PSU at correct voltages?

[rollotomasty]

Hi folks. Ever since I got my pc I've been having the "driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" stop error intermittently, but often enough to be annoying (especially after it resulted in a corrupted Puzzle Quest 2 save yesterday). After researching potential solutions, changing my profile to "high performance", and upgrading my video card, I am now in the process of testing my PSU.

I plugged in the 24 pin connector to a Thermaltake Dr. Power a2358, and then plugged in my case fan. Every LED in the "rotary" part of the device (see http://www.ginger6.com/images/fullsize/big/0337.jpg for a picture) came on except the -5V. The two other LEDs at the bottom remained unlit, and the fan didn't come on. Is this a problem? I'm not sure if the lack of -5V means something significant, as I've read that most new pcs don't use that voltage, but I want to make sure.

Any insights about the voltage or the stop error are welcome.

My specs:

Windows Vista 32
Core 2 Duo E6750
Radeon HD 5850
2GB RAM

 

[hunter315]

Many modern units dont even have a -5V rail so that isnt significant and can be ignored.

What power supply do you have? You can test it using the method shown in this video using just the PSU, a fan, and a paper clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

 

[4745454b]

IRQ not less then error messages are usually because of ram. Run memtest to check the ram for errors, and make sure they are setup as the manufacturer says they should. Perhaps they are getting 1.8v instead of 2.0 like they should.

 

[rollotomasty]

I don't recall the exact name of the PSU, and I've opened my case so many times today that I don't wanna look, but it's a CoolerMax atx. Yeah I've seen that video .

memtest yields no errors. Using Dual Core Center, the utility that I downloaded for my mainboard, I see that the memory voltage is set at 1.90v. I apparently also can change that value to up to 2.60v, though it lists values from 2.0 to 2.15 in yellow and anything above that in red, so apparently these aren't recommended voltages? I'm not sure how much I trust the utility.

 

[4745454b]

Sounds right. But some ram needs more voltage then others. It also said driver so perhaps you need an updated driver somewhere?

 

[rollotomasty]

Maybe. If so I don't know what driver could be needed. A while back I went and manually updated everything I thought was relevant. I think the only thing that might solve this is an operating system reinstall. But that's a tremendous pain in the ass and I don't want to do it. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[4745454b]

The things to do when having this issue is to make sure the ram is good. (check with memtest, 8hrs overnight.) Double check the RAM settings against what the manufacturer says they should be. 5-5-515 @ 2.0V won't work at 4-4-4-12 @1.8v. If problem persists, update all drivers that you can. Chipset, GPU, Audio, etc. It would also be a bus sharing problem, though I haven't seen that since the days PCIe came out. Might want to move your cards around one at a time (starting with the soundcard if you have one) and see if that helps. Should look at the device manager as well and see if there are any conflicts.

 

[rollotomasty]

Best answer selected by rollotomasty.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey