Computer Freezes, Sometimes Won't Even Post!

[Spike125]

Sry, I thought the capacitor was on the MB.
If it's blown in the PSU, go for a new one.
Even if it's not the problem, it's not wrong to have a good PSU in case you want to rebuild or upgrade your system later on.
After I upgraded to my 1500W PSU I still kept my old 850W, you never know when you need it, and it's always good to have a PSU available

 

[Robin]

So its been like a year since I looked at this issue because I've been using a laptop instead but now I feel I need to make a decision on whether the system is toast so I can start spec'ing a new one. I know I could just get a new one regardless but I would hate to see perfectly adequate hardware going to waste.

Since my last posting I tried the suspect PSU in an older PC and it ran fine so I'm starting to believe its the mobo. Can't test a different PSU with the mobo because I don't have a modern spare.

Could the current PSU still be the reason (works at low power draw on old PC but can't handle higher so system freezes)?

Is getting a PSU tester pretty much useless? Doesn't test under load so wouldn't show if this was the issue?

Robin.