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Grounding Issues With Paint


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to start off, this is kind of a continuation of my last post, which was in the motherboard section. I finally figured that it is my power supply that refuses to function properly, not my motherboard. the power supply seems to work fine outside of the case, but when inside, it barely stays on for a second. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that there is a grounding issue with the paint and thus causes the system to short out or something. sigh. the problem now is that i dont know where or even how to pinpoint the exact place of contact thats causing the psu to short out. what should I do?

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are you POSITIVE that your motherboard isn't grounded out in any way? for example, there could be a pin touching the case itself with no issues but once the power supply's case contacts the metal of the case could cause a problem.

 

there's really no reason i can think of that a power supply touching the metal on the case should cause any issues.

 

unplug the ATX connector with the psu mounted inside the case and run a paperclip from the green wire to any black wire. this will "hotwire" the psu. if it stays on with the paperclip in there, while it's attached to the case, your psu is fine. if it DOES however not want to power up - we'll go diagnosing from there.

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thats exactly what i did, and how i came to the conclusion that the psu is not grounded well. I put the paper clip in, with nothing connected to the psu, and it does not work. It just turns on and then off immediately

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Paint should have no bearing on it even if it conducts electricity. Many cases are conductive and for this reason any screw for hardware are either insulated or (more commonly) connected to ground.

 

Grounding issues occur when a circuit board's contact touch the grounded case; this can be due to forgetting to use the motherboard standoffs, placing a standoff where there is no mounting hole on the motherboard, etc.

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hmm. i'm a little stumped. i don't really know man =/

 

my best suggestion would be along the lines of trying another psu if you have you laying around, and see if IT works while mounted inside the case. that way, you'll know your psu is bad, and get a replacement.

Edited by airman

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thats exactly what i did, and how i came to the conclusion that the psu is not grounded well. I put the paper clip in, with nothing connected to the psu, and it does not work. It just turns on and then off immediately

A lot of PSUs wont work without some load on them, try this same test with a few fans plugged into it.

 

Have you tried with the PSU out of the case and motherboard in the case?

 

As for grounding on the PSU, the PSU caseing is a ground point and it doesnt matter if it contacts the case electrically or not, so that's 100% NOT your problem.

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I don't see how your case could be a problem at all regardless of how well it does (or doesn't) ground the PSU to the mobo...acrylic cases have no trouble working (nor do open-air setups or even full steel cases).

 

I'd look elsewhere for problems.

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