Is my PSU too weak?

[duttonta]

I built this system a little while ago, and I wanted to add a little more storage recently. I threw in a WD 500 GB 7200rpm SATA HDD and formatted etc. and all was good. The next day I come in the room and the system is off and wouldn't turn back on. When I plugged it straight to the wall instead of the surge protector it started, but testing the surge protector showed it wasn't faulty. The computer then turned itself off when attached to the wall and failed to restart. The green light on the mobo stays lit, and pressing the power switch on the case makes the power light flash quickly and fans spin before silence and darkness set in. So it is getting power, kinda, then dying. I disconnected the new hdd and it worked just like it did before.

Would you say I need a more powerful PSU? I thought 500W would be adequate for now.

System:
ASUS M3A32 MVP mobo
9950 Phenom BE
4GB Corsair 800mhz ddr2
1 250gb seagate 7200rpm SATA HDD
~1 500GB WD 7200rpm SATA HDD
DVD RW
500W Ultra PSU
9600GT GPU

 

[WR2]

I disconnected the new hdd and it worked just like it did before.

Did you mean that the PC ran OK without the new HDD?

A 500watt PSU at idle should be MORE then enough power to run that system. Only heavy CPU/GPU loads might have stressed the PSU.

 

[pinaplex]

what else do you have plugged into the surge protector? does it have a GFCI? it might be possible that it's a combination of everything might be causing it not to start. if it has a GFCI, the initial powerup might be drawing too much power and causing it to trip the circuit.

or

maybe it's just a bad plug on the surge protector itself?

 

[duttonta]

@wr2- it runs fine, except for blue screening if I hibernate, but other than that it's great.

@pinaplex- the only other things in the surge protector are the monitor, printer, speakers, and a laptop power cord without a laptop on it. I don't believe it has gfic.

Maybe I'm just overloading one rail and not the whole power supply?