So my power supply died last night. It was a sad moment, as I thought it would last me forever when I bought it (OCZ 520w). Anyway, I am at a loss as to why it died other than age, which it would have only been about 3 or 4 years old I believe, but I do have a suspicion. I just purchased a USB MIDI keyboard last night, and was playing with it when I turned my computer off. When I turned it back on is when it died. I was curious if it died possibly from having the keyboard plugged in (it is USB powered) when I turned it on, maybe a surge of power or something? If that is at all a possibility I would not want to repeat it after I get a new power supply.

If your MIDI keyboard did kill it, I imagine it would have been very close to death anyway. The only thing that would make sense is it overloaded the 5v standby rail, which usually gets you 2-3 amps. And if that happened, a resettable fuse should have tripped. Said fuse may have just been faulty.

Of course, see if it's under warranty. If not, look at power supplies from FSP Group. They make supplies for OCZ, Sparkle, Nexus, Zalman and others. Seasonic is fantastic too and are suppliers of Antec and Corsair for their supplies. Obviously any of these brands are a good choice, but going straight to the source tends to be cheaper.

you were playing poorly so it killed itself.

Yeah PSUs tend to just die whenever they want. Salvage what components you can out of it if you're at all into electronics though.

Just be glad your power supply died quietly. The last time mine died, the thing EXPLODED right in front of my very eyes. It was quite a "shock" to say the least.

I've had 3 cheapos go out on me over the course of a year. So then I started buying the better ones, and I haven't had a problem. I couldn't find a reason or consistent condition other than it was always some time right when I powered it on. I got smoke each time. Blah.

It wasn't exactly quiet. There was a loud pop and I smelled burning when I powered it on.

I do believe it is still under warranty though, or so OCZ says it has a 5 year warranty on their website.

And this is how you feel when you don't have a spare power supply and you need the computer RIGHT NOW.

hehe, Nice ms paint