Power Problems???

[Mystic77]

I had a big problem with my computer this week. I fixed it now (else I couldn’t be writing ya’ll), but I would like to know what happened
I was basically rebuilding my system. The first things I had ordered were some fans and round ATA and floppy cables, as well as a fan controller. Well when they came in, I went ahead and installed them. When I turned my system on, it flashed blue (blue led fans) and acted like it was going to come on for about a half a second and then nothing. I hit the power button again and nothing would happen. I have a small led light on my Asus board that told me it was receiving power. I found that if I unplugged the power cord and then about 5 min later, plugged it back in, I would get the half second, going to start, flash.
This completely baffled me. I thought I blew the mobo. :bang head I unplugged the fan monitor and tried again. Nothing. Then I unplugged everything. Nothing. That’s when I got aggravated and tried to go to bed (although I could only lay there and try figuring things out all night).
The next morning I removed all ram, HD, video, everything. Tried just the power supply and the mobo. IT WORKED! So I added the video card and tried again. Still working! Added one piece of ram. Still working. I kept doing this till I had everything put pack in, including the new fans and fan monitor. It all worked.
I talked with my brother and he said his roommate had the same problem and it eventually corrected itself. What’s going on? :confused:

[Graphic67]

I see two possibilities:

1. You dislodged a card or connector while installing the fans and the rebuild forced you to reseat everything.

2. The initial power distribution was unbalanced (too many devices on one power supply lead) and you wound up with a more balanced power distribution after the rebuild.

In the case of #1 above, you have nothing to worry about. It was a minor problem with a simple solution.

In the case of #2 above, there may be more problems down the road if your power supply is a little weak. Please post back with your power supply brand, model/rating, and positive voltage ratings (+3.3, +5, and +12). Also, while you have your system running, what are your voltages while the system is under load.

[Mystic77]

I’m not sure of the brand. I was able to find the receipt and it said “P4 and AMD Compatible.” It is a 400W. On the side of the power supply it said “Total Power to 3.3V and 5V is 180 watts max.” I checked the Asus Probe for the voltages under a load and it said 12.038 , 4.919 , and 3.504. I don’t know how else to check them. The model number is LPH2.

[Graphic67]

Did it also have a Combined rating for all three voltages?

The 180W rating for 3.3 and 5V lines combined is EXTREMEMLY LOW for something CLAIMING to be 400W. My 350W Antec SL350 is rated to 230W combined 3.3 and 5V.

The 3.3V reading you have is high, but Asus voltage readings are not always accurate.

[Mystic77]

Originally posted by Graphic67
Did it also have a Combined rating for all three voltages?

Unfortunately no. I have been reading up a lot on power supplies recently and was trying to add all my components up to see what the power draw was on the 12, 5, and 3.3 lines. The info on the Power supply was very sketchy. Nothing else was listed

[Graphic67]

Just a rough estimate...

Motherboard ==> 40W
Barton ==> 70W
Ram ==> 80W
9500 Pro ==> 60W
Hard drives ==> 50W
(one optical - unlisted) ==> 25W
(fans - unlisted) ==> 15W

Total ==> 340W PEAK

The lack of published ratings and the lack of obvious manufacturer identification makes me think that this is likely a VERY low quality power supply. If you have not already read the lead post in this sticky thread, please do so: http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150384

Other useful links dealing with high capacity power supply reviews and guides...
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20030609/index.html
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/

[Mystic77]

Thanks

[bsspewer]

Originally posted by Graphic67
2. The initial power distribution was unbalanced (too many devices on one power supply lead) and you wound up with a more balanced power distribution after the rebuild.

So that can be a problem? I was wondering that..

Is there any kind of length requirement for powersupply cords? Or what about the size of them? ..just wondering to see if i can't cut and extend the wires to help clean up my case...

and btw..just an fyi but your sig looks really long..

[Yodums]

I had something like that awhile ago. I found out that it was a PCI Card that wasn't fully pushed into the slot that caused the problem.

[Graphic67]

Originally posted by bsspewer

So that can be a problem? I was wondering that..

Is there any kind of length requirement for powersupply cords? Or what about the size of them? ..just wondering to see if i can't cut and extend the wires to help clean up my case...

and btw..just an fyi but your sig looks really long..

One of the most common problems that I have seen on home-assembled / upgraded pc's is that all the optical and hard drives are all tied to one power supply lead with multiple Y-adapters while leaving one or two leads direct to the power supply completely unused.

There was (before the reorganization) a sticky with the signature guidelines (thread id 58341)... According to those guidelines there is a 10 point limit and the text size that I am using was rated at 0.75 points per line. Thirteen lines (including the blank line) at 0.75 points totals 9.75... Under the 10 point limit.