Pro tip: my old boss told me to always check the power supply first, even when it seems like a software issue

I had a client last week whose PC would boot to a black screen with a cursor. It screamed corrupted Windows to me. I was about to start a reinstall, but I remembered his advice and tested the PSU with a multimeter. The 12V rail was reading 10.8V, way out of spec. Swapped in a new Corsair unit and it booted right up. Saved me hours of wasted time. Anyone else have a simple rule that's saved their bacon more than once?

3 comments

3 Comments

johnson.lee2mo ago

Honestly, that feels like overkill to me. I start with the quickest diagnostic steps first, like checking the monitor input or a different cable. Jumping straight to the multimeter every time would slow me down more often than not.

johnson.ryan2mo ago

Used to think the same way as johnson.lee. Then I wasted a whole afternoon swapping cables on a dead monitor that had a blown fuse. Now I check for power at the outlet first, it takes two seconds. That one time changed my whole process.

charlesj4621d ago

Did you ever have that friend who swears by keeping a cheap outlet tester in their tool bag at all times? A buddy of mine used to make fun of me for plugging stuff into different outlets before touching the device itself. Then his home office setup died mysteriously and he spent two hours blaming the computer, the monitor, the surge protector. Turns out his cat had bumped the power strip switch off and he never even noticed. Now he's the one telling everyone to check the damn outlet first, it's actually kind of funny how fast he changed his tune.