Is it my PSU?

B

Bazza

New member
I have the following setup:

AMD X2 5200+

Asus M2M32-Sli Deluxe

4gb Corsiar DDR2 ram

Antec TruePower 550W PSU (2 years old)

Pioneer DVR 112D

Pioneer DVR 110D

Western Digital Raptor 37GB HD

Western Digital Raptor 150GB HD

Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB HD

Maxtor Diamondmax 200GB HD

XFX 7800GTX Graphics Card

Nebula PCI Freeview TV card

Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty

USB Devices

Trust 7 Port Hub

Western Digital 500GB external USB HD

Peak 7 in 1 card reader (external)

Duolabs CAS3 card reaer/writer

Canon Pixma IP8500 Printer

Canon 4200F Scanner

HP Ipaq 4700 PDA

Logitec QuickCam 4000

My USB devices often disconnect, especially the 7 in 1 card reader and external USB drive. This is most noticeable when the external drive is under load i.e. copying a large file to or from it. I had previously had an Asus A8NSli Premium with 4400+ CPU and the same happened with that setup.

I have been running Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows XP Professional and it happens under both os's.

I'm struggling to find any info as to why this might be happening.

Any thoughts please?

Cheers,

Baz
 
TruePowers do fail prematurely due to cheap capacitors, I'd say yeah.. it is PSU. Not because lack of wattage, 550 is fine. You could get away with less easily. It's just that Antec PSU's aren't as good as they used to be :(

For a replacement, I recommend the Corsair HX520w.
 
You do have a pretty power hungry system. It may well be the PSU. Although when was the last time you re-formatted? It may be software related (usb drivers conflicting).
 
Did a fresh format and install of XP this morning. Same yesterday with Vista and the same problem occurs under both operating systems. It's been a very tiring 24 hours :(
 
Those were my thoughts. I mean I've kicked it and even sworn at it but that doesn't help, well it does help me :rollingla
 
Check your 5v rail in your BIOS? Try monitor it through a disconnect, if nothing changes on the 5v then it may be the motherboard
 
I've left Probe II running overnight. here is a very small snippet from the log:

[[03/22/2007 at 05:27 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:27 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.54 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:29 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:29 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.54 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:30 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:30 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.54 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:34 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:34 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.57 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:45 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:45 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.57 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:48 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:48 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.54 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:49 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:49 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.57 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:57 am] +5.0 Voltage Abnormal, 4.49 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:57 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.57 V

[03/22/2007 at 05:57 am] +5.0 Voltage become normal, 4.57 V

Around 5:49am I placed the external drive into one of the 4 USB ports on the back and moved the hub into a USB slot taken from the motherboard headers.

Am I simply running too many USB devices maybe?
 
Those +5v rail voltages are pretty damn poor mate. It's no wonder you're having problems. :(

USB devices don't really pull that much power, so it shouldn't be that. Time for a new PSU methinks :p
 
name='Bazza' said:
That's my conclusion. Any recommendations on a good PSU that will do the job please guys?
Click to expand...

How much you looking to spend mate?

If you want an idea of what's out there, take a look here.
 
Wow cheers mate. Still getting to know the site. I suppose up to £100 on a PSU. I want, no I NEED to get it right so I don't want to cut corners. I'm not a gamer but I do a lot of video editting which is very demanding on any system.
 
name='Bazza' said:
Wow cheers mate. Still getting to know the site. I suppose up to £100 on a PSU. I want, no I NEED to get it right so I don't want to cut corners. I'm not a gamer but I do a lot of video editting which is very demanding on any system.
Click to expand...

No probs. As NickS said earlier in the thread, the Corsair HX620 is a great PSU. I personally love the Enermax Infiniti and they've just released a 650w version which should fit right into your price range. Other than those, the Silverstone Zeus range or OCZ GameXStream's are also very good.
 
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=184139

amazing !!

i got a 400w libaty and its as quite as a mouse so i dont think that extra 80mm fan will damage your ears !!! :D

good luck and hope you find a decent psu

latly ive been reading alot about psu and in one mag i saw that out of 30 psu enthmax came top and matained all test that they carryed out at the top ampage and all in the range of 90 - 97% efficent ^^ :D

my recomendation is enthmax
 
Guys I've taken the plunge and gone for the Enermax Infiniti 720W EIN720AWT Modular PSU - Triple Quad. Ok more than I wanted to pay but I feel better that I'm getting a PSU that will do the jop properly. Many thanks for your help. I'll post my results later.
 
That's what I always think. Tekheads have done a price match so I'm setting off for a nice drive over the border to collect it soon :)
 
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