Harddrive and PS problems

[arod33324]

So here is the problem. I have a computer that has worked for a long time but has suddenly been acting up.
The specs are as following:
Athlon 2500+, nforce 3, Antec Tru330 PS 512MB ram etc.

The following info are the specs on the two power supplies with the first one being the one that I had originally.

PS #1 330W total
3.3V 28A
5V 30A
12V 17A

PS#2 350W total
3.3V 24A
5V 35A
12V 12 A

The problem with it is that the harddrive is going very slowly and sometimes when it gets to the windows splash screen, it will freeze. I thought it was a harddrive problem but then I checked the first power supply and the voltage on the 5V rail was running at 4.40, which is WAY low. The 12V and 3.3V rails were within normal range. Also it would only run on the failsafe settings, not able to run at 166mhz, only at 100mhz.

When I put in the second power supply I was able to clock it normally to 166 and then also it wasn't freezing anymore. This time the 3.3 and 5V settings were normal, but the 12V jumped up to 12.50 on the failsafe settings and up to 12.67 when i clocked it to the normal cpu settings.

Would anyone know what could be causing these problems? Do I just need a stronger power supply? Are some connections possibly loose?

Thanks in advance,
Hung

 

[arod33324]

bump

 

[Varmaduchi]

Did you double check the ram?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

As long as your 12 volt rail is between 11.4 and 12.6 (5%) you're fine. I wouldn't worry about a reading of 12.67 - that's very close to 12.6 and if you're getting that from the onboard voltage sensor then it's prone to innacuracy. Only accurate way to measure voltages is to buy a digital multimeter ($20 ar Radio Shack). Measure the 12v rail at one of the spare HDD connectors and at the mobo connector (most modern PSUs have a dual 12v rail).

You didn't mention what graphics card you're using but if it's a high-end card I would not consider a 350w PSU to be sufficient. Get a modern dual 12v rail PSU rated for at least 450 watts. Antec makes solid PSUs.