The fun of installing an X3.........

[herbiehancock]

Well, I got the opportunity to purchase an Ultra X3 power supply at a great price so I jumped on it.

It replaced a quite sufficient and nicely running Corsair HX620...but what the heck. I've never turned down the opportunity to "upgrade" on the cheap!

Well, last night I finally sold the Corsair ps, so I packed it up this morning and installed the X3.....and the fun began to ensue!!!

So, I get it all hooked up, plug it in, turn the computer on.....and everything spins up, lights up......but no video output and no booting of the OS.

All the fans spin up, the mb has its little "I got power" light lit, the hd is spinning, the Corsair Nautilus unit is pumping away....but no video, no booting!!!


Hmmmm..........and to top it off, the motherboard is sometimes beeping it has no memory on it. Strange indeed as it sure does have two strips sitting in it.

So the troubleshooting begins......and the hilarity. Fortunately, I have another very similar C2D system in the house to swap parts into and out of to eliminate this part or that part.

First the memory. I put mine into hers (my wife's system.) Strange, it boots fine. Put her memory into mine.....no video, no boot. Same complaint.

So I swap the parts back to where they came from and try something else. Now, please understand, the two systems are at completely opposite ends of the house.....so I begin to run a marathon as I go from end to end of the house swapping out parts to check if each is alright.

Hard drive......works in hers.....not in mine. Video card....again, video works on hers....nothing on mine.

OK......now that I see that ALL my parts are still working.....time to try some more "aggressive" tactics. I pull the power cord out of the ps and take the battery out of the motherboard. Let it sit for 2 hours to "kill" the CMOS and "reset" it.

Pop the batt back in, plug in the ps.........still same symptoms. No boot, no video.

OK....I'm getting really tired of the 100 yard dash here and no joy in my attempts to get this $#^(*#*$ power supply to boot my computer.

So I remove the battery, unplug the ps.......and go take a nap. Been up since 3AM screwing around with this dammed thing and it's now 2PM.

I get up and decide to re-attack it at 8:30 PM........you know, fresh mind, fresh idea. Slept for a couple of hours, watched Cars on Starz, and some boxing. And I can't resist trying again.....and I hate using Debbie's computer!!! It's not that hers is slow or bad.....far from it. It's just her choices in settings, esp. the video resolution, that is driving me NUTS!!!

I sit down in front of the recalcitrant machine and ponder. Maybe it's the 8-pin 12V aux. wire from the ps.....maybe it's bad. And since I have a 4-pin to 8-pin adapter that Intel graciously supplied with my motherboard, maybe I'll try that.

So I open the box of wiring from the X3.....dump them all out on my chair and poke through until I find the 4-pin 12V aux. wire. Plug in the adapter to it, remove the 8-pin form the ps, plug in the 4-pinner to the ps and mb and stand back.

Hmmmmmm..........now, that's interesting. That power cord that comes with the X3 sure is larger in diameter than the one I'm using.......

So let me change to the one Ultra saw fit to include with the ps. And as I'm crawling under the desk plugging in the new power cable to my UPS....it hits me. Maybe my 950VA UPS isn't providing enough oomph for the ps to boot the computer. Could it be?

So I streeeeetch the new power cable to the power supply from a wall socket......plug it in to the ps and turn on the computer.

Eureka!!! IT LIVES!!! The Beast Is ALIVE!!!!


Which just goes to show you.........sometimes it's the simplest of things that are the problem......not the most obtuse. It should have been obvious to me......or maybe to someone who is awake and coherent, that my UPS isn't strong enough to power a 1KW power supply. DUH!!!

So now, pardon me as I hastily write some emails to the support team at Ultra retracting my....ummmmm...not so nicely worded "I thnk your power supply is junk" emails I wrote this morning. Eating crow is just so dandy!!!

 

[lxskllr]

Nice story, I'm glad you got it worked out :thumbsup: One thing I don't understand though... Just because the psu is capable of 1kw, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily draw that much from the wall. I would have thought that the 950W UPS would have been plenty. Could the UPS be wearing out?

 

[herbiehancock]

It's got a brand new battery.....well, it was replaced 3 months ago.....and it's an APC unit. Passes all its internal checks when you turn it on.......maybe the circuitry is wearing as it is about 3 years old.

And with its output, that's why I didn't even give it a second thought......but since I made three changes at one time, maybe I'll power down later in the morning hours, put the ps back on the UPS and see if it powers up like that.....with the power cord Ultra provided. You should see the thickness of that cord.....almost looks like 12ga extension cord. (It's actually listed on the insulating outer cover as 16/3C, but it looks like it's the same diameter as some 12ga extension cord I have.)

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: lxskllr
Nice story, I'm glad you got it worked out :thumbsup: One thing I don't understand though... Just because the psu is capable of 1kw, that doesn't mean it'll necessarily draw that much from the wall. I would have thought that the 950W UPS would have been plenty. Could the UPS be wearing out?

1,000VA is about 700 watts, so 950VA would be 700 watts or slightly less. And since Ultra psu's have never been all that efficient, along with the fact that all switching psu's are less efficient when being operated in the lower part of their output capability, it makes sense.

 

[lxskllr]

I completely misread the spec on the UPS. I guess I saw what I thought I should see, not what was really written 😱 That makes more sense to me now lol

Edit for small typo

 

[herbiehancock]

Well, the power supply is built by Andyson and is a server-based unit. Its efficiency ran around 80% or better except at extremely low loads....under 150W or so it had efficiency measured at 77%.....and also ran into efficiency problems at full loads......around 77-79% at 900+W output. Between those two extremes, it was >80% efficient, so it's one of the more efficient Ultras out there. But I think that's more the effect of the OEM manufacturer rather than Ultra doing anything special......just a better choice of OEM supplier of this line of power supplies for Ultra.

True....it won't qualify for an 80 RoHS rating, but it's not one of the worst out there.



But, since I made three separate changes at once, I'm not completely certain which one is responsible for the "fix".

So, when I shut it down later this morning.....I'll first put the native 8-pin +12V aux connector back in.........and if it boots with that in place, as I think it will, that was not the culprit.

Then I'll plug it back into the UPS.....which is the primary culprit in my mind, anyway. If it boots then, so be it. If not..........gotta go buy a 1500Va or larger for it.

If it actually does boot when plugged into the UPS, then it was the power cord being too small to pass enough current to the ps......which is a maybe. The power cord that was there is about half the diameter of the one Ultra packed with the ps and is being used right now.

We shall see...............

 

[herbiehancock]

As a follow-up to my dilemma with the X3......seems maybe the UPS wasn't the culprit after all.

I powered down my system and put a new hard drive in that I bought a few weeks ago...that 160GB Maxtor/Seagate 7200.9 ps that Fry's had for $40....on a whim. I have a couple of copies of Vista Ultimate and just couldn't stand it any longer.....had to load at least one of them.

So while the computer was unpowered, I put the native 8-pin +12V aux. power cable back on the power supply and attached it to the motherboard, an Intel BadAxe 2.

Plugged the ps back in after I got the hd all connected, turned the computer on and, again, NO BOOT!!

So I turned it off, unplugged the ps, put the 4-pin aux. cable back on the ps (the X3 has separate connections for the 8-pin and 4-pin aux. cables) with its attached 4-to-8 pin adaptor, plugged the ps back in, turned on the computer.....and it BOOTED!

I guess that either the 8-pin aux. port on the power supply is bad, the cable is wired incorrectly or is somehow damaged---although it looks perfect and is brand new---or my motherboard just doesn't like what's coming out of the 8-pin connector on the X3. Works perfectly using the 4-pin aux. port w/the 4-to-8 pin converter though.

Strange. I'll have to email Ultra's support in the morning and ask if there have been issues associated with my motherboard and the 8-pin aux port on the power supply....or maybe get a replacement 8-pin cable from them to eliminate that from what is happening. Hate to think I have an internal problem in the ps, though. Really don't want to have to RMA the darned thing already!

🙂

Cheers!!