Need advice on a PSU RMA

[cah]

Hi there - I bought a Xclio 750W from you guys in December.

Since I got it, I've had problems with hard disks, and now my HD array keeps on going offline because the voltage seems to be dipping below 10.61V from time to time.
In bios right on boot it reports 12V, but soon in windows it reports 10.61V. Unfortunately it is only now that I decided to install speedfan to find out why HDs were not staying on shortly after boot.

Can I RMA this unit because it is making it impossible to rely on this computer???????

PSU is 750W powering a E6600, 680i, 4*500GB WD drives, 8800GTS, X-fi, DVD, 2GB ram. So it's not as if I'm overloading it.

[Blitzen]

Speedafn, like all other software apps will not give you a correct reading.

Use a DMM under load.

What are the rails loaded at on this unit?

[cah]

Yeah, my neighbour has one so I'll use that when my exams are over.
It just seemed reasonable given that HDs stop getting power from time to time.
This PSU is basically a rebranded CWT PSU as used in the thermaltake toughpower series, so using the rails from those:

12V1 powers the modular PCI-E plugs and CPU1, 12V2 powers CPU2, 12V3 powers the motherboard and hardwired PCI-E plug, and 12V4 powers the remaining modular plugs.

So that means I have the motherboard and 8800GTS on 12V3.
Using 12V1 for the CPU1, 12V2 for CPU2 I guess.
12V4 powers 4*HDs (3A), one DVD-RW and a floppy drive.

I'm hardly pushing 18A on each rail am I?
Using a PSU calculator I only need 450W at stock, 530W when overclocked modestly.
So 750W PSU from channel well should be fine........but isn't.

How do I test 12V rail? From the black wire of a molex?
I don't think I can test the 5 or 3V rails from the big 24 pin because that's in the motherboard.......

My system totally went down this morning. The raid array went completely offline. And now windows won't install at all - just does the intiial setup then the HD array is not bootable afterwards.

[Chris P]

Hi there - I bought a Xclio 750W from you guys in December.

Since I got it, I've had problems with hard disks, and now my HD array keeps on going offline because the voltage seems to be dipping below 10.61V from time to time.
In bios right on boot it reports 12V, but soon in windows it reports 10.61V. Unfortunately it is only now that I decided to install speedfan to find out why HDs were not staying on shortly after boot.

Can I RMA this unit because it is making it impossible to rely on this computer???????

PSU is 750W powering a E6600, 680i, 4*500GB WD drives, 8800GTS, X-fi, DVD, 2GB ram. So it's not as if I'm overloading it.

Please log a query via the link below to arrange an RMA

http://web6.scan.co.uk/Support/Query.ASP?QueryType=R

Regards

[cah]

Ok, will do Chris as soon as I test it with a multimeter quickly so I don't waste your time, thanks.

[cah]

Well here is the shocker!!!! Just got a DMM on it last night and discovered I had a 7V rail.....jks, not really.

However, 5V was at 5.01 and 12V was at 11.97 rock solid. Didn't test it under load, so I will do that later.

The HD drive stays powered, but as soon as I try to write to it, it goes offline......HMMMMM. ideas? Now I'm confused. What looked like a PSU problem might not be after all.

[Blitzen]

Could be anything but i would be suprised if it was a 'lack of power' fault from the PSU.
XCLIO's are very good ya know

-Are the connections in correctly?
-Have you tried a different SATA/Molex connection (could be faulty)?
-Are you overloading any of the lines?

[cah]

You know I got the PSU precisely because it was a CWT unit and because I trusted their quality - but recently I've been wondering if Xclio make alterations.

However, my DMM readings have made me think that it could be the drives.
I bought 4*RE2 500GB drives from scan
2 got RMA'ed because they had an insane amount of bad sectors.
Out of the two I got back, one keeps on dropping off the array when I write to it....so i thought - wow, power problem!!!

Hmm, but sometimes all 4 drives drop off even though there is no problem with the cpu or GPU and in fact you can still use the desktop for 10seconds without a system drive before it bluescreens.

So today, I am on the internet and i find this:
This firmware resolves an issue where a WD1600YS, WD2500YS, WD4000YS, or WD5000YS hard drive is dropped from a RAID set without reporting errors after a period of normal usage. This utility is designed to upgrade the firmware of the following hard drives:

* WD1600YS
* WD2500YS
* WD4000YS
* WD5000YS

OH FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS YOU NINCOMPOOPS (add in every swear word under the sun).
I avoided hitachi because of noise/heat.
Avoided seagate because they weren't nippy.
Avoided Maxtor because they die on me.

So I say - hey, let's try WD. They are fast and with a good reputation.
FFFFSSSSS!!!!

I should've just got the samsung spinpoints or seagate...which is now maxtor. Gaaah.

I'll try flashing this tonight and see if it all works.

and a) No rail is overloaded; b) Tried tons of different connections; c) I did a speed rebuild. All the same.

However, the drive worked fine in another computer plugged into the mobo. Unfortunately idiot that I am did not account for the fact that plugging it into the mobo would make a difference.

[scrandman]

CWT also made the previous generation of Antec PSUs which are failing like hot cakes now...

However, it doesn't sound like a PSU issue to me...