Power Supply problem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brendan J Cuffe
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Brendan J Cuffe

I have a four year old PC (Athlon 1500 processor) running windows XP Home.
Since buying this PCI have added a PCI card with four more USB ports and a
second hard drive. Up to this point no problem.

Many months later, I threw out my old 64 mb MX400 graphics card and replaced
it with a 256 mb 6600 GT card that required its own power supply.

Now I cannot say with 100% certainty that my problem started as soon as I
installed the new graphics card, but now, when I switch on the PC it refuses
to recognize the second hard drive, but does start normally (though it takes
a long time) and I can log on. However as this stage the "hard drive" light
remains permanently illuminated. I give it 30 minutes or so like this, then
shut the computer down and immediately restart it and lo and behold it
starts normally and detects the second hard drive and the "hard drive" light
does not remain illuminated.

The oddities about this are I must shut the PC down and not just restart it
after 30 minutes. If I just do a restart the second hard drive is not
detected. If I do shut the PC down as soon as it has finished starting up
for the first time, it still refuses to recognise the second hard drive i.e.
it has to left like this for several minutes. This is why I wait the
arbitrary 30 minutes. The second hard drive also disappears from the BIOS
settings and if I try autodetect in the BIOS it does not find the second
hard drive. However one I have let it run for 30 minutes and restart it
autodetection of hard drives works.

Could this because I have a power supply that is under strain or does it
indicate that something else is amiss?

Any help would be appreciated.

Brendan
 
Ooops, sorry, the link provided has evidently expired.. JS seems not to have
updated their PSU calculator for some time now, apparently pulling it off
their web site completely..
j;-/
 
I have changed the CMOS battery, it didn't make any difference. As to the
PSU size, I shall have to look, but being the generation of computer that it
is, I suspect in the 300 - 350 watt range.

Brendan
 
Ok, any errors in the event veiwer..? Type Eventvwr.msc in the run box..
Did you check the drive with an OEM's diagnostic tool to see if the drive
may be the culprit..?
Also, check and make sure the power connector to the video card is not on a
double trunk feed, with the other molex connector attached to the problem HD..
I use my PSU's double trunk feed for lights and fans only..
Who makes (OEM) your PC, PSU..?
j;-j
 
Hi,

Nothing in event viewer of any consequence and I have checked that the video
card and problem hard drive are not on the same power feed. My PC is a
Novatech - www.novatech.co.uk - and the power supply is by Power Max. It
sates that its max output is 300 W(+3.3V and +5V = 150W max)

My power supplies from the PSU are in use as follows: -

1 to the graphics card
1 to the "problem" second hard drive. This is a double feed and the second
feed is not connected to anything
1 to main hard drive with OS on it and feed to floppy drive
1 with a double feed powering my DVD ROM and CDRW
Then I think it is a small three wire feed to sound card, but it could be
something else.

My main hard drive is a Maxtor 4D060H3 and I suspect that rather unusually
my second hard drive (80 GB) just shows up as a "disk drive" in Device
Manager. In Disk Management it says they are both healthy.

My motherboard is a Standard PC Chips M830L\LR.

I am going to try the error checking on both hard drives now and see what
that finds.

Brendan
 
Well, I think you should at least upgrade the PSU to a 400-450 watt with the
addition of the new video card and HD.. Especially if that 300 watt PSU is 4
years old.. I would also update the mobo to a name brand like Asus, Intel,
etc and a new AMD or P4 CPU as well, then adding a 550 watt PSU should
suffice quite nicely..
Use the site DL suggested to check your wattage consumption, I think you'll
agree it wouldn't hurt to upgrade the PSU..
You have set the jumpers on the second HD properly haven't you..?
j;-j
 
Hi "Jaymon"

Error checking produced no errors worth talking about. I then found out my
second hard drive is a western digital and I found a diagnostic utility on
their website that checked both hard drives and said they were fine.

I am sure the jumpers on the second hard drive are fine as this has operated
normally for months previously. I have also tried a power calculator that
suggests I need more than 300W of power so I think I'll buy another power
supply and stick it in. As for upgrading the motherboard etc, I think I
shall hold off for a while and when Windows Vista comes out I might just
treat myself to a new pc.

Many thanks for your assistance and I will post back after I get and fit a
new power supply in the next few days, to let you know what happened.

Brendan
 
New power supply has not improved things. That only leaves the second hard
disk itself.

Brendan
 
I bought and fitted a new Maxtor hard drive. My experience is a thumbs down
for Western Digital and the failed hard drive, as it had been given a very
gentle life and was only just over two years old.

Brendan
 
Hard drives fail. That's a fact of life. I have seen many failed hard
drives. Maxtor and Western Digital are about equal in terms of reliability.
A gentle life doesn't have much to do with the failure rate.
 
Well Brandon, I have had a number of WD hard drives that have served me well
over many years, without error.. I suspect your WD HD was the odd man out, so
to speak, as relates to not having pure uninterrupted power.. It seems the WD
was underpowered and suffered the consequences, perhaps due to the addition
of the power robing video card, or an older weakening PSU.. Remember,
under-powering a device or mobo can have undesirable affects and or cause
damage.. Matching the appropriate PSU to the amount of system devices, cards,
etc, that you have or plan to have in the future, should always be an
important pre consideration..
I am glad to hear you have solved your issue..
j;-j
 
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