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hard drive spin down during boot up - hear me out

O

oopers

Member
Normally I would expect a computer to take longer to boot up after installing a video card, but only the first reboot. After installing my leadtek a400 6800gt 256mb card my hard drive seems to spool down (like it has turned off) during boot up. Then it turns back on a few minutes later and boots into windows. I've never seen anything like this and I'm very confused. The only other thing I changed is that I added two new 80mm fans. They are tied to the hard drive chain and my vid card has its own separate line.

Sparkle 350W PSU
A64 2800+
WD 60gig

My only other thought is that its getting old and dying, but I have no problems once booted into windows.

I figure that if it was a power issue the entire computer would just shut down.

Thank you
 
not necessarily. i had my rig in sig running on an x-clio fine at stock but when i pushed it, oc'd it, it would boot into windows but i'd get an error that my vga could not be started. switched to my tpII 550 and happier ever after and all that.

i'm not sure thats it, but its possible.
 
Ur card wont drain much power before it enters the windows envoirement. 2 x 80 mm fans only take < 5 watts.

If ur sure its ur PSU, just go to the BIOS screen >> Hardware monitor.

If ur voltage rail is dropping for ex. 12 V rail is showing as 11.2 means ur draining more power than ur PSU can handle.

For Graphic cards, ur PSU will be drained of its 3.3 V rail. Anything lower than 3.0 V on the 3.3 V rail is a danger.

Though, if ur harddisk is turning down, its not the PSU. Make sure u have connected the VGA connector otherwise u may experience cold boot.
 
I went through and disconnected everything but my hard drive, fans, vid card. It seems to spin the drive back up a little faster. How much power does this video card eat up? And what do people suggest for a power supply, size and brand please.

Thanks again
 
Ok, got home last night and unplugged everything but what's connected to my mobo (SB Live Platinum and the vid card). No opticals and only one HDD connected and it still spins down. Now it spins back up about 10 seconds later which is an improvement from the 1-2 minutes that it was taking before. So it logically makes sense that it is in fact a power issue. I'm just wondering what people think are decent power supplies, because I want to make sure it's going to keep a steady output for my computer in order to keep it stable. Besides this recent event I've had no trouble with my Sparkle.

Thank you for your input
 
this x-clio might be the best bang for the buck if it ever comes back in stock. they said it would yesterday, now today.

other than that, just find a nice quality (antec,sparkle,enermax etc) with 24a on the 12v rail.
 
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