Power supply unit faulty? or something else?

Addiscomber

I unplugged the monitor and PC plugs from the surge protector, and plugged them each directly into wall sockets and turned on (I do not have a printer attached, and use headphones rather than speakers as my PC is in a family room). There was an immediate problem as the monitor did not get any power. I turned the monitor socket off first, half hoping that the thing under the stairs would trip, but it didn't, nor did it when I turned off the switch that the PC was connected to. Not sure if we have eliminated the surge protector, but as Markee suspected, there is another variable in this puzzle. I can see that this is going to be fun :mad:

I will now have to wait for DH to come home to try anything else as I cannot swap the monitor for another one.

BritBrat

Maybe the RCD is to sensitive do you ever get any other nuisance tripping like when a bulb blows.

Markee

I'm not quite seeing clearly exactly what happened.

But it looks to me like the monitor needs a closer look.

Has it got the same type of power lead as the PC?

If so, can you swap the monitor and PC power leads round and see what happens?

I think you might have a loose conection either in the monitor power cable or monitor itself.

We can't elimate the surge protector yet as the RCD does not trip each time you switch the power socket off (or does it?).

If your RCD DOES trip every time you turn the socket off, then if it doesn't with the surge protector unplugged, you have found your problem!

Things are never that clear cut though :embarasse

Addiscomber

BritBrat wrote: »

Maybe the RCD is to sensitive do you ever get any other nuisance tripping like when a bulb blows.

No others as far as I can recall. A bulb went on Saturday evening and it didn't trip then.

Markee wrote: »

But it looks to me like the monitor needs a closer look.

Has it got the same type of power lead as the PC?

If so, can you swap the monitor and PC power leads round and see what happens?

I went off to have a look at the leads to see if I could swap them, and discovered that the connector at the monitor end had almost worked its way out Net result of reseating it is that monitor is now working.

Markee wrote: »

We can't elimate the surge protector yet as the RCD does not trip each time you switch the power socket off (or does it?).

If your RCD DOES trip every time you turn the socket off, then if it doesn't with the surge protector unplugged, you have found your problem!

Things are never that clear cut though :embarasse

No, it doesn't happen every time. I think I will just have to try using it with the monitor and PC plugged straight into the wall sockets, without the surge protector, and see if it happens again. It could be a long wait though as it hadn't happened for about 3 months until last night.

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your help, and I have been able to avoid looking foolish with the supplier and saved the probable cost of returning the PC just to have them say that there is nothing wrong with it.

BritBrat

I went off to have a look at the leads to see if I could swap them, and discovered that the connector at the monitor end had almost worked its way out Net result of reseating it is that monitor is now working.

Could that have been the problem?

RCD's work on an imbalance between live and neutral.

If not pull the lead out of the monitor and try it with just the PC connected if it's then OK it may be the monitor or the lead to it.

Kettle leads are normally the same BUT with a larger fuse (13Amp) may be OK for testing but not to leave connected, If it is OK with just PC, plug just the monitor in directly to a power outlet and turn on/off to see if it trips.

By now you should be getting the idea, it's a matter of isolating the problem if you can.

If all else fails get a friendly electrician to PAT Test it for you, only takes a few minutes and will give you an answer yes or no.

Markee

I would hazard a guess that the loose power lead in the monitor is almost certainly causing your tripping problem....

.....especially combined with the fact it is plugged into a surge protector as a loose connector will cause random surges!

Good luck, hope it's cured the problem.

Leave the pc and monitor plugged into the wall sockets for a while though, just to be sure.