Powerman PSU mod?

[Shaotai]

Does anyone know how to mod a Powerman PSU?
This particular PSU is 300watt and came with my Inwin case. It is p4 compatible, but I have a AMD XP system. Anyhow, I'm looking to mod the 5v rail, since I believe it's causing my system to boot longer. The reason I say this is my system will beep 4 times and the first 2 beeps, I can hear the HDD slow down! Like it runs out of power! After it actually boots though, it's fine.
See sig for specs...
TIA!!

[Smizack]

You are getting a beep code? What Bios do you have?

[Maximus Nickus]

Thats not a PSU prob mate, if it works fine after u booted then its fine, unless it takes 10 attempts to boot!:eek:

What are the readings on your 5V rail?

[Shaotai]

I wouldn't really call it a beep code. It's like it *tries* to boot, but doesn't have enough juice, so it reboots itself. So it beeps again, but every time it beeps, the HD loses power for a fraction of a second so I can hear it slow down!! Freaky. But by the fourth time, it must have enough juice so it actually starts up, like it had no problems. I've tried this with and w/o OCing the system. So this happens even with "normal" voltage and FSB.
Anyhow, my 5v rail is usually around 4.8x-4.9x volts. I've *never* see it go above that. A local shop has a 350w and a 400w Enermax PSU that I might just have to buy and try. (Hmm, in fact, they have the Koolance watercooled cases too....)

[Shaotai]

Oh, I'll have to check the BIOS revision after I get home tonight. I'm still running the factory bios it came with, and my board is about 2 weeks old now. I'll check Soyo's site too about BIOS revisions.....
Thanks guys...

[Maximus Nickus]

I had a similiar prob with a 250Watt PSU where I was overloading the WALL socket!!! So the PSU couldn't get enough juice to start....

Unplug everything except HDD (all Cd's/fans except CPU fan!) and if it works then thats your prob! Otherwise theres somthing else....

[Smizack]

Yup, I'd unplug everything and see what that does...
When my psu died, it was just like a brown out. Nothing got enought juice to run except the fans...

[Shaotai]

Okay, Thanks guys.
I'll give that a try tonight. I also was using a Glatiator (with a 35cfm fan) but the noise got so annoying.... I'm now running a ThermoEngine with it's stock fan and I'm running normal speed (1.4Ghz.) I'll disconnect everything and see how she runs...:rolleyes:

What's so funny is that it works just fine after it gets enough juice. No probs with stability or anything. It just need time to "prime up" or "warm up"!;)

I may try and pull the PSU apart and look for a 5v pot to crank up, if possible. (don't want to fry myself either....):D
I'll let you guys know how it turns out!
Thanks!
:burn:


(I'm going crazy with these smiley faces... Sorry):rolleyes:

[Shaotai]

I forgot to mention that this case/ps worked just fine with my P3 setup I was running right before upgrading to XP power.
I guess the AMD boards/processors do tax the system a bit more.

[Maximus Nickus]

How do you ajust the 5V line? I'd like mine @ 5.3, but doesn't that take power away from other places?

[Shaotai]

Apparently, some PSU's have "pots" that you can turn and thus adjust the actual output. This way, they can fine tune the actual voltage, since PSU don't output exactly the same. Most are not adjustable and what you see is what you get. I heard ANTEC are adjustable and Enermax are too. Since I have a PSU that came with a case, no one is really sure if it's adjustable or not, although it's a pretty heafty PSU. I'd have to do a search on the other threads to see which PSU's are adjustable...
5.3 maybe a bit too high though! That could potentially fry something!:D

[Maximus Nickus]

HELP!!! Which pots how to if there arent any, more than one pot? how can i turn it up to much?

[Smizack]

I wouldn't recomend that. Unless you feel your computer is expendable. You'll probably end up frying something...

[Maximus Nickus]

Other people have done it!!!!

My 5V has never been above 5V!!!!!!

[zPacKRat]

a Good thought for you would be to replace that pos ps and get an enermax or sparkle ps. I have an inwin 507 case and the powerman ps has a pot that adjusts the 5v rail. however my 12 v rail was always in the low 11 range under an load. Last night I installed a enermax 350 whisper and life is good, and this is with a cusl2-c and p3 1 gig at 1.33.

[Shaotai]

Okay, that's good to know.... I have the Inwin 508 and that Powerman PSU should be very similar to the 507 model.... I'm going to get that Enermax 430 watt so I'll be set for a while...:D

[Maximus Nickus]

Yeah but my 12V rail never goes under 12.3 goes up to 12.8!!!

All the others are strong to and i don't have instability errors, except the odd blue sceen even though i have xp, (im usin an old 4mb mga millenium cause me mx broke and me 8500 not arrived) so is it my psu???

Even with no drivers and just the cpu fan it never goes above 5V, is MBM5 giving bad readings?

Via Hardware monitor won't work with the 8KHA+

[Shaotai]

Dang, I'm confused too....:confused:
I pulled everything off the MB, except memory, cpu, cpu fan and video and it did the exact same thing.
1st beep, it will loose power, reset.
2nd beep, it will loose power, reset.
3rd beep, power is still good, monitor turns on, boot up process.
4th beep, is the actual switch over to OS.

I guess *normal* systems would beep twice then. First, when it initializes, then beep again when switching from BIOS to OS.

But I had nothing hooked up and it still did the same freakin' thing!!!:mad:

But I'm still going to try the Enermax 430 PSU.:D

As for your high 12v readings, normally, higher will help, but maybe they're too high???