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1997
April 10th, 2017 16:00
Optiplex 960 Powering Off. Suspect Bad Power Supply
Hi. I have a Dell Optiplex 960 mini tower computer that powers off when under too much load and I think the problem is due to overheating and a faulty power supply. Would appreciate feedback/advice.
In troubleshooting I realized that the power supply fan never comes on - not when under a heavy performance load or even when at startup when I first press the power button (and I remember that it i used to hear the fan at power-on). I have two operating systems (Windows 8.1 and Win 10) each on it's own physical drive and the problem occurs on both.
Specs:
Dell Optiplex 960 Mini-Tower
3.15 gigahertz Intel Core Duo Processor
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
6144 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Bus Clock: 1333 megahertz
Video Card: AMD Radeon R5 200 Series
Drive 0: Win 8.1
Drive 1: Win 10
Drive 2: cd-rom
8gb ram
255 watt dell power supply
In the Windows Event Logs I can only find one event related to the power-offs. This event is almost always present after it happens:
Event 41: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
I tried two benchmark apps in the troubleshooting process: SpeedFan and OCCT
SpeedFan: (In Windows 8.1) Starting temps before putting system under any significant load
Before Significant Load Temps just before system powered off
Drive 1 44C 43C
Drive 2 35C 35C
Drive 3 35C 35C
GPU 91C 117C ***
Core 29C 52C ***
Core 1 29C 46C ***
Again, the fan never turned on! Even when the CPU usage was 100% and the temps reached the elevated levels listed above. I'm not a hardware guy. Should the GPU and Core temps reach those levels (117,52,46) without the power supply fan even spinning? And I remember that the power supply fan used to come on regularly.
Can I just order a replacement supply on ebay and install myself?
I tried running the OCCT app in Windows 10 and ran the basic power supply test twice. The system powered off about a minute into the test each time.
Thanks for the feedback!
RoHe
10 Elder
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45.2K Posts
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April 11th, 2017 13:00
Are you talking about the power supply fan or the CPU fan?
The PSU fan should probably spin whenever the PC is turned on, totally independent of either the CPU or GPU temps. The CPU fan may only spin when the CPU reaches a certain temp.
If you need a PSU, there's one here:
www.discountelectronics.com/.../
Instructions to replace the PSU are in the service manual:
downloads.dell.com/.../optiplex-960_service manual_en-us.pdf
If you need a CPU fan, you'll need to buy a Dell OEM fan for this model, because Dell fans have a sensor that BIOS has to read. Non-Dell fans won't have that sensor and will cause a "Fan Failure" error at every boot.
thanks4feedback
3 Posts
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April 11th, 2017 14:00
I'm talking about the power supply. The fan never powers on. Ever. Thanks for the link.
I ordered this OEM PS earlier today. Hope it works:
www.ebay.com/.../401288503149