Electricity/Electronics Gurus, help please
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From: MF on 22 Apr 2008 18:10 Please correct if I am wrong: I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for a 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power supply to run the board for hours, many hours. The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it has been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to be sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue. Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days. Right? Wrong? Thanks! Mike
From: philo on 22 Apr 2008 19:32 "MF" <cheatsandlies(a)spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d(a)comcast.com... > Please correct if I am wrong: > > I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU > fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for a > 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power > supply to run the board for hours, many hours. > > The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it has > been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to be > sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down > within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue. > > Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, again, > I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days. > > Right? Wrong? > Yep...time to get rid of the old supply new ones should not cost too much
From: Grinder on 22 Apr 2008 20:16 philo wrote: > "MF" <cheatsandlies(a)spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message > news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d(a)comcast.com... >> Please correct if I am wrong: >> >> I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU >> fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for > a >> 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power >> supply to run the board for hours, many hours. >> >> The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it > has >> been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to > be >> sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down >> within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue. >> >> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, > again, >> I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days. >> >> Right? Wrong? >> > > > > Yep...time to get rid of the old supply > new ones should not cost too much In fact, here is a pretty good deal that I have availed myself of a couple of times already: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371013 It's not in stock at this moment, but hopefully it will be within a week as they predict. $28 (delivered) is a pretty good price for an Antec 350W supply. It has a 20+4 pin connector, but does not have one of those auxiliary supply connectors that are on some older motherboards. Check the specs!
From: kony on 22 Apr 2008 20:30 On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:10:12 -0400, "MF" <cheatsandlies(a)spammersbl0w.com> wrote: >Please correct if I am wrong: > >I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU >fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for a >300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power >supply to run the board for hours, many hours. A typical system of that era would load a psu to about 100w. Whether that is ok vs. the psu depends on the PSU's rating of current per rail and overall quality of design/construction. > >The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it has >been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to be >sure but adequate till Sunday. This doesn't mean much, a PSU is like a candle with finite lifespan. Once it was *worn out*, you may find using it to power a lower load (system) will work, but essentially if the PSU function is degraded it is not a safe assumption to make. In other words, we dont' have enough info to conclude one way or the other but the basic premise that if it ran ok on a higher powered system then it would automatically be ok later, is premature. Keep in mind that proposed system has a larger 12V current usage, while an old skt 7 system has barely any 12V current usage at all, maybe 500mA for HDD, 200mA for fans. Different rail loads mean that a psu meant to bias regulation on 12V rail may not be suitable for systems that use more 5V current. Even so, I suspect your system uses so little 5V current too, that this is a less likely problem. >In that computer it usually shuts down >within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue. > >Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, again, >I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days. We can start with two basic ideas. 1) Capacitors may be failing. Examine mobo and psu (leave psu unplugged for a few minutes before opening it). 2) Multimeter readings of psu voltage are a good start towards realizing if the regulation is ok (assuming #1, that capacitors are still viable). Ultimately we are left with not enough info. With all due respect instead of posing theory you should start out with basics of enumerating the system's major parts, the PSU make/model/wattage/ratings. Naturally, if you had another PSU for a comparision that would be the quickest way to check function in same system.
From: Brian Cryer on 23 Apr 2008 11:35
"MF" <cheatsandlies(a)spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d(a)comcast.com... > Please correct if I am wrong: > > I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU > fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for > a 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the > power supply to run the board for hours, many hours. > > The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it > has been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered > to be sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts > down within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue. > > Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, > again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board > for days. Over the last couple of months I've had three pcs repeatedly shutdown without warning, in two of those cases it was the power supply which was at fault. Never did determine what was the problem on the third - it was at home and my children had been nagging me for a long time to replace the pc so I did. So, it could be the power supply but equally it might be something else. I suggest you follow Kony's suggestion and obtain (or borrow) a different power supply and see if it makes a difference. -- Brian Cryer www.cryer.co.uk/brian |