Enermax Problem!

[Guest]

Please, someone help me.

I ordered an Enermax 350W PSU, since they seemed to be the best brand name out there from everything I could find. When I finished building my system, got it up & running, I found my Asus monitoring software showed I was running my 12volt @ 13.148-13.248 volts.

At first I was told this was unacceptable. So, I emailed the distrubutor I bought it from, they said to mail it back and they would test it, and send me a replacement if it was faulty.

I decided to purchase another PSU so I could run my computer in the meantime - and I got the almost same results. This was with a Macron 400W PSU, and my 12V stayed consistant @ 13.148 volts. There, both techs told me 13.148 was perfectly acceptable. ...

Therefore, I returned the PSU, went back home, reinstalled my Enermax. Turned my PC on, and the power cable to my floppy turned red-hot orange, and started smoldering. Nothing else did. And I can't see any damage to my motherboard.

No other part of the Y-split power-cable seemed to be harmed, just that of the floppy.

Would this have damaged my other components? And what /is/ the acceptable differential range for a 12v power supply?

Can someone /please/ help me? I'm in desperate need of both reassurance, and a straight answer.

Thanks.

 

[OldBear]

Therefore, I returned the PSU, went back home, reinstalled my Enermax. Turned my PC on, and the power cable to my floppy turned red-hot orange, and started smoldering. Nothing else did. And I can't see any damage to my motherboard.

Really?



<b><font color=blue> I took an I.Q. test today...It came back negative.</font color=blue></b> :lol:

 

[KermNelson]

Hi again tigerwolf!

Yeah my ASUS Probe is telling me my PS is running at 12.8/12.9 most of the time with short spikes to 13.2/13.4. This sets off the ASUS Probe monitor and it pops up on screen. Like tigerwolf, I was wondering what "running tolerance" for a Power Supply / System should be? I'm aware of the tweaking we do when overclocking but that's usually around +/- 0.1 or so. I've never checked much on the Power Supply and the new toy/tool ASUS Probe has me concerned.

Helpful advice or written references would be appreciated.

Kerm

Take care :tongue:

 

[svol]

13V instead of 12V is high, but most people say that a voltage line may differ 10%. But I'm starting to wonder if the voltage ASUS PCBrobe gives is the correct one.
Download MBM 5 and see what voltages that gives: <A HREF="http://mbm.livewiredev.com" target="_new">http://mbm.livewiredev.com</A>.

<b>THGC:</b> before: :frown: , after: .

 

[svol]

Therefore, I returned the PSU, went back home, reinstalled my Enermax. Turned my PC on, and the power cable to my floppy turned red-hot orange, and started smoldering. Nothing else did. And I can't see any damage to my motherboard.

I don't think this is caused by a too high voltage, the only explenation is that the cable is shortcircuiting somewhere.

<b>THGC:</b> before: :frown: , after: .

 

[cakecake]

Hi, yeah, I have similar power problems. For years now I've had power problems and every motherboard I buy has no longer than a 1 year life because the capacitors on the MB get FRIED, and I do mean that, they spew out burnt looking stuff that looks like it came out of the oven. I have never been able to figure this one out, and I always figured it to be a computer problem but maybe it's an electrical problem. We had an earthquake here a couple years back and maybe that caused it I don't know.

A year ago I was here and I wrote a post saying I had a power supply problem and people told me that my brand of power supply was good, and that it shouldn't be happening, etc. My computer never started, and only did when I turned on the computer, shut off my surge protector for about 5 seconds (which the computer is plugged into), then started it up again. Everyone here told me that it was common with computers that had weak batteries (the circular ones in the motherboards that help to start up the computer when you press the power button and help power the real time clock) Over time this caused a lot of "burning-in" in my motherboard's capacitors and I have blown one mainboard already and am on the verge of blowing another. Well, I checked everything, I checked my house's fusebreaker, I also shut off main power to the entire house and restarted it, I switched all the components in my computer with lower-end (low power consuming) components. I did this because my computer crashes all of the time with the other stuff. Now my current motherboard is about to fail (the capacitors are leaking ooze) and one of my memory chips has failed. I am almost certain that if I buy a new computer this is going to happen again. I don't know much about power flow so it puzzles me that even with a high quality surge protector and a 300W power supply (my computer is 800Mhz) this still happens. The rest of my house seems to have functioning lights and the kitchen, over, stove, stereo system, etc. all work fine. My old Pentium 2 350mhz computer, which is in the same room as my 800, works fine too.

Hope you find a way to fixing your power supply. Just keep in mind that your power comes from your house's main unit, which has a conversion thing, which is connected by miles and miles of electrical wiring to some distant power station 3-4 miles away. This means ANY problem with the miles of wire will also be your problem, which is a pain in the ass. Frankly I don't think I'll ever solve this problem... my voltage always seems to be around the right range, I have even underclocked my cpu for the longest time, etc.

As for your specific situation, my knowledge suggests that since only the floppy was affected, it's probably a faulty power supply. The reason why is that when power distribution is bad usually the first things to fail are the cd rom and graphics card, but those didn't fail. It does sound rather alarming though, that it turned red hot orange. I would be extremely cautious here.

I think that many people's houses probably have power problems due to the antiquity of the ones installed in people's houses these days as well as all sorts of power shorts that could go wrong in just one small section of those miles of cable that supply power to your house. A suggestion, if you are a person to try all solutions, might be to look at your circuit breaker. See when it was last inspected. Was it 5 years ago? 10? If so you might consider asking the local power company to send an inspector, although this will probably cost money. If you open the inside of the circuit breaker yourself they will refuse to fix it for you, so don't open it unless you're an electrical engineer or going to EE school.

 

[AndrewT]

the melting and all does sound like a short, but isn't the PS supposed to shut off if there is a short? mine always did when managed to short it out working in it with screwdriver while on. yeah don't ask LOL

<font color=red>We born naked and screaming, then it gets worse.</font color=red>

 

[svol]

But what would it be then?

<b>THGC:</b> before: :frown: , after: .

 

[AndrewT]

a PS that doesn't shut off when there is a short? LOL the weird thing is that his IDE cable melting not the power, which is weird because then something on the motherboard should smoke before the cable it self since the cable can take more than a circuit board and the voltage is low

no clue, it's just weird

<font color=red>We born naked and screaming, then it gets worse.</font color=red>

 

[svol]

Are you sure? He says that it is the power cable which is melting.

<b>THGC:</b> before: :frown: , after: .