Upgrading and Repairing PCs (17th Edition)

Hardly anyone actually repairs power supplies anymore, primarily because simply replacing the supply with a new one is usually cheaper. Even high-quality power supplies are not that expensive when compared to the labor required to repair them.

A defective power supply is typically discarded unless it happens to be one of the higher-quality or more expensive units. In that case, it is usually wise to send the supply to a company that specializes in repairing power supplies and other components. These companies normally provide what is called depot repair, which means you send the supply to them and they repair it and return it to you. If time is of the essence, most of the depot repair companies immediately send you a functional equivalent to your defective supply and take yours in as a core charge. Depot repair is the recommended way to service many PC components, such as power supplies, monitors, and printers. If you take your PC to a conventional service outlet, they often determine which component has the problem and send it to be depot repaired. You can do that yourself and save the markup the repair shop usually charges in such cases.

For those with experience around high voltages, you might be able to repair a failing supply with two relatively simple operations (replacing the internal fuse or the fan); however, these require opening the supplysomething I do not normally recommend. I mention it only as an alternative to replacement in some cases. Besides, in all cases where I've seen the internal fuse blown, there were more serious problems and just replacing the fuse only caused it to immediately blow again. On the other hand, if the only problem with the supply is that the fan has failed (motor or bearing failure), you might be able to save the supply from the trash by simply replacing the internal fan.

Most manufacturers try to prevent you from entering the supply by sealing it with special tamperproof Torx screws. These screws use the familiar Torx star driver but also have a tamper-prevention pin in the center that prevents a standard driver from working. Most tool companies, such as Jensen or Specialized, sell sets of TT (tamperproof Torx) bits that remove the tamper-resistant screws. Other manufacturers rivet the power supply case shut, which means you must drill out the rivets to gain access.

Caution

The manufacturers place these obstacles there for a reasonto prevent entry by those who are inexperienced with high voltage. Consider yourself warned!