# Bad PSU = BSOD?



## bumblebee_tuna

Can a bad or failing PSU cause random BSOD?


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## oscaryu1

not that good with that term... BSOD???


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## Supercool

Blue screen of Death (BSOD)

Power supply are 90 % casue of such faults.


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## bumblebee_tuna

oscaryu1 said:


> not that good with that term... BSOD???



If you're not familiar with this term, you probably don't have the option tic'ed right.....

Go to Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Un-tic Automatically Restart......

Before, with this tic'ed, it would probably appear as a random restart.  Now, if you ever have a system failure, a scary looking, bright blue screen would come up with a bunch of technical information.  They're not necessarily bad or dangerous but, moreover, annoying but can signal something possibly wrong, either hardware or software wise, with your system.........

Anyway, I've been getting A LOT of BSOD lately after I had messed with my PSU (accidently tested it with the amperage settings on a DMM....).........


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## ceewi1

That's never a good thing to do, but a PSU is supposed to trip OCP before any damage can be done.  What's the message you're getting on the BSODs?


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## bumblebee_tuna

ceewi1 said:


> That's never a good thing to do, but a PSU is supposed to trip OCP before any damage can be done.  What's the message you're getting on the BSODs?



It did but it probably damaged something before it did......

I switched out the PSU with another PSU and it, otherwise, solved the problem that I had with restarting that was mentioned in another thread.....  I guess I maybe getting less BSODs but I still got one after switching out the PSU.........

The last (and so far, only) BSOD that I got with this PSU mentioned something about 'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL_TO', and then something about 'atapi.exe'..........  But, with the old PSU I got both 'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL_TO' with and without mentioning about 'atapi.exe'......  So right now I'm checking/waiting to see if I get the general 'DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL_TO' or if I also get the 'atapi.exe' again..........


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## ceewi1

It's _supposed_ to trip OCP before any damage is done, but unfortunately not all PSUs will respond quickly enough, particularly cheaper models.  It is possible for a faulty PSU to cause those errors, particularly if the 3.3V rail is having problems, but there's also the possibility that the power supply surged damaging other components, most likely the RAM.  It might be worth running memtest to at least check that.

Of course, that error could be completely unrelated to the PSU.  Perhaps a driver problem?


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## bumblebee_tuna

I think I've now've ruled out the PSU because I got another BSOD related to something like usbport.exe or something..........  I'll try a memtest tonight to try and rule out that........


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