Antec Power Supplies Failing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim Garrison
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Jim Garrison

I have had THREE (3) Antec power supplies fail in the last 9 months.

The first failure was August 2006, and was a PS that came with an
Antec Sonata case originally purchased in 2005 (I believe it was
a 400W PS). I replaced it with an Antec SP-450.

In November 06 I bought a second case, an Antec Sonata-II for a new
system. This system came with an SP-450, and the power supply
failed in February 07. I couldn't find the receipt so Antec
wouldn't replace it under warranty. I replaced it with a different
brand PS.

Then last week the replacement SP-450 that I purchased in August 06
started failing randomly. It would power up but within 5-10 minutes
the system would stop responding and lose monitor signal (but not
hard disk power). Replacing the PS with a Thermaltake 430W cured
that problem.

I do have the receipt for the replacement SP-450 I bought in August
06 so I'm going to try to get Antec to replace it. We'll see what
happens.

I've had one or more PCs since 1987, and in the 19 years prior to
August 2006 have seen exactly ONE power supply go bad (it was a
spectacular *BANG* and puff of smoke :-) Three bad Antec power
supplies seem to indicate a trend.

Anybody else having problems with Antec?
 
You don't want hearsay. You want a solution. That starts with
numbers and doing no changes. Remember a power supply 'system' is
more than a power supply. In but two minutes is information - numbers
- to define defective or exonerated components. Do a procedure posted
in "When your computer dies without warning....." starting 6 Feb 2007
in the newsgroup alt.windows-xp at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh
Then post numbers to elicit useful replies.
 
I have had THREE (3) Antec power supplies fail in the last 9 months.

The first failure was August 2006, and was a PS that came with an
Antec Sonata case originally purchased in 2005 (I believe it was
a 400W PS). I replaced it with an Antec SP-450.

In November 06 I bought a second case, an Antec Sonata-II for a new
system. This system came with an SP-450, and the power supply
failed in February 07. I couldn't find the receipt so Antec
wouldn't replace it under warranty. I replaced it with a different
brand PS.

Then last week the replacement SP-450 that I purchased in August 06
started failing randomly. It would power up but within 5-10 minutes
the system would stop responding and lose monitor signal (but not
hard disk power). Replacing the PS with a Thermaltake 430W cured
that problem.

I do have the receipt for the replacement SP-450 I bought in August
06 so I'm going to try to get Antec to replace it. We'll see what
happens.

I've had one or more PCs since 1987, and in the 19 years prior to
August 2006 have seen exactly ONE power supply go bad (it was a
spectacular *BANG* and puff of smoke :-) Three bad Antec power
supplies seem to indicate a trend.

Anybody else having problems with Antec?
Click to expand...

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/ I have been buying these since 1998 and
have not had one fail yet. Not cheap.
 
douh said:
Ever think of getting a supply with more watts ?

400watt supplies don't cut it anymore.

Try a minimum of 550 and see if your problem goes away.
Click to expand...


Doesn't that rather depend on what's in the box?

SteveH
 
Jim said:
I have had THREE (3) Antec power supplies fail in the last 9 months.
Click to expand...
Anybody else having problems with Antec?
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that, I was beginning to thing it was just me!

I've had 3 go bad in about the same time period. Two I had Antec replace,
the other one got replaced with a different brand. None of these were
powering systems that would have even come close to stressing the PSU and
all had surge protection.

SteveH
 
I have had THREE (3) Antec power supplies fail in the last 9 months.

The first failure was August 2006, and was a PS that came with an
Antec Sonata case originally purchased in 2005 (I believe it was
a 400W PS). I replaced it with an Antec SP-450.

In November 06 I bought a second case, an Antec Sonata-II for a new
system. This system came with an SP-450, and the power supply
failed in February 07. I couldn't find the receipt so Antec
wouldn't replace it under warranty. I replaced it with a different
brand PS.

Then last week the replacement SP-450 that I purchased in August 06
started failing randomly. It would power up but within 5-10 minutes
the system would stop responding and lose monitor signal (but not
hard disk power). Replacing the PS with a Thermaltake 430W cured
that problem.

I do have the receipt for the replacement SP-450 I bought in August
06 so I'm going to try to get Antec to replace it. We'll see what
happens.

I've had one or more PCs since 1987, and in the 19 years prior to
August 2006 have seen exactly ONE power supply go bad (it was a
spectacular *BANG* and puff of smoke :-) Three bad Antec power
supplies seem to indicate a trend.

Anybody else having problems with Antec?
Click to expand...


Ever think of getting a supply with more watts ?

400watt supplies don't cut it anymore.

Try a minimum of 550 and see if your problem goes away.
 
SteveH said:
Funny you should say that, I was beginning to thing it was just me!

I've had 3 go bad in about the same time period. Two I had Antec replace,
the other one got replaced with a different brand. None of these were
powering systems that would have even come close to stressing the PSU and
all had surge protection.

SteveH
Click to expand...

Antec doesn't make its own supplies. They are contracted. My early Antec
supplies are from HEC, the later ones from Channelwell (may see CWT stamped
on the transformer). I don't know who is making them at the current time.

So far, none of my Antecs have had problems. The NEO-HE models have had
their problems, which you can find mention of in some of the private
forums. But those aren't outright component failures as such, just
badly behaved supplies.

Due to the practice of contracting out, almost any company can have bad
products. The really outrageously bad stuff, can be detected by looking
for DOA reports on Newegg, but the difference between moderately good
and really good, is going to be harder to detect.

Paul
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.misc Jim Garrison said:
I have had THREE (3) Antec power supplies fail in the last 9 months.
[...]

Anybody else having problems with Antec?
Click to expand...

Yes, me. I had one that self-destructed by burning a component.
When looking into the PSU, it gave a very bad impression.
Components glued on, chaotic layout, very little space left,...

Since then, I am convinced that Antec is one of these companies
that sell consumer-level trash and at the same time try to
project an image of professional equipment via marketing.

If you are not too concerned about noise levels, go Enermax.
Very well designed and built PSUs.

Arno
 
Antec would like to apologize for any trouble or inconvenience caused b
the recent increase in problems with our SmartPower 2.0 power supplies
The problems were primarily caused by the transition at one factory t
RoHS manufacturing and compliant components and one component i
particular, a capacitor on the +5V standby line. There were tw
primary failure modes due to this: the first being lower than norma
output voltages on the +5V SB line, making a good power supply appea
to be DOA due to boot failure; or the second being a failure of th
same capacitor after some time in service, resulting in power suppl
failure.

These failures under no circumstance represent any danger to anyone o
to properly connected components as the power supply is designed t
shut down completely with this sort of failure.

Antec has taken the most stringent possible actions to remove an
suspect power supplies from our supply chain. We have corrected th
problem at the factory and instituted the highest possible level o
testing and quality control. We have recalled stock from ou
distribution partners of all production that could possibly be affecte
and subjected it to 100% testing. And we have subjected all of ou
existing and incoming stock to rigorous batch testing. Any productio
code which had even a single failure during batch testing was submitte
to 100% testing in order to remove all possible suspect stock.

Please be assured that this problem is behind us, and no other Ante
products were affected by this problem. All of our other powe
supplies lines—EarthWatts, Basiq and TruePower Trio—are made i
different facilities and were not exposed to this problem, so you ca
continue to buy and use your favorite Antec cases and power supplie
with complete confidence.

If you have any problems with previously purchased products, remembe
you have a three year warranty on all SmartPower 2.0 products. You ca
contact Antec Customer Support at (e-mail address removed) or a
(e-mail address removed) and you will be provided with immediat
hassle-free service to resolve your problems.

We appreciate your support and faith in Antec and our products. Again
we apologize for any disappointment we may have caused
 
Anybody else having problems with Antec?
Click to expand...

I've heard anecdotes about some of the power supplies that come with
their cases going bad prematurely. I don't remember where I read those
stories, but if you're looking for evidence, that might be something
you can search for.
 
Antec doesn't make its own supplies. They are contracted. My early Antec
supplies are from HEC, the later ones from Channelwell (may see CWT stamped
on the transformer). I don't know who is making them at the current time.

So far, none of my Antecs have had problems. The NEO-HE models have had
their problems, which you can find mention of in some of the private
forums. But those aren't outright component failures as such, just
badly behaved supplies.
Click to expand...

I recently bought Antec P150 case that has 430W Neo-HE. I like
the case, like that everything is extremely silent and the system is
rock stable thus far, in regular use and in CPU burn tests.

One thing I find weird and it bothers me though:
According Motherboard Monitor (I don't have multimeter), most
voltages are lower than it should be:

CPU core 1.6V = 1.58
+3.3 V = 3.22
+ 5 V = 4.81
-5 V = 5.11
+12 V = 11.07
-12 V = 0.56 (???)

Should I expect serious problems down the road if these numbers
are real? What is the likelihood that the numbers that MBM reports
are not the real numbers?

DK
 
DK said:
I recently bought Antec P150 case that has 430W Neo-HE. I like
the case, like that everything is extremely silent
Click to expand...

What's the difference between silent and extremely silent? ;)
One thing I find weird and it bothers me though:
According Motherboard Monitor (I don't have multimeter), most
voltages are lower than it should be:

CPU core 1.6V = 1.58
+3.3 V = 3.22
+ 5 V = 4.81
-5 V = 5.11
+12 V = 11.07
-12 V = 0.56 (???)

Should I expect serious problems down the road if these numbers
are real? What is the likelihood that the numbers that MBM reports
are not the real numbers?
Click to expand...

You're probably fine because mobo voltage monitoring hardware is often
wrong (2% inaccuracy is typical, but I've seen 6%, and sometimes
values are just outright nonsense). But the only way to know for sure
is by taking measurements with a digital voltage meter. You can
sometimes find 3.5-digit (2,000 count or higher) meters for $5 or
less, but I'd avoid 2.5-digit (200 count) meters because with some
readings they're precise to only 5%. The power supply forums at
www.hardocp.com and www.overclockers.com have detailed instructions.
 
AntecRep said:
Antec would like to apologize for any trouble or inconvenience caused by
the recent increase in problems with our SmartPower 2.0 power supplies.
The problems were primarily caused by the transition at one factory to
RoHS manufacturing and compliant components and one component in
particular, a capacitor on the +5V standby line. There were two
primary failure modes due to this: the first being lower than normal
output voltages on the +5V SB line, making a good power supply appear
to be DOA due to boot failure; or the second being a failure of the
same capacitor after some time in service, resulting in power supply
failure.
Click to expand...

Why is Antec still using those failure-prone Fuhjyyu capacitors in its
SmartPower and TruePower models? They're so bad that I've replaced
them with Japanese brand caps, even though doing so voids the
warranty, because I assume that any warranty replacement will also
contain Fuhjyyu caps.
 
What's the difference between silent and extremely silent? ;)
Click to expand...

The latter is closer to reality :-)
You're probably fine because mobo voltage monitoring hardware is often
wrong (2% inaccuracy is typical, but I've seen 6%, and sometimes
values are just outright nonsense). But the only way to know for sure
is by taking measurements with a digital voltage meter. You can
sometimes find 3.5-digit (2,000 count or higher) meters for $5 or
less, but I'd avoid 2.5-digit (200 count) meters because with some
readings they're precise to only 5%. The power supply forums at
www.hardocp.com and www.overclockers.com have detailed instructions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the links! I guess I'll buy the good meter if only for a
peace of mind.

DK
 
First, if motherboard monitor was not calibrated, then those numbers
are suspect. Monitor is for detecting changes. Its numbers are not
valid until you have calibrated them.

Second, one important voltage number is not provided.

Third, if those are your numbers, then you have power problems.
Review previous post that listed in the newsgroup alt.windows-xp
at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh
 
In alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt "larry moe 'n curly"
What's the difference between silent and extremely silent? ;)
Click to expand...

Same as the difference between unique and very unique.

The second case isn't.
 
DK said:
I recently bought Antec P150 case that has 430W Neo-HE. I like
the case, like that everything is extremely silent and the system is
rock stable thus far, in regular use and in CPU burn tests.

One thing I find weird and it bothers me though:
According Motherboard Monitor (I don't have multimeter), most
voltages are lower than it should be:

CPU core 1.6V = 1.58
+3.3 V = 3.22
+ 5 V = 4.81
-5 V = 5.11
+12 V = 11.07
-12 V = 0.56 (???)

Should I expect serious problems down the road if these numbers
are real? What is the likelihood that the numbers that MBM reports
are not the real numbers?

DK
Click to expand...

It means Motherboard Monitor could be using the wrong conversion
factor.

If you are concerned, a multimeter can be used to verify the
voltages. When the main connector is connected to the motherboard,
you can contact the metal pin inside the nylon shell of the
connector, with your meter tip. Picking up a ground connection,
by clipping onto a screw on an I/O connector, allows you to handle
the other lead of the multimeter, without dropping it.

When I've tested my power supplies here, I find my multimeter lists
a much more believable voltage, than the hardware monitor does.

On my motherboard, the only obvious user of -12V is the serial port.
(My motherboard doesn't use one of those voltage pumped RS232 chips.)
It is also possible that some of the linear regulator circuits using
operational amplifiers are powered from -12V as well. Other than that,
there really isn't a lot of reason for a motherboard to touch
the -12V.

Paul
 
larry said:
Why is Antec still using those failure-prone Fuhjyyu capacitors in its
SmartPower and TruePower models? They're so bad that I've replaced
them with Japanese brand caps, even though doing so voids the
warranty, because I assume that any warranty replacement will also
contain Fuhjyyu caps.
Click to expand...

LOL. There is no escaping the AntecRep :-) What a small world.

Paul
 
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