Diamond X1950Pro 512Mb boot problem

Hi,

I recently installed a new Diamond X1950Pro 512Mb PCI-e card and getting a boot problem. The screen would cycle white, red, green, blue, black, white etc.

This would go on for a while and then the Window XP would start. This was on first installation and driver install. I have booted the machine one or two times after that for driver update with the cycle effect and then to the desktop. I was curious about this since I have never seen this before in the past when I upgraded video cards. Now my machine does not show the XP screen although I still heard the odd sound to suggest the boot is still proceeding and I should be in the desktop but I still see the color cycle. The machine status light does not indicate there is any problem. I do not get any no video signal error from the screen.

So could this be a problem due to a low power supply to the card ? My PSU is below the recommended requirement but since I have no extra components and the extreme power calculator shows I would only be using about 277W I though it would be okay. I want to make sure it is just a power supply problem rather than the card.

If it is the PSU, can any one recommend a decent one ? The manual suggest a +12V with 30A but most of the one I looked does not have this on the +12V rail. My budget is limited and I cannot afford to spend $200CA on a PSU. I have seen some in the 550W range that supplies +12V on 15A to 20A. Would these be sufficient ?

Thanks.

It is the default Dell E521 PSU so it is well below the recommended level. What good PSU are there below $100CA ?