Strange problem. Voltage drop?

I have home built PC that has worked fine for a long time, and still works fine, however I'm having a very strange problem. When I built it I put 2 lights on the inside of the case similar to this one. The computer worked fine with them inside. Then I shut them off and they've been off for a few months.

Now I've turned them back on and whenever I boot up the computer I get a disk read error. I've also gotten the blue screen of death of few times with the lights on. If they are off there is absolutely no problem. Could there be a voltage drop when they are turned on which is causing problems?

If you need any specs of my PC please feel free to ask.

 

It sounds like your PSU is starting to die. Could you give us your computer specs and PSU info.

 

It better not be dieing, its only 2 years old. Good thing it is still under warranty. Anyway here is the info:
Motherboard: Elitegroup – NF650iSLIT-A Socket 775 Intel
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad

PSU: Cooler Master – RS-650-ACAA-A1 650W
HDD: Seagate 300 GB
I've also had a problem with my HDD. It started making noise however I defraged it and ran chkdsk, and it stopped making sounds. Is it possible that is caused by the PSU?

 

I kinda have to agree with PClover, if it only gives you a problem when you kick on the lights. Then it sounds like the lights are putting a strain on your PSU.....

 

As it seems like As soon as you turn the light on you start having issues?

Have you noticed any other issues including random unexplained freezing etc. with the lights off?

If you are able to I would check the voltage of your 12+ on PSU with the lights off and then turn them on. it's best to do it with a multimeter if you have one. Download something like Speedfan tho it may not be very accurate. Then come back here and report the results to us.

 

There hasn't been any unexplained problems with the lights off. Right now I have them on and everything is running fine. It boot up with absolutely no problems. I measured the voltage with the multimeter like you suggested and there was no voltage drops at all.

Do you think I should use speedfan to keep a constant eye on the voltage while the computer is running?

 

What is strange is cathodes don't use much power and that little bit of power causes your pc to have issues.

 

That's true. Perhaps I should wait and see what happens tomorrow. Maybe there was some temporary problem that fixed itself. Or maybe there was static in the wires, who knows.

Thanks for your help guys. If something comes up again I'll post another reply.

 

In all these posts, I do not see any mention of the wattage of the PSU. The problem described is symptomatic of a PSU being pushed to it's limit. That does not mean the unit is bad, or weakening, but that it is being pushed to its max potential.

I would highly recommend turning off those lights again(you wont miss them for a few days) and finding a higher wattage PSU to put in.

 

What i don't understand is why would the wattage be an issue now? Nothing has changed in my machine since I first built it 2 years ago. The lights, PCU, motherboard, GPU, HDD, disc drive, fans, etc are all exactly the same. For about 6 months I even had another HDD and everything ran fine. As a matter of fact I just took out the secondary HDD so if anything there should be less wattage being used. When I built it, I had the lights on constantly. After about a year or more I turned them off because I was getting a little bored with them. Now that I turned them on I had that problem.

 

So, in the last two years, you have reduced the wattage draw...I doubt it is that then...you got a real puzzler...

 

Yeah I do, it could have been a temporary error, or maybe a plug was a little lose and when I double checked my connections I could've pushed it back into place.

 

Has it been acting up since?

 

not yet, i'm going to be away for the weekend, but when i get back home i'll see what happens then post an update

 

So far my comp is working perfectly fine. Thanks for your help/suggestions.

 

Over time PSUs do tend to loose power.

Question that I would have asked is: are the lights on the same strand as the HDD.

Good Luck

 

There are 2 fans, and the lights on the same strand as my HDD

 

Too much in my opinion. The hdd should ideally be on its own [or maybe with another like item]. Having fans and lights on the same strand as the hdd can create the kind of issues that you have experienced. There are many threads of users having issues such as you have described with the fans alone.

Much better to have fans and lights on a separate strand by themselves or failing that if you do not have a spare strand, then put them on a strand with say the optical drives.

Also balancing the amperage on the strands is always worthwhile.

Good Luck

 

I have to agree with risk_reversal on this one, separate them and see if there is a difference

 

thanks i'll see if there is any difference, although until now i have not had a problem anymore