.
• “No, it’s for a PC. I brought it with me.”
• Handed the supply over to him and he made a beeline for a shelf around the corner.
• He mumbled something about “24-pin” and picked up the Antec one on the far left.
• I mentioned that I’ve “seen good reviews of Antec.”
• He assured me: “Yes, this will really do the job.”
• We paid and I got an invoice, since this is my work PC.
• Was under £25, a fraction of the overpowered units everywhere online seems to stock and it was right there, going home with me.
• Walked home along the towpath which takes about half an hour but is good for enjoying the outdoors.

Fitting

• Checked it would fit into the case and it did.
• Had a slightly rough thread in the bottom left screwhole. So I took the unit out and twisted a screw in hard. This cleared the thread nicely.
• Noticed it had that delightfully clean yet thick smell you only get with new electricals.
• Hooked up all the peripherals to it.
• Found enough sneakily located 3-pin motherboard connectors to get the case fan and power fan hooked up for monitoring. CPU fan was already.

Report (2^nd May 2009)

A good couple of days later and it’s been right as rain. Much quieter and immeasurably less annoying than the grinding of the old one!

Seems minutely quieter with the same type of noise as when the old one was running perfectly. The new one has 2 fans, one of which helps exhaust air away from the CPU. So I’m entirely pleased by it.