The PSU chronicle

Well, I still don't know what the hell is going on.

I took my new PSU into the shop to show them what was up. But when they plugged it into their test gear, the multimeter showed normal readings across the board. In fact, compared to my readings, some of the voltages I said were high were a little low, while those I said were low were a little high.

Anyway, they suggested I retest my PC with the old PSU plugged in, and then retest the PSU myself by plugging in only 1 device at a time to see if there was something drawing an unusual amount of juice that would cause my low readings.

So home I went. First I plugged in my old PSU into the mobo and video card alone - no hard drive. The system posted fine and the BIOS readings looked very normal. Then in went the new Corsair PSU (the same setup). The readings were still low. But I did make note of the fact that the power button was now acting normal again and starting the power supply on the first button press.

So I shut it down and added the hard-disk and floppy, all on the same cable. This also posted fine and the voltages were still low. But again, the ATX wake-up button seemed to be delivering enough power. So then I shut it down and plugged in the second IDE line for my optical drives (these on a second line). Also booted okay.

I dreaded the next step (because I had troubles with the case accessories before). But I shut down a final time and plugged in the case fans and front-pannel (on the line with the optical drives). And surprise! Everything was up and running and no sign of the strange ATX power button weirdness I reported earlier. It seems like the low voltage was NOT the cause of the false-start because I'm still reading between 4.70 and 4.73 volts on the 5V line.

I refer you to the old fallback: "why ask why?"

updates all around

The running commentary on my PSU: I've learned that I'm not the only one with "false starts" on my PC. According to http://www.pjrc.com/about/rambling/antec.html my ATX power switch is a symptom of a weak 5V line. I can't wait to check out the readings in my BIOS. If I can confirm it's the same problem, I'm taking the thing to the shop to show them and then ask for a replacement.

Also, about a month ago I reported seeing cracks in my paintball loader. Well, DXS never got back to me. I even called this support line and left and message. Anyway, in the end (last week) I tried what I swore I wouldn't do: contact the store that sold me the loader. These guys in the past would take an eternity to respond to me but this time sounds like they got my back. They gave me an RMA number and said depending on what the thing looks like, they'll send me a new loader. They also thought to warn me in advance that they only had black ones left in stock (I'm at the point where I don't really care). Anyway, I shipped it off yesterday. We'll see what I get back...

My last Amazon order is still in limbo. I wrote about this in January, I think. The Annihilation book is in but the Voltron book is not. Argh. Good thing Weirdguy still invites me to the comics shop every week (he goes for the designer collectibles while I go for weekly randomness).

Speaking of which, here's a shout-out to a new player in the virtual world: www.canadianvinyl.ca - they're so new I was member number 2... I'm pretty much Weirdguy's test monkey. But he did open a section on the forums for discussion of anime PVC statues. The only collectible vinyl I own is a PandaZ Robonimal. I should blog that in the near future...

ATX weirdness

In the 24 hours following my install of the Corsair VX450W PSU into my box (with an Asus A7N8X-E motherboard), I've discovered something ...weird.

From a "cold" start, I must press the ATX power switch twice. The first press doesn't do anything. But a second press will boot up the PC. Once up and running, it exhibits no symptoms of unstable power or anything.

And instead of holding-for-a-second to shut down, simply pressing and releasing the ATX power button will cause the PC to power down (including proper shut-down of the OS and everything!). In fact, it behaves exactly like it should if I had pressed-and-held-for-a-second.

Now the weirdness of shutting down doesn't bother me much. Because I can't even remember when the last time was I had to use the physical ATX switch to shut down my PC. I always use the OS software shut-down. But it does bother me that I must hit the switch twice to turn on. I can't help the feeling "if it's not working properly, that might be a symptom of something else wrong."

Update: a couple of hours later while browsing my motherboard manual, I've learned that the power-down delay is a programmed behaviour of ATX. For some reason, my board's default CMOS setting is for "instant-off" when you hit the power switch while the PC is on. After playing in the BIOS, I was able to set the delay on - tested and working. Just proves what I said about not using that function too often, eh? "not often" as in "never."

The Corsair PSU

I needed to have a spare anyway. A few weeks ago, the PSU in my parents' computer fried (I'm serious: a loud pop and a puff of smoke came out the back!)... So I figured, I have a decent PSU in my machine... but it'd be cool to have a new one (it's always cool to have new stuff).

This hunt started back in the fall when Ars Technica did a highly unusual hardware round-up: they reviewed a whole bunch of Power Supply Units. While the Seasonic S12-II came out on top, Corsair's offering was in the running too. And in fact, it picked up a ranking at SilentPCreview as well. I picked up the VX today at a local shop. Now I've never purchased my own PSU before... but I figured, I've built PCs before... all PSU follow the same basic principles, yes?

After being fairly experienced with trying to save a few bucks buying OEM products, I was pleased to know that in a retail box, even PSU manufacturers like to spice up their goods. The box opened to reveal a cloth draw-string bag with the Corsair logo silk-screened on it holding the PSU. Too bad it's a little ragged like it's been snagged on something before. Oh well. The PSU also came with a bunch of plastic-ties and a case badge (yeah! another one for my collection).

I was a little confused at first because the main plug was 24-pin and while I didn't panic, it took me a moment to realize that the 4 extra pins just snapped open to swing away from the rest. Presto: a 20-pin plug. Another thing that threw me off was that on my old PSU, it had a separate line to the motherboard that could monitor the fan. Well, the VX doesn't have one. And finally, I also worried a bit to realize how old my platform is getting. I don't own a SATA drive... so pretty much half the plugs are useless to me. And would there be enough 4-pin Molex plugs for my IDE drives and video card? Hmm...
Well... yes.
The VX completely maxed out in my case to power a pair of optical drives, my HDD, video card, case fans, lights and front panel. I breathed a sigh of relief at the end of that install. All the unused lines were tied up and tucked into an unused drive bay. One last thing that drives me a little crazy: my PC is just as loud as it was before this PSU went in. Turns out my old PSU was an Enermax - while not the most silent PSU in the world, it did boast the "whisper" label on it. And of course, my two case fans are probably making most of the noise, however, I'm not too keen on removing those.

DS-Lite - a few days later

I go through those phases where I don't buy crap for weeks. And then there are the other times I just suddenly "feel like splurging." I've only had my DS for week or so. And I'm loving the Lunar RPG (while Cooking Mama got old real quick).

On Thursday my buddies at work quickly organized a Mario Kart DS tournament. If Nintendo did one thing right that Sony can't catch up with, it's that the games are small enough and the system RAM is big enough, game sharing is very very workable. With only one cartridge, 6 of us were able to connect to each other and race each other. How cool is that?

Anyway, Napoleon tipped me off to an awesome deal at Best Buy.I picked up this storage case today along with both my own copy of Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros. I'm pleased with the case - the inside is a soft rubbery lining that grabs the DS and the game cards. There's also room for a spare stylus (but why people lose those things, I don't understand since the DS has a frickin' slot built into it to keep the stylus!). There isn't much to be said for Mario Kart: it's a racing game. But I'm really loving the newest take on Super Mario - this is so cool it's almost retro. It's really an updated classic. Feels a bit like Super Mario Bros. 3 to me, which is nice, since I never got to play SMB3 all the way through in the old days (I didn't even own an NES back then).
Anyway, both games can be had for a sweet $30 each. Both great deals if you compare against typical retail pricing for either. The case by Intec was not on sale... but was on a shelf at eye level... and cost me $15. But that was alright since I figured, I played the game of hunt-for-best-price when I first got the DS. If I rationalize it that way, I actually got the case for $5. Hmm... O.o