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Power Out of Range?!?!?!

R

RoyalTenenbaum

Member
Hey there,

I was downloading some updates for XP. I come into my room and I have a System Alert from the Intel Active Monitor saying that my 3.3+ V power went out of the recommended range! It happened for literally one second and then it went back down to the normal range. I use a Chieftec 420W PSU.

Anyone have any idea what this is about? I have everything hooked up through a surge/spike protector. Is it likely damage was done?

Thanks!
 
that happens all the time with (soory to say this) cheap psu's and very rarely on good ones.

I have an antec (not to flex the antec or anything) truepower 430w and no problems with voltages since i got it about a year ago.

IT can also be b/c you have too many things hooked up to your computer and the psu has a hard time keeping voltages steady (thats indiciticve of cheap circutry not lack of power) .

The 3.3v if I am not mistaken goes to your AGP slot, what video-card are you running?

Also if your power is steady check who makes the psu I think its a company called Austin. Call or e-mnail em ans see what they have to say.

As far as damage goes: If you lost power then that is not a bad thing reletively speaking, if you had a surge on the 3.3v then it depends how much, reccomended ranges are usually soft in themselves and likely nothing major happened. Repeated occurances like this you might want to maybe get a name-brand psu or RMA the one you have.

Yopur surge protector only protect you from stuff coming out of the wall, not stuff coming out of your psu.
 
Thanks for all the info!

It's the first time thats ever happened. It is always really steady and in the green on the Active Monitor.

I'm running an old GeForce 2 PCI card, so I don't even have anything connected in the AGP port.

I don't really feel like getting a new PSU (money is tight!). If it happens again, I will. But until then, should I just monitor it and see if its alright?

When I have a few programs up, the power reads...

12.250 on the 12v
5.156 on the 5v
3.420 on the 3.3

Thanks!
 
Thanks a lot for your help...If I may....Can I pester you some more?

Are those power readings I posted above pretty normal?

And, what exactly does it mean if the 3.3V went higher than normal for a second...I mean, was the RAM doing too much or something? Does it hurt the RAM directly to "spike" it for one second? And.......I have an Intel D865PERL board with a P4 2.6cGhz...This all has thermal throttling in case of CPU overheating...If the power gets to be too much, will it shut off before damage is done similar to what it does with thermal throttling?

THANKS!!!!
 
Mine right now are
11.86 on 12v
4.49 on 5v
3.28 on 3.3

Voltages tend to be in ranges... as long as yours falls into a safe range you are fine.

HAving small increases in power on a certian rail (in this case the 3.3v) can be completely random in my experience... or maybe maybe attribued to some direct influence. my memory and yours probably also is rated for a certian range of voltages... mine is rated from 2.6-2.90v continous power and can probably handle about 3.1 or so for a short burst... Any surge of power to any component is not good, but as long as it falls into a manageable range and does not occur often it shoudl not be a concern.

and no it wont shut down similar to CPU throttling, unless you have some program to monitor the voltages and do it for you.

What *might* happen is you get page faults or other memory errors during the time the spike occurs if you are using the memory IO at the time. Iv'e never had a surge happen to me along the 3.3v rail so i dont know what will happen for sure its pure conjecture at this point.
 
Thanks again...

I might be reading this incorrectly, but you said your memory is rated for 3.1 for a spike, but you have your voltage running at 3.28? Isn't that too much then?

Thanks!
 
I use Intel Active Monitor. It monitors the power and the temps. It has a lot of meters, etc and it warns me of a problem. All of my meters (power and temps) are always in the green (knock on wood). Therefore, I would imagine its fine, no matter what the PSU is.

What exactly do all these voltage readings mean? Is 3.3 the MAX for that rail? Because the threshold is at around 4!

Also, I wonder if the program would shut the PC down if things got out of control? It warns me, so maybe it would?

I know I'm repetitive, but I just don't want my PC to break down!!!
 
My PSU is a dual-fan 420W Chieftec. I think it's good quality, right? It has this...
------------------------
High Efficiency low noise and ripple
Complies with the Intel ATX 12V, 1.1V (Pentium 4)
Over thermal protection
Over current protection
Over voltage protection
Short circuit protection
Special Fan-M Connector (Fan Monitor Function)
Active PFC (Power Factor Correction)
Dual-fan design
------------------------------------

I got it for $40 from TigerDirect. Thoughts?
 
Originally posted by: RoyalTenenbaum
My PSU is a dual-fan 420W Chieftec. I think it's good quality, right? It has this...
------------------------
High Efficiency low noise and ripple
Complies with the Intel ATX 12V, 1.1V (Pentium 4)
Over thermal protection
Over current protection
Over voltage protection
Short circuit protection
Special Fan-M Connector (Fan Monitor Function)
Active PFC (Power Factor Correction)
Dual-fan design
------------------------------------

I got it for $40 from TigerDirect. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

it's cheap. despite the features, it's low quality. i mean, 400W powersupplies are found at 2x the price. doesnt that say something? it'll work fine, but dont expect anything spectacularly perfect.
 
Mday is right,.. if oyu paid $40 for a PSU dont expect voltages to be very steady... the capacitors and other electronics that control voltages and filter line noise might be sub-par
 
I read some reviews of the PSU and it said that they are quality. Does unsteady voltage neccessarily mean damage will be done? I'm just not sure if I want to drop 80 bucks on a 430 watt Antec. But if it is REALLY worth it, I might.

Are the voltage readings I listed above decent? Will an Antec get me something a lot better?

Thanks.
 
like i said befoer sometimes they go higher than you want sometimes they go lower... if its no more than about 1volt either way then I wouldnt worry at all.. your motherboard has circutry to handle small, intermittant shortages and surges.
 
Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate it!

It never varies too much, so I'm sure it will be fine.

Maybe you'll know this....if I'm playing a game, will Intel Active Monitor come up and warn me if anything is strange? Or will it at least make a log of it (because it does keep a log).

Thanks!
 
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