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Troubleshooting Tip: Here's a Weird One!!


Anderton

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So my ADK music computer started acting up recently by not powering up when I hit the power switch. Sometimes it would turn on the first try, sometimes it would take 10 minutes or so of poking and prodding to see what was going on; it would always turn on eventually, but it had me stumped. I thought maybe it was some USB bus thing, so I'd unplug all the USB stuff, and then it would start; but I later found out it wasn't cause and effect.

 

I was about to swap out the power supply to see if that was the problem, but on a hunch, I checked out the little switch on the back of the supply that chooses between 115V and 230V operation. I switched it back and forth a bunch of times, and now the computer is turning on consistently. I'm not 100% sure that was the problem, but it sure seems it was...given that I never adjusted the switch, maybe the contacts got corroded or dusty or something.

 

Weird. I hope it's working now :)

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Our computers are like little metaphors for our society and economic systems... extraordinarily complex, powerful -- and sometimes utterly dependent on the smallest "connecting links."

 

 

That's so beautifully philosophical and poignant. Can we pretend like I said that?

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The very first PC I built from scratch - back in the day when the 486 was king - I bought all the parts, put everything together, and the computer wouldn't turn on. I went so far as to take the motherboard back to where I bought it and had them check that it was ok. I finally decided the power supply was dead, and took everything out to take the case back. As I was about to put the case in the box, I saw that same little red switch...

 

set to 230V :mad:

 

After I set it correctly everything worked fine.. and I learned a big lesson about troubleshooting :thu:

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I recently purchased a Mackie "Big Knob" monitor controller. Nice unit. But it comes with the voltage switch set to 240V. I imagine they ship them all over the world (a EU power cable was also included in the box), and to their credit, they have a big red sticker on the product as well as a conspicuous warning in the manual that the switch needs to be set to the correct voltage BEFORE powering the product up the first time, but it was a bit unusual to see a product set for a non-USA standard voltage. And if it were not for those warnings, many people would probably never bother to check the switch.

 

Thanks for the troubleshooting tip Craig. :cool: I wonder how many power supplies I've tossed; thinking that they were bad, when they just had dirty contacts on the voltage switch? ;):D

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most PSU's typically come set at 230V with a sticker over the 3pin jack advising to switch it to the correct setting and failure to do so might result in mobo damage. if it was set at 115 and is acting up, i would prudently replace the PSU with a better one regardless.

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