Question about what my PSU tester is telling me...

tj89890 · Feb 29, 2012

Hi everyone. I ran into a problem with my computer recently. My computer decided not to post and display any image. It seems to power up most things, but the video card would rise in power, then lower, and repeat. It seemed the PSU was faulty but I wasn't sure. I just got my PSU tester in today and ran my PSU through all the tests. Everything passed, HDD, 4/6/8 pin, SATA, floppy, except the 24pin connecter. When I plugged that in, i got +3.3v, -12v, PG, +5VSB, +12v and +5V to light up. The one that didn't light up was the -5V. Does this indicate that my PSU is faulty and causing my computer not to post by not providing the right power to the motherboard? Thanks.

Guest · Feb 29, 2012

I had a power supply that did similar, that one WAS faulty, but at the same time i had a faulty bios because of the power supply, if you can get hold of a spare psu from a friend or something, try the tester on the -5v rail, and see what happens, if you get the same results on both psu's its probably your bios.

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

hmm. Well what happened was I had someone on ebay buy my computer, decide to ship it back un-opened, and I didnt have the PSU seated properly and got knocked around a good amount. So from the beginning I assumed it was the PSU. I don't have a spare one to test and was hoping this test would be definite on weather it was the PSU or not so I can call up newegg with confidence. If it is the bios, where do I go from there? I called up gigabyte tech support and ran through all their tests to make sure it isn't the MOBO. The lady said it was either PSU or CPU, but I don't think it is the CPU. Any other thoughts?

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

well it turns out I had a spare PSU to test. This one only uses the 20pin connector but I got the same results as I did with the 24pin connector. Everything was lit up besides the -5v light. So do you believe it is the BIOS? Where do I go from here? Thanks.

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

tj89890 :

For bios' in general, they are best kept up to date, so if you go to the manufacturers website for the mobo, you should find a download for the bios, you might be able to do it by using a USB stick, depending on what mobo it is, follow the instructions to flash the bios from there, it's not too easy, but fairly self explained

davcon · Mar 1, 2012

tj89890 :

-5v is an old standard no longer used in most modern systems = pin is left empty on ATX12V v2.01 and up.
If your 24pin doesn't work = ya it's faulty!

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

Thanks for the reply. Before I invest more time into this, how can I be sure it is a BIOS problem? Isn't this BIOS issue software related? I never tried flashing my BIOS in the past. Could you please explain how a BIOS can become faulty on its own? Thanks.

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

The psu may be giving decent power when not under load, but when under load it might be dropping too low to boot properly... ignore the -5v, looking at specs, it isnt used any more :O

davcon · Mar 1, 2012

Your bios has nothing to do with your power issue.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

Delivering good power under low load, but not enough ender higher loads, even the mobo being plugged in can be too much if the PSU isn't up to scratch...

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

davcon :

I've tried that PSU test and it works. Like had been said, possibly under heavier loads my PSU isn't able to output enough power. It's a 850watt PSU, but may have been damaged. Is it possible for a PSU to be faulty, even if it doesn't show any signs besides the computer not booting up? Is there any way I can prove my PSU isn't putting out enough power before I try and RMA it back to newegg? Or should I just go ahead and call up newegg and RMA it? Thanks for the replys.

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

I'm going to try out a new test quick. I'll plug my PSU to the mobo/vid card/ and everything else I can and then test out some of the extra 6/4 pin connectors to see if they still give out the proper power while my PSU is under heavy load. Not sure if this will be conclusive, but seems like it's worth a shot.

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

Put it in a system that definately works and see if it powers that fine, if it works fine in there, its your system, not psu, or, borrow another psu, stick it in your system, if your system works with a new psu, then your old one is faulty...

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

hmm, I do have an older sysem I can test it out in. BUT this system is OLDER. Like from 2001. So I'm not sure if that will prove anything compared to trying to power up a system with a 5870 and other higher power demanding components. I'll see if I can borrow a PSU from a friend.

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

im using a sytem from the windows 98 era :O still serves well as a hard drive and psu test rig for pretty much everything (old hard drives are good for power tests as they weren't as efficient and drew a lot of power for not much performance) so an old machine from 2001 shouldn't be tooo bad... although it would be much better if you could try your psu in your friends pc, and/or his psu in your pc. I will look into this more tommorrow, well later on today (00.16am) as i need sleep :0

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

a little extra note... if you put the 850w psu into the old 2001 pc, try sticking a disk in the cd/dvd drive, that draws a lot of power

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

Thanks for all the replys. I'll give it a try on the older PC with the PSU. If I can't figure it out I think I'll just call up newegg tomorrow and try and rma it. When I turn on my newest PC it doesn't sound like it's getting much power at all and it seems to power cycle. I did take my old PSU and only plug the 20pin connector(it's all it had) into the new mobo without a 4pin connector(which is requires) and I got all the same error lights light up on my mobo. So that may prove my computer isn't getting the right amount of power.

davcon · Mar 1, 2012

Could very well be a faulty gpu btw.

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

You say error lights come up on your mobo? Have a look and try find out what they mean, i can't look now... Need sleep lol, ill check up on things later after ive got some sleep guys :3

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

davcon :

If it is the GPU, should I still be getting the same error light son the mobo even when the gpu isn't plugged in?

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

Try the psu in the old machine, it can even just be the motherboard that is drawing to much power, if the psu has same problem Fter taking out the graphics card, itll be lesz difference putting it into the old system

Guest · Mar 1, 2012

I mean the power drawn would be less different

davidgermain · Mar 1, 2012

tj89890 :

I would advise not to touch the bios unless you have a good reason to believe it is actually faulty. to Flash it you need a stable system, if the unit crashes half way though there is a good chance of a scrap system board. (unless you have a BIOS backup / restore function on your system board)

unplug every thing, so just your CPU, PSU, Motherboard. listen for beeps. These are BIOS error beeps . As you have no memory in and video card in atm this is normal. - you get lots of beeps. if you get beeps your mainboard and cpu are working and your power supply is still working (but still may have a fault) If you don't get anything out of the system (fans are not spinning, no beeps ect). Then you have an issue with either PSU, CPU. motherboard.
Take spare PSU, any will do at this stage as long as it fully populates your mother board power connector. what happens?
if it powers up its you PSU replaced rebuild happy days.
If it still fails reset BIOS to defaults use the onboard jumper to clear CMOS, or remove the CMOS battery and wait a few mins. try power it back up with the spare PSU and the original PSU. if this gets it running (fan's on beeps ect.)

Now plug in Memory, re power up. Still beep or dead?
Now plug in your graphics card remember many need a lot of power to run, but many even with the extra power connector not connected will power up and display something. if you choose to power up with out the extra power connector don't run it in to windows or for to long.

by this time you should have a good idea of what is up with the system.

N.B.
Updating firmware for no real reason is not a good thing to do. only do it if you know that the update will fix a problem you are having (listed in the readme file that comes with the download). If it goes wrong it can destroy your Mother board for no good reason...

davidgermain · Mar 1, 2012

oh just a thought if you have a damaged USB socket this can cause power up issues.

tj89890 · Mar 1, 2012

davidgermain :

Thats interesting you say that becuase when the PSU was knocked around, it was hitting the two cords that plugged into both the usb sockets. Also, for some reason my reset button doesn't work anymore. Not sure if that would have to do with a PSU issue. Unfortunetly, I don't have a case-speaker to hear any error beeps. I'm going to bring my PSU into work and see what the IT guys can tell me. At least all my major components are still under warranty, I just have to pinpoint the one at fault.

Question about what my PSU tester is telling me...

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