Antec HCP 750 faulty 12v rail problem, any recourse?

[alfabet0]

I'm at fault for leaving this so long, I first ordered the PSU in 2012 from scan for my first PC build and from the second month it started playing up, and I simply but it down to my own inexperience, and refused to believe that such an expensive PSU could be at fault,
I spend most my time working, it's only now 3 years layer that I've gotten around to this.

Having spent countless hours trying to problem solve this I'm throwing in the towel, and now more than ever believe that this PSU has faulty 12v rail problem, I was about to but this in the Scan support forum but would appreciate any advice?

Here are some of the web articles connected to this:
Simply Look at the reviews, looking at one by Jason he refers to the HCP 750 rebooting problems I've been getting

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-HCP-75.../dp/B004BLMFY8

Quote from hardwaresecrets.com
(Unfortunately, there is something going on with Antec's quality control. The first two samples from the Antec HCP-750 High Current Pro we revived provided voltages below the minimum allowed)

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...Review/1632/11

Thank you for reading

[KeyboardDemon]

You can use this guide to test your PSU or if you prefer it you could buy a PSU tester like this one at Maplin.

[CustardInc]

if you prefer it you could buy a PSU tester like this one at Maplin.

Did a quick search on Amazon, this one looks identical to another, which has 4.5 stars only this one is cheaper and has an invalid 1 star review. Also looks like the same design as the Maplin version, but without the OEM branding.

[KeyboardDemon]

Did a quick search on Amazon, this one looks identical to another, which has 4.5 stars only this one is cheaper and has an invalid 1 star review. Also looks like the same design as the Maplin version, but without the OEM branding.

The Amazon one is a better colour too. After reading the review I don't see how that could be genuine, that item is through a third party market place company but it is fulfilled by Amazon, so I don't see how the wrong item could have been sent.

[alfabet0]

My thanks KeyboardDemon both the links and PDF, although I've tried taking taken my pc apart and back together 4 times and disabled the ASUS anti surge, I've never tried the ATX POWER SUPPLY TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE, think I might get me one of them LCD PC Power Supply Tester, but right now I'm wiped out from work.

Like CustardInc I'm sworn off paying full RRP from Maplin but must admit it is a very pretty colour what do think of this one off eBay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-LCD-20-...item35db4bf629

It has eBay Premium Service, 99.6% Positive Feedback Good no?

[herulach]

That psu tester will do next to nothing useful. You need some kind of datalogging, if its failing at idle then i'd be amazed it lasted 3 years. My sabertooth could log voltages to a text file, I'd suggest you get yours doing the smae thing then see if it is drooping/spiking under load. That being said, if you're convinced its a hardware fault, warranty it. The asus website has that listed as 5 years unless they've upped it since you bought.

[alfabet0]

I've gone with herulach suggestion and RMA'd it and sent in the following message:

Unstable bower supply unit
Dear Sir/Madam

From day 1 this unit has been unstable but now it's gotten so bad that I can't keep more than 7 tabs open on my browser before my PC shuts down and reboots with the following message:

(POWER SUPPLY SURGES DETECTED DURING THE PREVIOUS POWER ON.
ASUS ANTI-SURGE WAS TRIGGERED TO PROTECT SYSTEM FROM UNSTABLE POWER SUPPLY UNIT )

Having spent countless hours/days/months trying to problem solve this I'm throwing in the towel, I've disabled the ASUS ANTI-SURGE, I've swapped out every conceivable piece of my PC leaving only the PSU, and still the PC reboots any time I try and run a game or a application.

Reading the following articles gives me little hope a replacement will help but what recourse do I have left:

Quote from hardwaresecrets.com
(Unfortunately, there is something going on with Antec's quality control. The first two samples from the Antec HCP-750 High Current Pro we revived provided voltages below the minimum allowed)
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/antec...ply-review/11/

Here are some Amazon reviews connected to this:
looking at one by Jason he refers to the HCP 750 rebooting problems I've been getting and a possible cause (faulty 12v rail problem)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-HCP-75.../dp/B004BLMFY8

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate that you can't comment on the above articles but I felt the need to covey my dilemma in full

Reply was as follows:

Below are instructions on how to replace your product through us.

1)Please fill out the RMA Request form at http://www.antec.com/download/Antec_...quest_Form.xls

2)E Email the filled in Excel sheet to ANTEC EUROPE including a copy of your proof of purchase.
3)Make sure to include your TicketID number on the Subject.

On receipt of your request, we will authorize the RMA and send the RMA number to you, at which point you can return the product to our Rotterdam office for exchange(address included in the RMA Request form).

I did as requested after three days of waiting received the following Email:

Dear Sir,

Since you have these problems from the beginning we think the following has happened.

This is due to the strict power timings your Asus motherboard has.

We advise the following to stop this from happening.

Disable power monitoring in Bios and lower your C state to maximum 3.

However last week another customer also contacted Asus and was told to

1. Disable multi monitor support (in Bios)
2. Disable the on the motherboard available LED support (in Bios)
3. Make 1 PCI-E card the primary Master in Bios (in Bios)
4. Test each individual RAM (if they don’t match each other they will give different timings which the Asus mb will interpret as a wrong timing causing it to shut down the system)

And after he did what Asus support suggested he even did not needed to change the power monitoring and C states.

Could you check with Asus support please if everything has been installed correctly?


best regards,

Thought I've built two PC to date I regard myself as every bit the novice, reading the above Email I'd sum up the message as:
(You the consumer is an idiot please seek help elsewhere)
having worked in the retail for many years I believe this to be a valid assumption on their part, and on that note can someone guide me through the following steps:

1: Disable power monitoring in Bios
2: lower your C state to maximum 3

Are the above steps advisable or even dangerous please advise,I have disabled the ASUS ANTI-SURGE if that's what he meant by Disable power monitoring in Bios please guide me through process of (lower your C state to maximum 3) as Google'ing the above does not give any answers, perhaps I should contact Asus directly.

Please bare in mind I have two identical PC's with only deference being the graphics card memory and PSU, my other PC I've never had a problem with and I've swapped all parts save the PSU, and it's in the last few months that this PSU as become most unstable to the point that having more than 7 tabs open in Google chrome is inadvisable, before hand I was at the very least able to play Civ V for more than 5min before the reboots began.