I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU
fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for a
300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power
supply to run the board for hours, many hours.
The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it has
been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to be
sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down
within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue.
Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, again,
I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days.
"MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> Please correct if I am wrong:
>
> I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU
> fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for
a
> 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power
> supply to run the board for hours, many hours.
>
> The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it
has
> been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to
be
> sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down
> within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue.
>
> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
again,
> I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days.
>
> Right? Wrong?
>
Yep...time to get rid of the old supply
new ones should not cost too much
philo wrote:
> "MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
> news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>> Please correct if I am wrong:
>>
>> I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU
>> fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for
> a
>> 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power
>> supply to run the board for hours, many hours.
>>
>> The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it
> has
>> been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to
> be
>> sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts down
>> within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue.
>>
>> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
> again,
>> I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days.
>>
>> Right? Wrong?
>>
>
>
>
> Yep...time to get rid of the old supply
> new ones should not cost too much
In fact, here is a pretty good deal that I have availed myself of a
couple of times already:
It's not in stock at this moment, but hopefully it will be within a week
as they predict. $28 (delivered) is a pretty good price for an Antec
350W supply. It has a 20+4 pin connector, but does not have one of
those auxiliary supply connectors that are on some older motherboards.
Check the specs!
On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:10:12 -0400, "MF"
<cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote:
>Please correct if I am wrong:
>
>I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU
>fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for a
>300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the power
>supply to run the board for hours, many hours.
A typical system of that era would load a psu to about 100w.
Whether that is ok vs. the psu depends on the PSU's rating
of current per rail and overall quality of
design/construction.
>
>The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it has
>been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered to be
>sure but adequate till Sunday.
This doesn't mean much, a PSU is like a candle with finite
lifespan. Once it was *worn out*, you may find using it to
power a lower load (system) will work, but essentially if
the PSU function is degraded it is not a safe assumption to
make. In other words, we dont' have enough info to conclude
one way or the other but the basic premise that if it ran ok
on a higher powered system then it would automatically be
ok later, is premature.
Keep in mind that proposed system has a larger 12V current
usage, while an old skt 7 system has barely any 12V current
usage at all, maybe 500mA for HDD, 200mA for fans.
Different rail loads mean that a psu meant to bias
regulation on 12V rail may not be suitable for systems that
use more 5V current. Even so, I suspect your system uses so
little 5V current too, that this is a less likely problem.
>In that computer it usually shuts down
>within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue.
>
>Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And, again,
>I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board for days.
We can start with two basic ideas.
1) Capacitors may be failing. Examine mobo and psu (leave
psu unplugged for a few minutes before opening it).
2) Multimeter readings of psu voltage are a good start
towards realizing if the regulation is ok (assuming #1, that
capacitors are still viable).
Ultimately we are left with not enough info. With all due
respect instead of posing theory you should start out with
basics of enumerating the system's major parts, the PSU
make/model/wattage/ratings.
Naturally, if you had another PSU for a comparision that
would be the quickest way to check function in same system.
"MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> Please correct if I am wrong:
>
> I am thinking that an old, good, socket 7, AMD 350 motherboard, with a CPU
> fan and a video card and keyboard attached, will provide adequate load for
> a 300 Watt power supply that is 3 years old to, for example, allow the
> power supply to run the board for hours, many hours.
>
> The PSU appears to be going and this is its last test. For two years it
> has been running a 2.4 GHz Celeron computer with 5 drives - under powered
> to be sure but adequate till Sunday. In that computer it usually shuts
> down within 90 seconds - and sometimes immediately. Not a heat issue.
>
> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
> again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board
> for days.
Over the last couple of months I've had three pcs repeatedly shutdown
without warning, in two of those cases it was the power supply which was at
fault. Never did determine what was the problem on the third - it was at
home and my children had been nagging me for a long time to replace the pc
so I did.
So, it could be the power supply but equally it might be something else.
I suggest you follow Kony's suggestion and obtain (or borrow) a different
power supply and see if it makes a difference.
--
Brian Cryer www.cryer.co.uk/brian
On Apr 23, 11:35*am, "Brian Cryer"
<brian.cr...@127.0.0.1.ntlworld.com> wrote:
> I suggest you follow Kony's suggestion and obtain (or borrow) a differentpower supplyand see if it makes a difference.
The better suggestions from Kony were:
> 1) Capacitors may be failing. Examine mobo and psu
> (leave psu unplugged for a few minutes before opening it).
> 2) Multimeter readings of psu voltage are a good start
> towards realizing if the regulation is ok (assuming #1,
> that capacitors are still viable).
Replacing the power supply only creates a maybe answer. Kony's
suggestions provide a definitive answer - and requires both less time
and less labor.
"MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
> again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board
> for days.
>
> Right? Wrong?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Mike
Thanks to all for the help. I really didn't phrase the question correctly -
it was: is the socket 7 board's load so light that the PSU will shut down
from insufficient load. The answer is no.
So the "yep" answer to the poorly phrased question was right .
On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:33:13 -0400, "MF"
<cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote:
>
>"MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
>news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com ...
>
>> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
>> again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board
>> for days.
>>
>> Right? Wrong?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Mike
>
>Thanks to all for the help. I really didn't phrase the question correctly -
>it was: is the socket 7 board's load so light that the PSU will shut down
>from insufficient load. The answer is no.
>
>So the "yep" answer to the poorly phrased question was right .
Actually that is possible, if the PSU is regulating by 5V
rail feedback yet has a very strong 12V rail, a very light
loading of that 12V rail could conceivably cause it's
voltage to rise high enough that the overvoltage protection
kicks in and turns it off. This isn't very common to have
happen, but very reproducible on some PSU that otherwise
work fine.
On Apr 23, 3:33*pm, "MF" <cheatsandl...@spammersbl0w.com> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the help. *I really didn't phrase the question correctly -
> it was: is the socket 7 board's load so light that the PSU will shut down
> from insufficient load. *The answer is no.
Again, to expand on Kony's answer - the only way anyone can answer
that question is to read manufacturer specs for that power supply.
Some supplies state no problem with zero load. Others state a minimum
current must be consumed. These numbers are unique to each design.
However, Radio Shack used to (don't know if they still do) sell 50
ohm 10 watt resistors for less than $1. Simple connect one of these
to the 12 volts. That should add more than a sufficient load for the
12 volts. If nothing else, that resistor is a simple and informative
test.
On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:33:13 -0400, "MF"
<cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote:
>
>"MF" <cheatsandlies@spammersbl0w.com> wrote in message
>news:8bqdnfu9L4aj_5PVnZ2dnUVZ_jWdnZ2d@comcast.com ...
>
>> Running the Socket 7 board it shuts down after 30-40 minutes. And,
>> again, I am thinking that if the PSU were good, it would run that board
>> for days.
>>
>> Right? Wrong?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Mike
>
>Thanks to all for the help. I really didn't phrase the question correctly -
>it was: is the socket 7 board's load so light that the PSU will shut down
>from insufficient load. The answer is no.
>
>So the "yep" answer to the poorly phrased question was right .
>
>Mike
One other thing that's important to remember is that you are
trying to generalize ideas but with PCs there are often
exceptions to the *rule*, and since you never did tell us
specifics about the hardware including the PSU make, model,
current ratings, any answer that might usually be right is
not nearly as appropriate as one that considers the specific
hardware you have.
Electricity/Electronics Gurus, help please 
.
Linear Mode
