Do I need a new Power Supply?

Hi,

I've just built a PC with the following specs:

Asus A8N5X mobo
AMD64 3700+
2 sticks 1GB PC3200 Ram
XMDIA GeForce 6500 PCI-e video card
2 SATA 250GB HD
1 16X DVD-ROM
1 16X DVD+-RW
Ultra 500W PS

I put it together, powered it up, installed Ubuntu 64bit, then shutdown.

When I restarted it, I got 1 long beep followed by two short beeps (continuous - no video). If I shut the power switch off on the power supply tne back on, then reboot sometimes I power up with no problem until I shut down again and the problem returns. Also, I re-seated the video card and that also allowed me to reboot until I shutdown again. Once I'm up, any soft boot will reboot fine. Only the cold boots produce this problem.

My guess is the Power supply, but I'd like to hear the experts' opinions. Maybe it's the BIOS? I believe this board has Phoenix/Award BIOS. I saw somewhere that this board had some issues with some PCI-e cards. But since it boots at times, I thought maybe that's not the problem (I didn't install a floppy). If it is the PS, would getting an Antec True Power 500 do the trick or would I have to go higher than 500?

Thanks.

 

Look here for some insight. Your PSU should be fine as far as loads are concerned. http://bioscentral.com/beepcodes/awardbeep.htm

 

Your psu should be fine Ultra make good psu's is it also new?

This sounds nothing like a psu problem to me,theres en error during post which points toward the video card and\or detection problem

Try entering the bios and try fail safe settings,then try optimised settings

 

Got some news to report. Good news for me, I guess, hope it helps someone else, and I hope it continues to be good for me.

Well, on Saturday evening I did the following:

1. I unplugged ever component except the processor, but I unplugged the processor fan.
2. I disconnected my DVD drives, hard drives, all PCI cards, PCI-e card, memory, etc.
3. I unplugged every cable, wire from the mobo.
4. I unscrewed the mobo and took it out of the case.
5. Then I proceeded to re-assemble the computer, putting everything back together in one shot not in stages (normally I would just test the processor, memory, and video card to make sure everything is OK - but this time I said, what the heck).


I started up the computer and of course, everything booted fine. I worked for a few hours, as usual, no problem. After working, I powered down and expected the usual. When I powered up, it booted fine. OK, lucky, I guess, I did it a few more times and all was well. Still not being a believer, I let it sit all night, powered it up in the morning and to my surprise - booted with no problem. Worked for a while, powered down returned after about 9 hours, powered back up - no problem! Shut down once again, returned after another 2 hours booted up, no problem!

Now, most would probably think that I did something wrong the first time, but I did the same as originally. I still haven't uncrossed my fingers when booting, though. I don't fully believe that the problem is resolved, but I can't reproduce it anymore. If it happens again, I'll repost. But for now, I am not having the problem anymore.

I hope this will in some way helps someone. Hopefully, your issue will be resolved also.

 

I'll bet your issue was simply some device needing to be reseated. Your Asus docs should tell you what the beep codes meant and my wild-ass-guess is that the code corresponds to the device which wasn't seated fully. Glad you're having a happy ending!

 

Well, after 2 1/2 days of success, the problem resurfaced. Monday evening, I attempted to boot and once again, 1 long followed by 2 short. Completely removing power from the board, then booting again solved the problem.

I think it's safe to say that this isn't a problem with components not being seated properly, but has something to do with power on the board.

I'm hoping that there is an answer somewhere.