Hi Tyrenta,
This does indeed sound like an inadequate power supply (PSU). From point 1)
of your post, I infer that you have at least 6 hard drives (min of 3 for RAID
5, min of 2 for RAID 1 and 1 for your OS). To confirm this, restart your
machine and enter your BIOS (refer to the motherboard manual). Select the tab
that shows system health (voltage levels, temperatures, fan speeds). Leave it
on that page for a while. What voltage readings are you getting? Try opening
and closing your optical drive(s). What happens to the voltages then? What I
am looking for here is any voltages which fall below the ATX specification.
If any of these voltages are low, then it could explain your problems, and
you will need to obtain and install a higher capacity supply. I include some
figures for your convenience. Note that I haven't included negative supply
voltages. These were only used in older systems.
Dwarf
ATX specification voltage ranges (all tolerances +/- 5%)
Voltage Rail Minimum Maximum
3.3VDC 3.14V 3.47V
5.0VDC 4.75V 5.25V
12.0VDC 11.40V 12.60V
5.0VSB 4.75V 5.25V (Stand By)
"Tyrenta" wrote:
Quote:
> Hi all -- I hope this is the correct place to post. I've had multiple
> issues and trying to narrow it down:
>
> 1) I have a homebuilt PC with Vista 32 Ultimate, and was trying to
> install a second RAID 5 for data storage (my OS is *not* on a RAID
> drive, and I do have an operational RAID 1 set-up). The Asus mb uses
> the nVidia nForce 570 chipset for this.
>
> 2) Initial symptoms: I was having difficulties getting the system to
> recognize the new drives when RAID was enabled on the SATA ports. This
> may have been drive specific. Hardware manager showed them, but the
> nVidia control panel dw would not launch and the Windows Disk
> Management it would hang on "Connecting to Virtual Disks...' [can't
> remember the exact phrase]. Also a similar random issues with
> launching IE when trying to diagnose -- the processes for both nVidia
> and IE showed active, but the windows would not show up (I would get a
> brief hourglass).
>
> I the process of trying to narrow the problem, I had a BSOD, with some
> mention of Power on the screen. I realize now I may have overloaded
> the PS (400W) by having too many drives on it (I know, I know...)
>
> 3) Current Symptoms: After this occurred the above symptoms got much
> worse. Can't launch IE at all (shows connecting with blank screen --
> though other programs such as Skype do still get an internet
> connection). Can't power down. Disk Manager does not work at all (even
> now with RAID disabled which fixed it prior). File manager does work,
> as does control panel. Furthermore, the system reboots every 15-20 min
> (I have yet to see the screen when it does this so no more info than
> that). Basically I can boot, but am severley crippled.
>
> 4) I have tried to repair from install CD (no errors reported). I have
> also tried system restore from a week prior. No effect.
>
> My question: Could these symptoms (besides the obvious rebooting) be
> caused by a bad power supply that I overloaded, or does it look like a
> full clean install (which I *really* don't want to do until I rule out
> everything else). Any ideas? Thanks for anything you can offer.....
>
>
>