Is this an overloaded PSU or bad pwer switch?

[Staren]

Hi all,

I've got a bit of a stumper on a new build. Got the basics of the system together and Windows installed flawlessly, but after shuting down from Windows and installing a memory card reader the system won't turn on. Every few times trying the power switch will get the HSF to spin one or two revilutions, but that's it. Since the system worked perfictly before, the only posabilities I can come up with are either I have a cheap power switch / I pulling something when I moved the case wires to get a better look at the USB headers (though it doesn't look like it) OR I overloaded the PSU. Maybe, but I don't think so.

Here is what is installed so far:

Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 Socket 939 Motherboard
AMD Venice 939 3000+
x2 / 512mb Corsair ValueSelect
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1300
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L080P0 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA133
Lite-On DVD-RW
Sony Floppy Drive

Powered by: Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply

In this set-up it poiwered on every time. Came on and off 3 or 4 times before Windows was installed as I did testing and set-up BIOS, but after installing this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813999108 I can't get a power on. Do I just need a bigger PSU because I'm dealing with PCI-E? Thanks in advance guys.


It's 4 memory card slots plugged into an internal USB header, an SATA port, and a USB port.

[jayb1234]

I would suspect that it's an overloaded power supply. That one only puts out 18A on a single 12V rail. It would be fine for an AGP setup, but I doubt that it will handle the other hardware you have.

[Staren]

Ya, that is what I figured. Just kind of hoped someone else would have another idea. Do you think this PSU would do the trick, or should I just go woth a good 500watts to be safe? I still have a second hard drive, PCI wireless card, and PCI-E x1 TV Tuner to add to the box.

XCLIO XClio-480BL ATX 480W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189004
Dual 12Vs at 18A and 15A.

[Mesaeus]

To me that doesn't sound like a configuration heavy enough to overpower an 18A 12V line. Have you tried booting with all hard drives/optical drives unplugged to make sure ? It could also be a short in the case, have you tried this procedure ?

For a comparison, I ran 3 hard disks, a floppy, 2 Gigs of memory, a 6800Gt pci-e card, 2 opticals and an Athlon64 3500+ S939 from a 350W power supply with 17A 12V rail. No problems at all.

You could try replacing the PSU but there's a chance that isn't the culprit. It might be better to try a few other things before spending money...

[Staren]

Thing being, I'm not sure what it could be shorting on. The system turned on and booted just fine with everything on the list in my first post, and the only diffrence between it working and not working is the installation of a card reader that has an all plastic housing. I even removed the screws holding the card reader thinking that it might be shorting on those. No dice.

The PSU itself works just fine on lower requrements, both without the card reader / other USB cables installed, and in another AGP system. I swapped it into my main desktop that's in my sig, and the system is working just fine. It replaced an old Orion that came with the case used for that computer, and it's just as well I got rid of that thing anyway.

UPDATE: I think I found the problem. Stupid mistake on my part. I must have lost a screw when I was installing the motherboard. It must have been under the motherboard not touching anything for a while, then shaken loose and rolled onto one of the stand-offs while I was fanagling the card reader into place.

[Mesaeus]

Good to see you found it and now you know why it's a good idea to try everything out of the case when you can't get it to start up