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1. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Chuck A. McIntyre Jan 2, 2010 5:47 AM (in response to Powered by Design)Glenn:
On most motherboards I've owned there is a Hardware/Health area of the BIOS where voltage problems are indicated. The power supply is one of the most neglected pieces of hardware on a computer.
There was a time when Dell used power supplies on their computers that had the positive and negative leads that connect to the motherboard reversed. Of course the motherboard was designed to accept this reverse setup. This pissed a lot of people off, because a standard replacement power supply would blow out the board. I don't know when Dell discontinued this practice, but you should check your Dell model before replacing the power supply.
I recommend you find your power supply model# and then use one of the online power supply wattage calculators to see if your power supply is supplying enough wattage. I believe newegg.com has one of these calculators.
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2. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Chuck A. McIntyre Jan 2, 2010 5:59 AM (in response to Powered by Design)Here is the newegg power supply calculator:
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3. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Harm Millaard Jan 2, 2010 6:09 AM (in response to Powered by Design)Glenn,
In this link I gave a link to a very good PSU calculator. I suggest you get the Pro version: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/504907. It is cheap and well worth the few $$$ and may serve you well with your new system as well.
Can you post a screenshot from HWMonitor and Speedfan? Both give you some indication of voltages supplied and temps. Also compare these figures with the BIOS info that Chuck mentioned. Unfortunately the calculator Chuck mentioned is very limited. It does not allow for more than 4 memory sticks, no overclocking, no raid controllers, and a whole lot of other stuff, such as capacitor aging and average loads.
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4. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 2, 2010 6:36 AM (in response to Harm Millaard)I went into the BIOS but could not find what Chuck said.
I went line by line but maybe I missed it.
Here are those screen caps Harm.
From these I cant tell ?
Glenn
EDIT: Here is the info from the speed fan info page:
Scanning SMBus at $ECE0...
Decoding DIMM #0
Memory type is DDR2
Module Ranks : 1
Levels : 1.8V
Parity : NO PARITY
Refresh Rate : 7.8us
Total Size : 512MB
Decoding DIMM #1
Memory type is DDR2
Module Ranks : 2
Levels : 1.8V
Parity : NO PARITY
Refresh Rate : 7.8us
Total Size : 1024MB
Decoding DIMM #2
Memory type is DDR2
Module Ranks : 1
Levels : 1.8V
Parity : NO PARITY
Refresh Rate : 7.8us
Total Size : 512MB
Decoding DIMM #3
Memory type is DDR2
Module Ranks : 2
Levels : 1.8V
Parity : NO PARITY
Refresh Rate : 7.8us
Total Size : 1024MB
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5. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Harm Millaard Jan 2, 2010 7:02 AM (in response to Powered by Design)Glenn,
Maybe your mobo does not support this (being somewhat older), but I would be interested to see results like this:
and
because that will show the voltages on the different rails.
BTW, your disk temperatures are pretty high as are the CPU and GPU. These are of course older components and these run hotter than current CPU/GPU so one can't really compare these to modern components, but cooling may be an issue. When was the last time you cleaned out the interior of your case, removed all the accumulated dust on the CPU cooler and cleaned your system fans?
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6. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 2, 2010 7:11 AM (in response to Harm Millaard)Thanks for the screenshots.
I guess im not going to worry about it to much.
I can wait for my new build.
At that time i will take 2 of my drives out and put them in the new rig.
I put in a new clean hard drive and installed windows clean about 5 months ago and got a can of air and cleaned out allot of junk.
it was doing it here and there before.
Its just an old system.
Thanks for all the help: GLenn
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7. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Bill Gehrke Jan 2, 2010 1:07 PM (in response to Powered by Design)Glenn, I looked up the histroy on the XPS family. From your date you may have a XPS 400 or earlier. The XPS 400 had a 375 watt power supply, way to little for what you are doing.
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8. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 3, 2010 12:03 AM (in response to Bill Gehrke)Thanks.
You would think it would be easier to find out what is inside the computer.
Kinda like: right click your computer select power supply. something like that.
It only goes to the BSOD once in awhile so its not to bad, and it usually only on startup.
Were in the middle of trying to buy a new house. Its a short sale and it takes forever to get the banks to even look at our offer.
So im planing on building a new computer once we move and taking 2 of the drives out of this and taking the Nvidia 9800GT out and putting back in the slower Nvidia that was in there before I put in the faster card.
Once I take those out I think it should go back to a more stable usage of the power supply that is in there and should be OK.
Of course it will still be slow but its a good e-mail and other stuff computer for girlfriend. Let this system take the daily abuse and have the new system clean.
At least when I run the computer I know what not to allow or install.
I guess I didnt take last place after all.
One person with a slower system then mine.
I will do better once we move. I will run it again.
Thanks for setting that up.
It helps others see what works and what doesnt.
ENjoy: GLenn
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 14:07:44 -0700
From: forums@adobe.com
Subject: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Glenn, I looked up the histroy on the XPS family. From your date you may have a XPS 400 or earlier. The XPS 400 had a 375 watt power supply, way to little for what you are doing.
>
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9. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Harm Millaard Jan 5, 2010 6:07 AM (in response to Powered by Design) -
10. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 5, 2010 9:42 AM (in response to Harm Millaard) -
11. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Harm Millaard Jan 5, 2010 9:48 AM (in response to Powered by Design) -
12. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 5, 2010 11:02 AM (in response to Harm Millaard) -
13. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Harm Millaard Jan 5, 2010 11:17 AM (in response to Powered by Design)Sorry Glenn, I just thought I could give you some more handy tools to get the info, but unfortunately, if the sensors are missing....there is not much we can do to help you.
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14. Re: I Need a way to test computer Power Supply
Powered by Design Jan 5, 2010 1:41 PM (in response to Harm Millaard)Thanks for trying.
Once we move in the next month I will be building a new system and this one will just be for backup and internet junk.
I think it will run better once I pull out one of the hard drives and put back in the original graphics card that uses less power.
I can wait.
Now I have one more tool for when I do get a better system.
ENjoy: GLenn












