Powersupply light blinking/faded

[technician]

This is kinda weird, but it's been going on for awhile and hasn't gone away so I wanted to know if this is a sign that my PS is going down the tubes. I recently purchased this Antec SX1030b, and the power supply light was nice and bright. Now its faded (sometimes goes back to full bright), and blinks sometimes like the HDD light. I have not performed any mods to the case or the LEDs themselves. Is my PS going bad? I do have the following in my system:

24x10x40 CD-RW
52X CD-ROM
16X DVD-ROM
7200rpm HDD
1.4GHz Thunderbird (can only get it to 1.3GHz)
1gb PC133 RAM (ehancements via BIOS)
(4) Antec 80mm case fans
GlobalWin FOP38 on the CPU

I would think a 300 watt could handle all this, but I'm wondering all the same. Any opinions would be appreciated!

 

[dude8604]

Maybe you should take out the 52X CDROM. I would think that the PS could handle it, but since you can use the DVDROM to read CDs, then you don't need the CDROM.

 

[starwarsdad]

You are probably consuming more power than that PS can keep up with. I second dude8604's suggestion. That is quite a bit of draw on a 300W PS.

Out of curiosity, why can't you get your processor up to speed?




edit for spelling

 

[dude8604]

I think its because of his PS, which I guess doesn't give enough power to the CPU to run at full speed.

 

[starwarsdad]

So the CPU is running slow rather than crapping out?

 

[technician]

Hmm...okay, I'll try and disconnect the 52x CD-ROM...to see if that will help. I really can't figure out why the CPU won't step upto the rated 1.4GHz speed. The computer just always locks up, in fact, and I can't even get the CPU to run at 266 FSB, no matter what speed I go at. Does this confirm PS problems?

 

[HappyPuppy]

Those three optical drives aren't using any power at all unless you have cd's in all three at the same time and you are reading or writing to them. Taking one or all three out won't make a bit of difference unless, like I said, they are all being accessed at the same time. It's just like the floppy drive, it isn't drawing any power unless you shove a floppy into it and try to read or write to it. As for the power LED, it could just be taking a crap. This isn't to say that you don't have a weak power supply.

Your first order of business when you built the computer should have been to get your processor running at 133. Admittedly this is just my point of view, but if the processor isn't performing to specs you have a very basic problem that should be addressed before anything else.

 

[technician]

Yeah, I've been trying to figure out a way to fix it (since it would be nice to run at rated speed). I just couldn't come up with a solution as to why it won't run at 1.4GHz. I just figured that since my LED is passing out, it might be that the PSU isn't giving enough power to the CPU.

So, if your idea is correct, either my LED is bad/going bad, or there is something fishy going on with my PSU...

 

[HappyPuppy]

Rob the power supply out of another computer and try it. At least then you will know where you stand as far as the PSU. I hesitate to suggest this because it's a bit sneaky, but if you don't have access to another PSU go buyone at BB, CUSA or whatever and try it. If it isn't the PSU, return it. Also, make sure it's it's AMD approved and try to get at least a 350 watter.