Thanks - please see my recent post in connection with the psu test in isolation. By grounding pins 13 and 14 I was able to get some life but only for a very short time though the internal blue light came on and the fan spun briefly. I repeated a few times with the same results. So I will speak with my supplier tomorrow but as the latest Zalman's only come with a 3 year warranty I fear I am just outside that time frame.

They timed that component failure well then didn't they.

Didn't they just. Now I don't know whether to go for another Zalman or change the make. I have been very pleased with it up to now and it is very silent along with the other very quiet fans. You wouldn't know that the PC is on unless you get very close. Certainly a huge improvement on all previous machines and a great feeling to know that I built it myself from scratch (albeit broadly following recommendations in a PCPro article) having never done anything like it before.

Post deleted by c_j

i been using Corsair power supplies for the last 18 months they seem to be reliable and a pretty good price.

I put four of them in different machines in the last 12 months. My own is around 18 months old and been taken out of my old machine.


Pretty quiet as well considering it is fan cooled. not sure if I like the idea of these power supplies that don't have fans

Well I had the Zalman tested and it is working fine with the internal light and fan operating as usual. But I also borrowed and fitted an alternative PSU and had the same result so it looks as if the fault is elsewhere. So I did a dis-service to Zalman suggesting that the product failed just out of warranty. Ooops

So back to square one and much gnashing of teeth while I try and figure things out.

Not sure I would want a totally fanless PSU either so am in agreement with zyborg.

I'm not sure that testing a PSU whilst not under load is terribly informative. I'd try just the PSU and motherboard out of case to eliminate short circuits. If that fails to run then it looks like it's the motherboard and/or processor. Unless you have a spare processor it might be difficult to determine which. Any dodgy looking (bulging) capacitors on the motherboard?

The good news is that it's probably almost as cheap to replace them as the PSU. Novatech do nice cheap motherboard bundles.

Good luck.

In reply to a post by AEP:

I'm not sure that testing a PSU whilst not under load is terribly informative.

It would not be informative if your goal was to measure the voltages, but seeing if it works or not is fine. All PSUs must power on if the green cable is shorted, it's in the ATX spec. They do not have some sort of load detection and auto shut-off feature.

seeing if it works or not is fine

Apparently not, in this case, according to the OP.

Could have been a internal fuse that needed a few hours to reset, could have been a bad short on the power wire.