A Digital Age Deserves A Digital Leader

Power Issues?

Power Issues?

Postby blodger14 » Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:40 pm

I used to have this problem with my P5N-E Sli where over time it would slowly die.

Like first the ethernet would die (would randomly disconnect, but after trying repair the process would freese after disabling the adapter, after trying to renable the adapter it would pause for a while and then tell me it failed to connect to the adapter.)

a restart would normally solve this problem, but shutting down normally just didnt work, it would log off (it would take its time about it) but then just stop.

But after a couple of days the same thing would happen again.

then after this a hard drive would die, along with various other intermittent faults.

At this point i would have both the hard drive and the motherboard replaced. But this happened with 3 motherboards in the space of about 3 months so i bought a p5k premium

But its now happening with that so i assumed it had nothing to do with the motherboard, but the question is what IS the problem?
Image
PRO Level 7
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:20 am
Location: England

Re: Power Issues?

Postby yeshuas » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:24 pm

What size power supply?

What CPU and Graphics card?

How many HDD etc.?
Game Over!!!!!!!!
Image
ASUS Maximus V Gene MB
Windows 8 X64; Windows 7 X64; Windows 7 X86
Intel I5-3570K
16GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
eVGA GeForce GTX 550 TI
Corsair GS700 PS
1TB Seagate SATA 6.0Gb HD
Thermaltake Case
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 5075
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:29 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Real Name: Daniel Schmidt

Re: Power Issues?

Postby blodger14 » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:02 pm

700w power supply
intel e4300 overclocked to 3 ghz (ran fine on 3ghz before this started happening, tried at stock speeds and didnt help)
ati 4850 (but had the same problem with an nvidia 880gts 512mb)

same problem no matter whether i have 4 hdd's in or 1.


i have noticed that i have a lamp plugged into the same power strip as my pc (which has a surge protector in) and the lamp quite regularly dims for long periods of time when i turn the kettle on or run the hoover. (those were just examples of times, it does it regularly and i cant even tell whats causing it)
Image
PRO Level 7
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:20 am
Location: England

Re: Power Issues?

Postby yeshuas » Mon Jan 12, 2009 10:07 pm

That definately sounds like a wiring problem to me, maybe a circuit breaker or something going bad.

You also run on 220 over there don't you?
Game Over!!!!!!!!
Image
ASUS Maximus V Gene MB
Windows 8 X64; Windows 7 X64; Windows 7 X86
Intel I5-3570K
16GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
eVGA GeForce GTX 550 TI
Corsair GS700 PS
1TB Seagate SATA 6.0Gb HD
Thermaltake Case
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 5075
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:29 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Real Name: Daniel Schmidt

Re: Power Issues?

Postby blodger14 » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:03 pm

yea we do run on 220v. How much of my 700w do you think i'm using with that setup, as my dad thinks that if my pc wasn't using much power the extra power my psu has should iron out any brief drops in power?

thanks for the help.
Image
PRO Level 7
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:20 am
Location: England

Re: Power Issues?

Postby yeshuas » Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:29 pm

blodger14 wrote:yea we do run on 220v. How much of my 700w do you think i'm using with that setup, as my dad thinks that if my pc wasn't using much power the extra power my psu has should iron out any brief drops in power?

thanks for the help.

The problem is before the power gets to your power supply, is what I am thinking, since you said you had a lamp that dims and it is plugged into the same power strip.

Does that lamp dim even when you are not running your computer or is that when the lamp dims?

If it dims even when you are not using your computer than you have an electrical problem somewhere else, e.g. like I said a circuit breaker in the breaker box. or if your electrical system in your house is old enough a fuse in the fuse box.
Game Over!!!!!!!!
Image
ASUS Maximus V Gene MB
Windows 8 X64; Windows 7 X64; Windows 7 X86
Intel I5-3570K
16GB Corsair Vengeance Ram
eVGA GeForce GTX 550 TI
Corsair GS700 PS
1TB Seagate SATA 6.0Gb HD
Thermaltake Case
Software Development
User avatar
Posts: 5075
Joined: Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:29 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Real Name: Daniel Schmidt

Re: Power Issues?

Postby mnemonicj » Tue Jan 13, 2009 3:06 am

You may need a battery backup that applies the extra power needed when the power in your house has a brown out. Brown outs are not good for electrical equipment, especially cheaper consumer electrical equipment (as apposed to automotive, industrial, or medical electrical equipment that is designed to work well with varying voltages).

When the voltage of your home drops, the electrical equipment in your house still tries to operate at the same power, so to be able to support that power, the current demand increases. If your home cannot provide more current, or not enough current fast enough, you will get dips in the power to your electrical equipment.

The battery backup is the best idea to keep your computer isolated from the brown outs and make sure that you have enough power and the voltage level is constant.
PRO Level 15
User avatar
Posts: 1066
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2004 1:41 am
Location: Indianapolis, IN

Re: Power Issues?

Postby imnuts » Tue Jan 13, 2009 4:55 am

blodger14 wrote:yea we do run on 220v. How much of my 700w do you think i'm using with that setup, as my dad thinks that if my pc wasn't using much power the extra power my psu has should iron out any brief drops in power?

thanks for the help.


At most, a few seconds. The capacitors within the power supply can store a lot of energy, but it usually dissipates rather quickly when power going in drops. Although they can store power for much longer (similar to a battery) they aren't designed to do so and won't under most circumstances. A UPS as mentioned above would likely be the best option to prevent more problems.
Image
PRO SUPREME
User avatar
Posts: 7457
Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 5:19 am
Location: Boothwyn, Pennsylvania
Real Name: Mark

Re: Power Issues?

Postby blodger14 » Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:53 pm

can anyone recommend a good ups for under £50 - 60?
Image
PRO Level 7
Posts: 273
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:20 am
Location: England

Re: Power Issues?

Postby augie » Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:23 am

I've got an Ultra 1025 VA but I think that would be overkill for you. Probably a 500VA would be ideal for you. APC is a good brand and will be within your budget.
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. -- Carl Jung

eVGA X58 tri-SLI, i7 930 @ 3.8GHz., Corsair 6GB Dominator, Inno3D GTX470, eVGA260
ASUS P8P67 Pro, i7 2600K @4.60 GHz, 8GB RAM, eVGA GTX 460
Community Director
User avatar
Posts: 7870
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2002 1:55 am
Location: Laurentians, Quebec

Next

Return to Hardware and Customizing

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests

cron
cron