what might be wrong?

hostyle

I bought a 500W Ultra X-Connect PSU from Frozen CPU about a month ago, and mobo / RAM / CPU kit (Abit AV8 microGuru / AMD64 / gig of TwinMOS) arrived from komplett during the week. I just started putting bits together now, and not much happens when I turn it on. I don't have all the parts for a finished system, but was hoping what I had would seem to be working.

So I put the PSU into the CMstacker case and switched it to 230. I put the CPU / HSF and RAM into the mobo - attached the 20-pin power cable, attached teh front panel switches / LEDs according to the manual and turned on the PSU. A LED and the microGuru display lit up. The HSF spins up and down in about 4 seconds.

I turn on the case power switch, the HSF spins and stops again. The microGuru display cycles quickly through 8.3., 9.C., 9.E. and 9.F.. And thats it. Anyone got any idea what might be wrong. The manual doesnt even document most of those codes, and those it does are for POST, which I don;t think is even happening.

The PSU fans don't appear to be spinning. Would this be the problem? How do I isolate what is wrong?

CombatCow

Is there a 4 pin power connector plug on the mobo aswell as the 20 pin, some boards wont boot up without that plugged in.....

This

*nice setup and case yah have

CC

hostyle

CombatCow wrote:

Is there a 4 pin power connector plug on the mobo aswell as the 20 pin, some boards wont boot up without that plugged in.....

This

*nice setup and case yah have

CC

Cable was labelled as a P4 cable so I didn't think of it. That said, there was a slot on the mobo for it, so I tried it out. Same story. Thanks anyway. Looks like a PSU problem (I paid them an extra fiver to test it before it shipped:/). They have a 30 day returns policy so I guess I'll have to get it sorted on Monday. Unless anyones got any other ideas?

Neuro

hostyle wrote:

So I put the PSU into the CMstacker case and switched it to 230. I put the CPU / HSF and RAM into the mobo - attached the 20-pin power cable, attached teh front panel switches / LEDs according to the manual and turned on the PSU. A LED and the microGuru display lit up. The HSF spins up and down in about 4 seconds.

The HSF shouldn't start spinning when you turn on the power from the PSU at the back of the case. The most that should happen is a LED lighting up on the motherboard indicating that it's connected to a live PSU. The HSF should only spin up when you press the Power On button on the front of the case.

Since the HSF is spinning I'd say that the PSU is operational. It would seem to me (and this is just a guess) that you may have something connected to the motherboard incorrectly, either the main power cables from the PSU or the leads from the front of the panel case.

Just a few questions:

1. When the PSU is on and connected to the motherboard is there a lit LED showing anywhere on the motherboard?

2. Are you sure that you have the correct 4-pin 12V auxiliary power connector plugged into the motherboard? This is NOT the same as the 4-pin connector that you can snap off the main 24-pin connector found on modern PSUs.

3. Are you sure that you have the cables from the case front panel connected to the correct pins and to the correct + and - poles? It is possible to attach these connectors to the wrong pins or in reverse polarity.

Kimbot

i had a problem similer to this before and it was down to having all bits installed including IDE stuff.

hostyle

Neuro wrote:

The HSF shouldn't start spinning when you turn on the power from the PSU at the back of the case. The most that should happen is a LED lighting up on the motherboard indicating that it's connected to a live PSU. The HSF should only spin up when you press the Power On button on the front of the case.

I wasn't aware of that. It only spins for a few seconds, but I presume its the same thing.

1. When the PSU is on and connected to the motherboard is there a lit LED showing anywhere on the motherboard?

Yes - an LED and the microGuru display both light up. This is why I'm confused about the PSU being shot or not - some power is getting through. But f I just plug the PSU into the mains with nothing else connected shouldn't its fans spin up? They don't

2. Are you sure that you have the correct 4-pin 12V auxiliary power connector plugged into the motherboard? This is NOT the same as the 4-pin connector that you can snap off the main 24-pin connector found on modern PSUs.

Its the exact same connector as CombatCow posted above. Its a seperate cable. I'd never seen one like it before. The PSU manual labels it as a P4 cable. (Bear in mind though that the X-Connect PSU has no cables itself - all cables are seperate and you only connect what you need.)

3. Are you sure that you have the cables from the case front panel connected to the correct pins and to the correct + and - poles? It is possible to attach these connectors to the wrong pins or in reverse polarity.

Not sure. They seem correct, but every one of them could go either of two ways on I'll check later.

Thanks muchly!

hostyle

hostyle wrote:

But f I just plug the PSU into the mains with nothing else connected shouldn't its fans spin up? They don't

Ahem. n/m. Not sure what I was thinking I just realised why that won't work.

CombatCow

dosenyt sound like the psu imho tbh, try connecting the cpu HSF to the propper conector on the mobo "fan header 1" cause the pc might be shutting down cause it cant detect the cpu fan connected, you can disable this in the bios after....if it works

CC

hostyle

CombatCow: HSF cable won't reach SYSFAN or AUXFAN connectors.

I may have come up with something after closer inpection of the manual.

mobo: abit av8 manual

Page 2-19 documents two LEDs

* LED1 (VCC): This LED lights up when the system power is on.
* LED2 (5VSB): This LED lights up when the power supply is connected with power source.

So I plug in power, turn PSU on:

LED1 flashes once and goes off.
LED2 goes on and stays on.

psu : Ultra X-Connect 500W

Scroll down to the sixth picture. the cable on the left is everywhere called P4 cable. maybe this is my problem? the mobo has a 2x2 pin connector slot labelled as 12v atx. could i have the wrong cable? this "P4 cable" fits perfectly, however.

PS. I've also played with the front panel connectors - disconnected everything but the power-switch and I tried it backwards and forwards. +/- aren't marked on the cables. No change at all.

hostyle

I took out the motherboard and brought it over to my main rig, and hooked it up to the 20-pin power supply, unused 2x2 ATX power connector and power switch. Everything went as expected. Would I therefore be correct in assuming its the PSU thats the problem? And most likely the 2x2 P4 cable?

hostyle

I just read an old thread on slashdot that compared various PSUs and it mentioned that the Ultra X-Connect does not have Active PFC, and that this is required in Europe. Ultra do make European PSUs, but mine was shipped from America. Could this be the problem? What is Active PFC anyway?

Neuro

I wouldn't worry about the P4 12V cable, that should be plugged into the motherboard if there's a connector on the motherboard for it.

You should try installing a graphics card from an existing computer; the mobo BIOS may be refusing to start because it cannot detect a graphics card to allow it to display it's POST results. Try it out and inform us of the result.

Nor should you worry about your PSU using Passive PFC (Power Factor Correction). For more information about PFC visit http://www.dansdata.com/gz028.htm

CombatCow

ok well to rule out the psu once and for all, test it outside the case, try this out if you feel brave....


We'll start off with testing the PSU's motherboard connector. First things first, unplug all the power connectors from your computer. Then, grab a piece of wire (we used a piece from a model train layout) and connect the green wire to the black wire next to it, as seen below. Once done sucessfully, flip the power switch on the back of the PSU and you should hear the fan start running.




Taken from here


CC
*ps i wont be held responsible if you fry yourself :rolleyes:

sutty

Could be a number of things. The first one that comes to mind is a short on the motherboard. Try looking underneat it and seeing if there is any extra mounts there that shouldn't be there.

An other thing to take a look at CMOS jumpers. Some board come with them shorted. It can cause a problem like this on certin boards.

hostyle

Thanks for all the replies. I don't feel like trying to short the PSU The mobo isn't being shorted either though - removed from case and placed on insulated surface - same thing happens. I could test it with a graphics card, but I hadn't time today, and during the day at work I decided to make the AMD64 mobo my main rig and power it with the existing Chieftec PSU which it POSTed with. Will transfer the older mobo into the new case and make that the multi-terabyte fileserver (more PCI slots for SATA expansion cards). That should happen sometime during the next couple of days after careful backups and downloads of updated drivers n things. I'll report back whatever happens. Again thanks guys.

hostyle

An update on this.

I re-arranged the parts in my two boxen and the AMD64 is purring away like a kitten with an older Chieftec PSU. Last night I was twiddling away again with the X-Connect and an older mobo (that doesn't require the 4-pin cable), and something similar was happening. So I got a little frustrated and started pressing the power switch on and off over and over. There was a very loud pop (rather similar to what happens when you have the voltage set to 110 rather than 230) and it seems that I have now fried the Ultra X-Connect without ever having got it working. I opened it up and theres nothing apparently burned out.

Does anyone know what usually goes when you hear that really loud pop? Is it a resistor/capacitor in the PSU? A plug fuse? Or a fried mobo?

Also anyone want to buy a quite possibly fried Ultra X-Connect 500W PSU plus all those snazzy cables? Could make a really nifty mirror ...

gline

if there is a fuse inside the psu i would think it is that , or a safety switch???try shorting it as was shown above to see if the problem is with the psu.

youcancallmeal

So you hadnt tried to the get ultra-x psu running with the older mobo until now?
Thats a shame cos the 30 days returns policy you mentioned is obviously gone now. Warranty should sort you out though. Either way get rid of the obviously dodgey ultra-x!

hostyle

gline wrote:

if there is a fuse inside the psu i would think it is that , or a safety switch???try shorting it as was shown above to see if the problem is with the psu.

I tried that and no joy - nothing happened. I decided to try it on another older (but working) PSU I and again nothing happened.

I also found out that the loud pop was just the fuse blowing on the power lead. Ultra PSU still does the same as always. Found someone with the exact same problem at last (which is mildly comforting), they RMA'ed it: http://www.icronticforums.com/showthread.php?t=5682

I've contacted frozenCPU to see what they can do if anything. If they can't help I guess I'll contact Ultra.

rsynnott

hostyle wrote:

I just read an old thread on slashdot that compared various PSUs and it mentioned that the Ultra X-Connect does not have Active PFC, and that this is required in Europe. Ultra do make European PSUs, but mine was shipped from America. Could this be the problem? What is Active PFC anyway?

Active PFC is a system for cleaning up the electricity returning from your computer, and as you said it's mandatory in Europe. See http://www.dansdata.com/gz028.htm

DirtyHarry

isnt there a red switch on the back of the psu? it changes the voltage or something? a mate of mine just got a case of his sent to my place from america, an Aspire psu, had a voltage switch, do u have one on that psu?

hostyle

DirtyHarry wrote:

isnt there a red switch on the back of the psu? it changes the voltage or something? a mate of mine just got a case of his sent to my place from america, an Aspire psu, had a voltage switch, do u have one on that psu?

Yes. It was/is set correctly to 230.

frozenCPU got back to me promptly and said to contact Ultra Products. Still waiting for a response from their UK division.

gline

i hope thet rma that for you