Things You'll Need:
- Screwdriver(s)
- Spare power supply
- Second computer
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Step 1
Try to start up the computer. If the computer starts up but experiences crashes during operation, immediately touch the top and back of the case where the power supply is to see how hot it feels. If the power supply is hot to the touch, (if you can, feel a different computer operating normally for a frame of reference as to how hot the power supply should be) or you smell burning in the air, it is likely that the power supply is overtaxed by your system and may be near failure. If you have recently installed new hardware devices, it is likely that they are over-stressing the power supply and should be uninstalled until a new power supply can be purchased.
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Step 2
Open the case with a screwdriver and start up the computer with the case open. You should be able to open the left side panel of the case by removing several screws on the back of the case, likely with a Phillips head screwdriver. The largest circuit board in the computer (the one everything is plugged into) is the motherboard, which should have a light somewhere on it that turns on when the power is turned on, and the hard drives (which look like black and metallic rectangular boxes near the front of the case) should begin to spin when power is supplied. If there is no light on the motherboard and the hard drives do not spin, the power supply is probably burned out.
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Step 3
Attempt to use the power supply to power a different computer. Most desktop computers use ATX power supplies with similar power connectors. If you have another computer available for testing, open the computer, unhook the power cords coming from its power supply and hook up the power connectors from the one you are testing. The power supply can be removed from the computer by taking out four screws on the back of the case and unplugging the cables. You should be able to keep the power supply in the second computer and still hook up the potentially faulty supply. Just set it next to the case and keep the case open. If the power supply is able to power on the other computer, then the first computer might have a problem with the motherboard or have a short circuit.
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Step 4
Another way to indirectly test the power supply is to replace it with a different one and see if the system problem persists. If replacing the power supply fixed the issue, then the original power supply was bad; if using a new power supply does not fix the issue, the original power supply was probably good.
