Can my power supply be causing this problem?

JuffoWup

Junior Member
Apr 21, 2004
13
0
0
Hi,

Recently I've been having a problem where my hard drive would intermittently not be recognized on boot up. Suspecting upcoming hard drive failure, I replaced it with a brand new western digital hard drive, and also replaced the IDE cable and checked all the power connectors. While this worked for a couple boot-ups, today I had the exact same problem as before with the new hard drive!

Trying to fix the problem, I checked through my BIOS and noticed that the power supply voltages for the 12V rail was at 10.7-10.8V, and the 5V rail was at 4.4V, definitely lower than desired. I'm wondering whether a worn down power supply could be causing the intermittent failure I am experiencing, and whether I should try replacing my power supply or try something else first.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can offer.
 

HappyPuppy

Lifer
Apr 5, 2001
16,997
2
71
Your PSU voltages are way out of spec and most likely the cause of your problem. Buy a quality name brand PSU and enjoy your computing experience.