Not enough power?

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Man-wai Chang

Ever since I installed a Sapphire Radeon 6850 into my PC, I needed to
push the power button of the PC twice before the monitor detected video
input from the 6850's DVI port. If I then DID NOT unplug the power,
video input could be detected by pressing the power button once.

Motherboard: Asus M3N78PRO
Power supply: Antec TruePower New 650W

Comments?

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Man-wai Chang said:
Ever since I installed a Sapphire Radeon 6850 into my PC, I needed to
push the power button of the PC twice before the monitor detected video
input from the 6850's DVI port. If I then DID NOT unplug the power,
video input could be detected by pressing the power button once.

Motherboard: Asus M3N78PRO
Power supply: Antec TruePower New 650W

Comments?
Click to expand...

One thing to remember, in terms of power consumption, is modern video cards
have fairly low idle power requirements. If you were going to have a power
drain problem, it's more likely to show up during a 3D game.

The card draws 33.5 watts at idle. And 90.9 watts playing Crysis.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/radeon-hd6870-hd6850/6850_plines.png

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd6870-hd6850_9.html

It's possible the timing of some power rail changes, between a "cold" start
and a "warm" start. You could use another ATX supply, even one with less than 650W
power, for a test. It would be pretty difficult to trace down an issue with
lab instruments (because there isn't much diagnostic information to go on).

The output of the video card likely isn't enabled, until the processor
has queried the video card about supported VESA modes, and set one up.

Paul
 
It's possible the timing of some power rail changes, between a "cold" start
and a "warm" start. You could use another ATX supply, even one with less
than 650W
power, for a test. It would be pretty difficult to trace down an issue with
lab instruments (because there isn't much diagnostic information to go on).
Click to expand...

Today, I could do it with one press on the button. It's switching from
spring to summer here in Hong Kong.

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
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Man-wai Chang said:
Today, I could do it with one press on the button. It's switching from
spring to summer here in Hong Kong.
Click to expand...

It's hard to say what is doing that, because you can't get status
information from anything. About all you can do, is swap hardware.
And the first piece I'd swap, is the power supply.

I can think of something else you could try - a PCI "POST Card".
But the codes from that are pretty meaningless, so there is a poor
chance of getting extra diagnostic info from one. Ideally, this
is the kind of thing you'd want to borrow from someone, rather
than own it. I don't have one of these. Some motherboards have
the two hex digit display, soldered right to the motherboard.
These vary in price from about $10 to $100 depending on where
you buy them.

(One of those things with the two "hex" display digits...)

http://ca.startech.com/media/products/pcipost/Large/PCIPOST.Clarge.jpg

Paul
 
than own it. I don't have one of these. Some motherboards have
the two hex digit display, soldered right to the motherboard.
These vary in price from about $10 to $100 depending on where
you buy them.
http://ca.startech.com/media/products/pcipost/Large/PCIPOST.Clarge.jpg
Click to expand...

That's a debug card. Not that useful in general, in my opinion.

I just came back from shopping. Plugged the AC cable to the PC, one
press on the power button, da da, video input detected on first try.

Really strange.... let's hope it has nothing to do with paranormalies

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
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Had a Dell GX270 that took 45 minutes to get standby up from a dead
start. Indicators were flashing in the meantime. Supply was good until
the mains were disconnected. Finally died.
Click to expand...

The Antec TPN 650 was just about a year old.

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and farces be with you!
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