Bootup problems / power issue?

Hi,

I recently had a system put together by a mate and for the first month there were no problems, sweet looking graphics, and smooth, so all was well! A few days ago i got a messsage, while i was in windows, that said the 6600gt wasn't receiving enough power and would only work at a reduced capacity, the message continued to repeat itself every second til i turned my pc off. It was fine after this, until the next day when it crashed and now won't boot at all.

System Spec:
Asus A7N8X-E deluxe ... nforce2 chipset
Amd Athlon 3200+
2x512mb Elixir ram
Maxtor 250gb hd
GeForce 6600GT 128MB AGP (1120mhz/silentpipe)
Win XP SP2
400 watt PSU (brand: Channel Technology)

When i turn the power on, the power supply lights are on, the cd/dvd drives are working, the fans are all going and power doesn't appear to be a problem, but still nothing happens. There aren't any warning messages or anything i can work on, and I can't even get to the POST tests.

I've tried removing all other non-essential components to try and get the computer working at some rate, but nothing, everything points to a graphics card issue but as i don't have another system to try this card out on, i'm stumped at the mo. I still suspect there's a power problem, as i tried a different monitor out and there wasn't any picture on that one using my system.

Was hoping someone might've heard of this problem occurring and have a simple solution for me! Thanks for your time...

 

Hi Stew
Certainly seems that your issues are related to the graphic card, i personally would try removing the card and powering the system up
as its not posting, if its the card you should get the warning beeps for your board (possibly 3, check your manual) stating no card is installed
then we can take it from there, the card may be damaged or more likely the power supply has had it, in which case i would suggest buying a larger unit from a major brand
see how that goesand post back

 

Hey General,

Thanks for your help bud, i did as you suggested and tried removing the card and powering up - i'm assuming the POST beeps are supposed to be quite clear/distinct? I couldn't hear anything classified as a beep, the usual fans going round but no beeps!

So like you say, that suggests that power may be an issue. That was the first sign of trouble last Thursday, the nvidia warning message flashing in my face a million times saying there wasn't enough power to the graphics card... yet the motherboard and other drives appear to be powering up, just not th grpahics card. Are there any decent brands you recommend on the PSU front? and which wattage would you suggest?

Thank you again!

 

Is that an Athlon XP/Sempron or a 64?
If it's an athlon 64 with a 6600GT then maybe your psu could be the issue, perhaps try a 500W??? Just a thought but General practically said it all...

 

this is the description from Scan.co.uk

"AMD *OEM* Athlon XP 3200+ *400 FSB* Barton (2.20GHz)"

i'm less than convined about the PSUs quality/integrity at this point but if i can be a bit more sure of the problem i'll be able to fix it easier - hopefully. Can hopefully nab some equipment at work to help test a new PSU out, and try the graphics card on another pc.

 

I look forward to the results...

 

If its a power issue,it could be you have too much plugged into a single line on the psu.Ideally you want to have the 6600 on its own seperate rail with no fans,cdroms ect plugged in with it.The video card its much more sensitive when it comes to clean strong power,just like the cpu,thats why the cpu has its own 12v atx power.

I havn't heard of channel psu's so I doubt its any good,if you have any documentation lying round,or check on the side of the psu how many amps it has on the 12v rails.

 

On +12v it says 18amps, is that enough do you reckon? I'm not sure.

I'v tried a couple of combinations of the power cables without success. It doesn't feel like there are enough connectors... i'll try and explain... there are only two mainlines that i can use that come from the PSU (aside from the mobo one), one of these has two normal molex (sp?) connectors and a floppy drive, and the other line has three molex + one floppy drive connector. It's tricky trying to get the graphics card on its own, and then load two dvd drives a hard drive, a floppy drive and some fans onto the other line.

The other thing is, i've tried it with the graphics card on its own and only loaded up the hard drive, floppy drive and the fans, and it still didn't work.

 

18 amps isn't enough,if that is the max,does it say how long it can sustain 18amps or does it say sustained?

 

It doesn't say whether its sustained or otherwise, also i can't even find the psu on the manufacturers website lol. Channel Well Technology, ATX-400... Maybe the psu is a bit knackered, though it's pretty new, there might also be a problem with something on the 6600 that is restricting power to it, this problem came from nowhere after a month of solid use so something must've happened. Need to test the graphics card out on another system really.

 

Are there any more model numbers anywhere so I can do a little research,I'm bored.LOL What watt is it?

 

it's 400 watt, but the Channel Well website isn't any good it seems

theres not a lot of useful info on the box really, not from what i can see. a big "PFC" sticker, ATX 2.03, and table with a few figures on it for +12/ +5v etc, apart from a serial number, there's not much else to go on. your enthusiasm has been noted, cheers


"CWT-400ATX" is the model

 

I just checked every 400w psu they have,I cant find any with 18a,BTW does it have 2 18a 12v rails

 

Seems channel well are pretty good psu's,antec sell them under thier name!

 

i don't know to be honest, erm, what's a rail!? +12v / +5v / +3.3v / -5v / -12v

that's all it has really, it doesn't look top notch but i wasn't bothered by that all that much when i first saw the whole spec. It came with this case:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=34629

 

please note my box doesnt have the girly colour like the one on scan!

so do you still think the psu is a problem?

 

I think its either psu or dead vid card,if it only has 18a max on a single rail,thats just not enough for your chip and card.The psu's they bundle with cases usually arn't that good,most people throw them out,even with expensive cases and you only paid 34 quid for it,I wouldn't buy a psu on its own for less than 50.

A rail is a single secondary coil in the psu,two rails two coils more juice.A simple way to seperate them is to find the 2 wires that come out of the psu that lead to the two bunches of molex plugs,but sometimes they are joined inside the box.A few things to try,try plugging the 6600 into the line coming out of the psu with the most molex plugs on,use the first molex closest to the psu,if it will reach and plug your hd into the other line,you dont need any cdroms,floppy or case fans yet and see what happens.If nothing happens.Reset the cmos jumper on the mobo or remove the battery,for 20 secs,then try,your manual will show you where it is on the mobo,it should say cmos in small writing next to it.

BTW dont lie,you bought because of that pink strip,I bet it matches the wallpaper.LOL

 

Cheers for the info bud. I tried reseting the bios and that hasn't done much, also tried the power cable combo you suggested below without much luck... hopefully someone at work has a spare power supply hanging around i can use, or a system i can try my graphics card out on.

What might cause the graphics card to be dead? It's pretty new and hopefully whatever happens i don't have to shell out for a new one!

 

Could be anything,could just be a faulty card,try reseating it,i.e unplug it and plug it back in,its the lack of beep codes that I dont understand.when I dont hook up the power to my 6800gt there a huge continuous beep from the mobo,its frighteningly loud,few more things does the fan spin on the card,is the monitor connection good,do you have an old card lying around you can try,maybe from the comp your on now,or can you test the card on this comp?

Edit-just read you dont have a system to try it in,but do you have a spare card lying round?

 

The card doesn't have a fan on it, its got massive heatsink thing on it...

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=178511

i can feel the heatsink getting warm even if its on for a minute or two.

Apart from that, i'm a bit buggered til i get to work, the pc i'm on now is a fairly old, i have a really old ATI Rage Pro card i could try out but the guy who built my machine thought this might not be a good idea. I work at a marine electronics company and there's plenty of stuff lying around that i'm sure i could make the most of.

i fecking hate problems like this, it's why i got a new pc in the first place lol

 

it may have overheated,if that case doesn't have alot of airflow,because it doesn't have its own fan.

 

Hmm, whatever it is, it's a pain in the arse. I'm gonna take a break from it for now anyway, will take the graphics card into work and try and get some luck from it.

The thing i'm not sure about, its been working absolutely fine for a month, then the power warning message came up... now its fudged! Where do you reckon i stand on a warranty/replacement if the chip has overheated?

 

Did a little math your athlon 3200 uses 77 watts,the6600gt uses 65 watts,devide that by the voltage on the 12v line to give the amount of amps you need 142/12=about 12 amps needed on the 12v,thats before harddives cdroms,mobo,fans,memory ect.Given that the 18a on the 12v is probably the max output over 10 secs before it pops,the psu probably has about 12a sustainable on the 12v line,so I think you have popped the psu.

if its over 30 days you may have to get an rma number,to return it to the manufacturer,you will easily be able to get a new vid card if it has gone and a new psu.

Scan customer support is brilliant,its where I get all my stuff from.I havn't had an rma from scan yet,I have only dealt with then within the 30 day window,but I wouldn't be suprised if they exchanged it for you,they are such a big company,its not worth them losing your business.

 

hey Rikky,

Cheers for doing some work for me, is appreciated. I'm at work at the mo, and the only newish machines they have are being used, i.e. i can't test the 6600 up here - am gonna have to wait til i can get to my mates house, either that or just send it back to Scan.

A technical type fella where i work said the power supply is unlikely to be the problem, and that only devices with motors such as dvd drives or hard drives would be using the 12v rail, and also that most other components generally use the 5v and 3.3v.

 

no problem I enjoyed it,filled part of a boring sunday afternoon ,your friend is probably right,usually if the psu goes it just stops working,but I really think you should get a good psu,I dont think the one you have is up to it,the 6600 not getting enough power to it warning might actually be true.That could have been the cause of it popping if it has popped.

Anyway keep me posted on how your testing goes!And when you get stressed out look at this dancing banana!LOL

 

This link below to another forum helped, sorry if that is forum sacrilege or something! And it seems like a mixture of what the guy at work said and what you said...

i.e.

--the 12v rail i have on my psu isn't enough,

--generally stuff needing a motor uses that 12v rail

--the total wattage isn't as crucial as how the wattage is distributed between the rails.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=136602

I also went to a nforce forum place and previous threads suggest 24a is what i'm looking for on that rail.

Can i clear something up as well, when i looked at psu details on Scan some of the them describe the rails as 12a and 12b - wanted to confirm this indicates dual rail... so 12v(a) - 16a and 12v(b) - 12a would be ideal for me??

also, cool dancin nana, have seen some crazy dancin nana's around these days!

 

Any info is good info,I browse loads of forums,Watts dont mean diddly,any psu will have enough juice on the 3v and 5v,its the 12v you need power on,24 amps is the minimum really,since they usually dont tell you what the continous amperage is,the psu might only be able to stand 24a for a split second then explode.Post a link on the one you are looking at,there might be some reviews of it,I like the enermax noisetakers and was my second choice after Tagan but there wee non in stock,its only 370 watt,but it has a seperate 12v rail called extra for the video card,with a braided steel EM cover

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=143946

At the moment I have the coolermaster realpower 450 from scan,its deceiving because coolermaster were honest with their figures they state the continuous load on the 12v as 22a,but the actual 10 sec max out put is 34amps,,not too shabby,I think Ill take the crap out of my sig!I have one rail of 10a dedicated to the 6800gt and the other 12a rail going to the rest of the comp,or I did have until I decided to take my comp apart to mod and add some cooling.Looks cool when its lit up!

 

The best thing about taking stuff apart,are the spare parts and cables left over at the end.LOL.Note the dremels,Pc's worst nightmare!

 

Hmm, a work in progress you might call those pictures...

i've done some hunting around for a new power supply and ive come up with this one, it seems pretty good, tagan 420 watt , independant graphics card connector, its in stock and is £50! Haven't really heard of CCL but if they have it, i'll buy it... if i need it lol

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?id=1791&pc=kelkoo

it doesn't really tell you all the spec on that link though... the link says about the separate graphics card supply and i saw the dual rail thing mentioned somewhere too...

Fully compatible with all AMD (including K8) and Intel P4 CPUs
- Automatic voltage adjustment for input with a range of 95-250V.
- Very quiet (from 20dB/A!) Dual-Fan technology
- 2 Serial-ATA powerconnectors.
- 28A at 12V for increased stability with many connected devices
- Mainswitch with rubber-protector
- ATX 24 plus 8pin / 20 plus 4 pin connectors for use on most common mainboards (including some serverboards!)
- Supports up-comming BTX format and PCI-Express motherboards
- 3 Year Warranty

 

£50 for a 420W psu, you're being scammed. Have seen 500W psu's go for that amount.

 

well i'm more than happy to pay a bit more for a decent brand if it means some more stability, it's quiet, plus my system only needs around 300 watt as it is!

 

Yeh,I'v seen 500 watt psu's go for £15,but i'm not gonna plug my hardware into it!My first choice for my recent build was the tagan 480w for £70 from scan but unfortunately it was dead on arrival,when I tested it only the 3 and 5v had any power,the techie at scan got the same result and there was a strange quiet,ticking,crackling noise coming from inside,they were out of stock when I took it back,I would have had another in a shot so I dont let it put you off,I just got unlucky,I'd swap my coolermaster for one.It was a gorgeous peice of kit steal braided 12v atx and video card power and main mobo power,the thickest wire I have ever seen on a psu,that brilliant twin 80mm push pull fan system,get this even the power cord is steel braided and its the heaviest psu I have ever felt.Scan use them in their twin xeon sli rig's,so they must be pretty good.I have seen alot of reviews that give it editors choice for the stability of the voltage.

Btw scan has it for 8p cheaper,just depends on which store you trust most.

 

Hmm, Scan have both models in stock now i think, hopefully i can try out the vid card tonight and if needs be, order the tagan 420 or 480 tomorrow... ideally, yeah, i would get this from Scan. Even if the vid card is working and the system is up and running tonight, i really need to look into psu's. Also, my mate who built the machine has used this case and psu for many systems he builds, and ones that need more power than mine in both graphic card and HD areas, so he was surprised to find out what happened to mine...
anyways, will keep you posted!

 

I managed to test the 6600 out on my mates computer, his agp slot was 4x rather than the 8x which the card said to use, but it worked first time on his. So that graphics card isn't the problem, which is good news! The power supply is now the chief suspect in this investigation! Have ordered a new one from scan, tagan 420w, looks good enough for now and future. Will hopefully arrive tomorrow or thursday...

 

Just an update....


Got the new psu today and have fitted it - is definitely a quality unit! Glad to say it worked first time, and everything is exactly how it was before. Cheers for everyone who gave me some advice, is appreciated. I was worried the motherboard or cpu mightve fudged up somewhere but i'm glad the psu broke as this new one's hella cool lol

 

I love saying I told you so,PSU.Its really great you got it sorted.

And how nice is the Tagan?I bet you feel good just knowing its in there!How heavy are they!Dont forget to tie your cables with the multicoloured velcro tie wraps!LOL.Good luck!

BTW did you get the 420 or 480?

 

I went for the 420 in the end, its more than enough for the time being and is working fine, almost, i think one of the fans was brushing against something, because there was a loud whining sound and you could hear the contact. But i think i resolved that problem, there was a a plastic tag from some cable bundle that was interfering...

anyway, none of that compares to the crappy adware problem i have now! Have started another thread in the spyware section...

 

Stew if you have to use the internet before one of the experts in the spyware section can help you,download this browser,you should be free from pop ups and stuff untill your prob can be sorted.

http://majorgeeks.com/download2248.html

 

ta Rikky,

have been using firefox for a while now yet these aurora popups know no limits!

i've printed off all that i need to do, so i'll just go through all the steps, write down what i see and then get mad when the little b*stard reappears about five seconds later lol