5v rail going nuts on Antec TruControl 550

[poppyq]

Ok, so I've had some weird issues lately and my motherboard only likes to show "OK" for 3.3v and 12v rails in BIOS (doesn't show 5v for some reason, who knows). Anyways, I installed speedfan to check the voltages because of the issue here. Anyways, this is what I came across...solid 12v, solid 3.3v rail, but the 5v rail is fluctuation like crazy. It only actually hits above 5v two times in an 11 minute period, and sometimes dropping as low as 1.94v (this is while only having irc open, listening to some mp3's, and this browser and speed fan). This can't be normal. Anyways, I've messed with the truecontrol settings and 5v is now turned as high as it goes and this is still the result so it's not fixing anything. Is my 5v rail screwed? Should I be looking at buying a new psu immediately? (warranty anyway). Suggestions or comments welcomed.

Link to the voltage graph, red is the 5v rail

Edit: after posting I looked at the graph again, it seems to have somewhat stabilized, but at 3.52v (this is the 5v rail with the truecontrol knob turned all the way up).

 

[mechBgon]

Suggestion: Use a voltmeter instead of software, and see what the voltages really are

 

[Anubis]

something is wrong with the PS

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Anubis
something is wrong with the PS

Use a VOM as mech said before you assume ANYTHING

 

[poppyq]

Ok, so I decided to play a game and this what it showed:

Voltages while gaming (5v rail)

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: poppyq
Ok, so I decided to play a game and this what it showed:

Voltages while gaming (5v rail)

Go here. Or at least here.

 

[Anubis]

as much as I agree with mech about testing it with a volt meter, it still shouldent look like that, ive seen ones that have just read low because of software but never like that

 

[poppyq]

Originally posted by: Anubis
as much as I agree with mech about testing it with a volt meter, it still shouldent look like that, ive seen ones that have just read low because of software but never like that

My thoughts too, I can understand it not reading the right voltage (being low or high) but fluctuating like that is just not normal in any circumstance (if the psu was good and I wasn't having any other problems, which I am having)

 

[Zebo]

Trash that Antec . Here's 15 min of farcry with enermax 465

A64 3000 oc 2560 Mhz
1 gig ram OC 256 Mhz 2.5-3-3
6800Ultra OC 450/1200
Water pump 12V

and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[mechBgon]

Seriously, do you think your computer would run if the 5V rail (actually) dropped below 2 volts?

 

[Zebo]

I fried my antec true 480 in 15 minutes.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Zebo
I fried my antec true 480 in 15 minutes.

And I have approximately 40 Antec TruePowers (edit: ok, I guess some are SmartPowers) running flawlessly day after day in our work fleet, including a TruePower 550EPS in our primary domain controller.



poppyq, what I'm getting at is that you're putting an awful lot of faith in a 2-cent sensor IC that isn't even in the power supply. It's out on the motherboard, which has a CPU, a GPU, memory, fans and other stuff all playing tug-of-war with the power. Why do mobos have capacitors on them...? To help even out the power. Think about this. If you want to really know what voltages the power supply is providing to the motherboard, you need an instrument that lets you measure the voltage where the PSU connects to the board.

 

[Zebo]

Yes, EPS kicks butt, I recommeded it an hour ago in another thread. Unfortunatly you need a 24 to 20 adaptor. No so great for the others in my much limited experiance. Underloads, thier small caps can't hope to deal with overclcokers needs. OP did'nt say what his needs are but just as a general principle after my 480 caught fire I have extreme anti antec bias. Poor QC? or just cound'nt handle the load I was presenting? Does' it matter? I fried a chip a mobo and the PSU. My 400Watter that came with 1040 SOHO could'nt even begin to overclock the mobile XP setup I was running with 5950 Vcard. When benching 3dmark it would just fail, HD's still spinning but nothing else on. I had similar rails like OP is showing too. Another 350 which came in slk3700 similar issues. Anyway, once I discovered OCZ and Enermax (even the 350) all my problems disappeared...well computer problems.

 

[mechBgon]

I like Enermax too, nothing against them per se But I thought you were more of a PC P&C guy?

Incidentally, when I do look at the voltages in our Asus BIOSes, the TruePower 12V lines are usually reading 11.3-11.4 volts. But guess what my little Radio Shack voltmeter says, when I do a reality check...? Yeah. That's an example of why I try to get people to stop taking their mobos' sensor chips so dasm seriously all the time, no matter what brand of PSU it might be.

 

[Zebo]

Teehee $$$$ otherwise I would be. Price/performance kinda sucks for them. Mech, When I had some of these PSU issues I began researching PSU's and computer useage, as it turns out according to a fireing squad article I found, all modern processors and Video cards are getting thier power from the 12V rail add to that 4-6 HD's Case fans, CDROms which also get thier Power From 12 I calculated that must be my problem. So I started looking at the 12V spec in all PSU's, Natually PCPC has high levels, I also found enermax, OCZ and Emacs/Zippy to have it also. But I also noticed Antec's basically was really low like many budget PSU's. Anyway I tried both enermax an OCZ and things have been great since.

Good Idea though, check with Multi Meter.

 

[poppyq]

Well I went and bought a multimeter. I'm not sure if this is an accurate way of testing but I just tested a molex connector. 5v was at 5.2 constant (adjusted it to 5v even with the antec truecontrol) and 12v was 12.25v (adjusted it to 12v even). Now if I could only figure out why my cpu fan header stops randomly only while playing games My motherboard seems to be more of the culprit here now. And yes, thanks for suggesting the multimeter and pushing for me to use it over the sensors.

 

[Zebo]

Good news.

What mobo is that ?

 

[poppyq]

Gigabyte K8NS Pro running an AMD 64 3200+

I already had to switch one memory stick to another slot because I was getting memory errors (started randomly after months of use). Soon as I moved it they went away. Had to move my cpu fan to the system fan header because the cpu fan header likes to randomly turn off while I'm gaming (a power down and power up starts it working again). Who knows what's next.

 

[Anubis]

glad to see it wasent the PS, voltage meters are great things, IDK if i would have gotten one i mostlikely would have tried a diff monitoring progie first

sounds like you need a new mobo, what fan do you have on your HS, i make sure all my fans run off 4-pin moled connectors to avoid any mobo issues with them

 

[poppyq]

I tried the monitoring program that comes with the motherboard and for some reason (same as BIOS) it totally ignores the 5v rail. It only displays info for the 12v rail and 3.3v rail. Maybe this is an indication of them hiding something with it? Who knows. Anyways, the fan I'm using is the Zalman 7000CU (CNP-7000CU or something, the all copper one).

 

[Anubis]

have you tried Moather Board Monitor? it seems to be pretty accurate as far as things go, reads my 12v a lil under tho
Truepower 430 reads

3V: 3.31v, 5V: 4.99v, 12V: 11.52v

things been sold for over 2 years

 

[poppyq]

When I tried MBM in the past on this mobo it had issues determining the correct sensors for the voltages and I didn't know which ones to specify manually.

 

[Viper96720]

Sounds like your monitoring the fan only ones. Those vary the voltage to control fan speed.

 

[imported_Phil]

Do you have, if applicable, Cool 'n' Quiet enabled in the BIOS?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Dopefiend
Do you have, if applicable, Cool 'n' Quiet enabled in the BIOS?

That's what I was wondering too. If you have Cool 'n Quiet enabled, and your CPU fan is also a variable-speed one (either thermally-regulated or having a manual adjuster), then your fan might be getting a doubly-reduced voltage that it simply can't keep running on. 60% of 50% of 12V? No.