Having problems with a new build? Try this.

[HAL9000]

Well... I run

P4 2.0
512MB
AIW 8500DV with firewire
USB powered receiver for the above card
NIC
USB 2.0 card
SB Live
120GB 7200RPM hard drive
Floppy
CDRW
DVD
USB powered scanner
USB powered web cam
intake and exhast fan
2 fan bay cooler

All easily on a 350w power supply

Not enuf.... I have in the past year REMOVED

Adapted 2940U2W SCSI card
18GB 7200RPM SCSI drive
20GB 7200RPM SCSI drive

So even with that... everything ran fine.

300w will run your system fine... I suggested the 350w to give you that extra headroom.

[Sir]

double posted

[Sir]

well im also running an additional stick of RAM, also a 2.0 card, also a usb scanner/printer, also a usb web cam, 6 case fans, thermaltake's "hardcano", foppy, cdrw, dvd, sblive, radeon 9600xt, and i plan on getting an additional hdd...so wuld i still have ample room (also keep in mind that I am most likely going to overclock at 20%)
that is ofcourse assuming that the computer does eventually work

so if I could plz get reccomendations on a GREAT psu (350W if all i have listed still leaves ample room, if not, then 400 or 450)
ty

and the difference between digital and analog?
and can i put the other stuff back in my case?

[glc]

No, you should not put the other stuff back in your case until you get the thing running on the table with minimums - you do not know for sure that the problem is the power supply till you try a different one - ANY power supply - and I would not go out and buy one until yours is PROVEN bad.

[Cricket]

Originally posted by Sir well im scared here, u guys say it will easily handle it but how "easily" are you talking...how many Watts is my system really using up, and I do want to ofcourse leave room for upgrades. Also, when I overlcock, the system will overheat, I'm sure there will be effects there. And if all of these are issues are OK, then what PSU do u recommend

If I'm not mistaken, this is your first build, right? And you're basing your decision to go with a 450 watt power supply on what? Something you read or heard somewhere? Well, HAL9000 has built over 4000 computers (maybe over 5000 by now) and I think he knows what he's talking about when he says a 300 watt PSU will run your system fine, but you can go with 350 watts for more headroom for future expansion. From my own experiences (almost up to 60 computers), a good quality 300 watt power supply will run a nicely spec'd out computer fine.

Of course, it's your money and you can buy what you want, but you came here for suggestions and we've tried to give you some sound advice to save you a few bucks.

Really good 350 watt power supplies would come from Enermax, Fortron Source, HEC, PC Power & Cooling, Sparkle Power and Verax. I like Fortron Source / Sparkle Power because tests have shown they provide very clean power to the rails and they're actually able to provide more power than they're rated at...and they're very reasonably priced.

Cricket

[Sir]

ok, well yes it is my first build, and I guess all I had to base my decision on was Maximum PC's Gear of The Year
but thanks for the help, and I'll go find a good 350W from one of those companies listed

[Sir]

k, what do you guys think of this one:
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pro...dex_hp_atx.htm
the 350 or 425...I got a few extra bucks this weekend so I have the money for the 425 (so what are your opinions on the two)

and does this look good to you:
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pro...dex_tester.htm
It sure does to me, but I'm not sure if they're just trying to sell it to me

[glc]

PC Power and Cooling power supplies are probably one of the best power supplies on the planet. 350 watts is ample, 425 would give you even more room for expansion.

That looks like a simple go/no go tester, it's not going to test under any kind of meaningful load.

Have you tried a different power supply yet to make SURE that's the problem?

[Sir]

I can't tell with the 425 (which is what I'm going to order)...does it have active PFC?

and if not, how much of a disadvantage will this be?

[Cricket]

What is active PFC?

Did you get another power supply and try to start the system with it yet? If you don't have the new power supply yet, then there's not much we can do for you at this point.

Cricket

[Sir]

no, I havn't gotten one yet...
but here's my previous post quoted:
"k, what do you guys think of this one:
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pr...ndex_hp_atx.htm
the 350 or 425...I got a few extra bucks this weekend so I have the money for the 425 (so what are your opinions on the two)

and does this look good to you:
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/pr...ndex_tester.htm
It sure does to me, but I'm not sure if they're just trying to sell it to me"

[Cricket]

The 350 watt power supply will easily run most systems today. Since the PC Power & Cooling PSU's are so high quality, they provide really clean power to the system and I wouldn't be surprised if a 350 watt couldn't actually push out over 400 watts at peak usage. I wouldn't waste my hard earned money on a 425 watt PSU knowing I didn't need that much power.

That PSU tester is a nice thing to have, but how often do you think you'll use it? I put a couple of computers together a month and I don't own one of those. I've seen the Antec PSU testers at CompUSA, but never thought I needed one.

Cricket

[Sir]

the reason I would get it is because I don't have a working backup PSU...so now I could use this instead

[Russbo]

Hi all!

I posted this on another thread and I was hoping someone here might be able to help me. I'm at my wits end....



"Okay... I have finally gotten all of my parts for my computer and I hope Ihaven't messed it up to where I'll have to buy new parts. I'm sure these questions have been asked before but I can't find an accurate answer for the problems I've been having. Okay, first, here are my specs (as far as I can think...)

Abit NF7 MOBO
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton Core)
Gigabyte Technologies ATI Radeon 9200SE graphics card
512 MB PC2700 RAM
Pacific Digital 52X CDRW drive
40 GB Western Digital 2 MB Cache hard drive
Raidmax Scorpio 868 case (Yellow)
19" CRT monitor

Okay, I hooked it all up Friday night and as I assembled the CPU and heatsink together, I ended up putting too much thermal paste on the CPU and as it started up, part of the paste burned. I quickly turned it all off and cleaned off the CPU and heatsink. Room smelled to high heaven.

I got up the nerve to hook things back together Saturday night and after only putting a dab (half a grain of rice) on the core of the CPU, I reassembled the CPU and HSF and started it all up. All was well with no smell.

Last night, I started back into everything and managed, after much sweating and fretting, to get the CDRW to work - door opening and everything. On the MOBO, there were two lights - amber and green - that came on in the order and stayed on. I would turn on the computer and it would come on and stay on. I couldn't get the power button to shut off and I guess the reset switch didn't/doesn't work but both are connected correctly. I had to shut it off from the PSU switch - I know that's not a good idea. I assume the hard drive is working as I hear no bad noises nor good ones. It's quiet.

This morning, I jumped once again into the fray. This time, I'd start up the computer and it'd stay on for a minute or so, then, shut down. This went on for a while. Somehow, it seems like I've managed to get it on and stay on AND I can now turn it off from the power switch. As for the reset switch, I can't get it to do anything. Here come my problems...

The monitor has always had a screen that says "no signal input" and I see no BIOS or POST or CCMOS. I have the monitor plugged into the video card as there's nothing else to plug it into. My wife's old eMachines has the video port built in to her MOBO but mine doesn't. I've taken the card out and reseated it and still nothing. I tried an older 17" monitor but all I get is just a black screen. I have no OS to install yet - would that make a difference? Do I need the drivers for all of this junk in my case to make them all work?

Now, on to my lovely case. I got it b/c I thought it would work well with what parts I was adding. That sucker has so many plugs and I have no clue where the smaller white ones with the tiny holes in them go (gee, and to think someone like me with such a limited knowledge of computer terminology is trying to build his own computer).

And to make matters worse, I may have a piece that won't go back on... it's a small piece with the letters and numbers SS22... any idea? Please tell me I don't need this piece...

Okay, there's a start. Could someone get back with as soon as you can? Thank you."

Sincerely,
Russell

[Russbo]

And it's not the SS22.. it's the SS12...

[HAL9000]

First of all... did you say you're not getting any display.. did that happen since the burning smell.... it's almost sounds like you didn't have the heatsink on quite right and may have fried the CPU.

[Russbo]

The CPU isn't fired... I just over "goopified" the core with thermal paste. The burning smell is gone and the system powers up. Lights come on and fans whirr it acts like it's working but I'm not getting any display. The monitor is hooked up to the video card but I have it seated in nice and snug. About the paste - there was only a small burnt spot on the heatsink and no damage to the CPU core - it looked pristine. Helpful?

Russell

[Mackem]

Ok,
I've powered up the mobo out of the case with just the video card (ATI Radeon 9200SE), monitor and 2 sticks of DDR RAM and i still get the message CMOS/GPNV Checksum Bad error message.

Any ideas?

Mackem

PS I've tried 3 different sticks of DDR RAM now which I know are good

[Rof_lmao]

ity might be that u need an agp card if u are using pci, i think thats my problem... on a second note... for some odd reason i try to turn on my drives, but when they are plugged into the mobo(ide) they dont work, as soon as i unplug that ide from teh mobo it starts up like a bat outta hell... whats going on!

[HAL9000]

Originally posted by Russbo The CPU isn't fired... I just over "goopified" the core with thermal paste. The burning smell is gone and the system powers up. Lights come on and fans whirr it acts like it's working but I'm not getting any display. The monitor is hooked up to the video card but I have it seated in nice and snug. About the paste - there was only a small burnt spot on the heatsink and no damage to the CPU core - it looked pristine. Helpful? Russell

There shouldn't be any kinda burnt spot on the heatsink... if the CPU fried, yes, it will still power up and if circuits are already damaged, you won't get any burning smell as the damage would be done.

[HAL9000]

Guys... I'm going to suggest you use this thread as a guideline, but actually post your probs in General Hardware. A lot of regulars don't cruise thru here.

[Sir]

ok, and when the pc power & cooling ATX PSU tester gets here, i'll tell you guys what the results are

hopefully it was the PSU that I rma'd so then i can just get a new one

[pipefighter]

Hal9000
Reply from pipefighter on beep codes. I tried to start the system out of the box nothing happened. all I get is the green light on the mother board. Does this indicate the power supply is doing its job?

Thank-you for the suggestion!! I was excited for a moment.

[Zachman]

Originally posted by Rof_lmao ity might be that u need an agp card if u are using pci, i think thats my problem... on a second note... for some odd reason i try to turn on my drives, but when they are plugged into the mobo(ide) they dont work, as soon as i unplug that ide from teh mobo it starts up like a bat outta hell... whats going on!

Them exact same thing happens to me!!!! I think It may be the power supply. Anyone have suggestions?

[smnsam]

I tried as u told but no video coming, so do u think my motherboard is bad or memory?

[glc]

Originally posted by HAL9000 Guys... I'm going to suggest you use this thread as a guideline, but actually post your probs in General Hardware. A lot of regulars don't cruise thru here.

Concur, and I'm going to lock this thread for now.