Blew my carputer up!

**wylie-c** · 10-22-2003, 12:45 PM

Ok, so I go out to the car and hook up the computer on the back seat for a dry run before I lay wire and mount everything. Hook up the inverter through the lighter just for testing, and it boots up fine. Shut down and reboot and it's dead. The car was running at the time. The fans and hd's spin up but either the mobo or the proc is toast. Any idea why it would do that? Would not grounding the case to the car do it?

The specs:
PII-450
ASUS P2B
DVD drive
3.2g hd
ATI Rage pro
450w ps ( the only spare one I had)
400w Coleman inverter

I know the ps is 50w more than the inverter, but the computer would easily run off of a 200w, so the comp should only draw what it needs, and the inverter should be fine, no?

**yuprules** · 10-22-2003, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by wylie-c

Shut down and reboot and it's dead. The car was running at the time. The fans and hd's spin up but either the mobo or the proc is toast. Any idea why it would do that? Would not grounding the case to the car do it?

The specs:
PII-450
ASUS P2B
DVD drive
3.2g hd
ATI Rage pro
450w ps ( the only spare one I had)
400w Coleman inverter

I know the ps is 50w more than the inverter, but the computer would easily run off of a 200w, so the comp should only draw what it needs, and the inverter should be fine, no?

Isn't the maximum for inverter the 12v adapter INSIDE the car 350W, not 400w? Anyone? I swore I read that somewhere...after 350w you have to connect it directly to the battery.

**mp3z24** · 10-22-2003, 01:00 PM

test it with an extension cord from your house power, instead of the inverter. the inverter is not a perfect power source... the wall socket will give you tru AC supply

try that and get back to us.

~Mike

**wylie-c** · 10-22-2003, 01:01 PM

Well, it came with a lighter plug adapter, and the fault light never came on. I dunno what the heck happened, but it has been working fine for 2 weeks in the house.

edit: Yeah, it still doesn't work on house mains. It's gone. I just don't want to fry another one too.

**hijinks21** · 10-22-2003, 01:09 PM

sounds like your PSU is dead. Always use a bigger inverter then your PSU.

Having the fans spin up and not bootup is a classic sign of either a grounding problem with your mobo on the case or a bad PSU.

**wylie-c** · 10-22-2003, 01:21 PM

The psu checks out ok. The mobo or the chip is fried. I'm guesssing the mobo though because I get no beeps and the hd light stays lit. It was fine in the house, put it in the car and it died. there was nothing wrong with it until it went in the car. It was in the same case the whole time. Even though the ps is a 450 wouldn't it only draw what is needed? Just because it is 450, it should be only drawing 200-250 at the most with that hardware.

**carabuser** · 10-22-2003, 01:22 PM

check if everything was grounded properly and there is no shor circuit anywhere. other than that, no idea. i burned a mobo once just by switching from one psu to another, so who knows...

*EDIT* my inverter says not plugin anything greater 150W if use the lighter adaptor

**Sunglassesron** · 10-22-2003, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by carabuser

check if everything was grounded properly and there is no shor circuit anywhere. other than that, no idea. i burned a mobo once just by switching from one psu to another, so who knows...

*EDIT* my inverter says not plugin anything greater 150W if use the lighter adaptor

Yup so does mine, 150watt max in cigar lighter....

I run a 350watt psu on a 300watt inverter, no probs here, i do get a slight noise in the psu though. Nothing serious.

The pc will only pull the amps it needs from the battery, I would next time, buy some thick arse Amplifier cable, an 800watt kit should be fine. Thats what I use

**bosstone74** · 10-22-2003, 04:56 PM

you gots to hook it up the battery and not the lighter....

**wylie-c** · 10-23-2003, 02:03 AM

Ya, ok. I picked up another PII-400, w/ 128m and 6.4g, cd and everything for 99 bux today. I'll get it set up with the dvd and everything else and try it again off the battery this time.