Hard Drive not the usual

**xBrady** · 11-06-2004, 04:26 PM

Your problem has NOTHING to do with your hard drive and everything to do with your power. Also, mounting it vertically does not increase the chance of it skipping.

**jjh221** · 11-06-2004, 04:40 PM

I just put my lilliput back on the psu and i dont get the missing os problems, it just keeps rebooting, unless i start my truck. I also use the pw-70A though its the 70A not 70, 120watt max 100watt cont. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=6705995818 look there. If you have the 70 not 70a says you cant have 3.5" harddrive. I think

**Matthew230** · 11-06-2004, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by saintx

How do i take the itps out of the equation? i need it to make a steady 12v right? or does the PW-70 cableless mini-atx dc to dc power supply make a steady 12V. i hope my itps isnt bad, i guess i will have to find out. maybe a loose connection? i think my ground is good(hard wired to car), i will check my connections to the computer (a power connector plug into computer) I dont have these things hard wired, i am using connectors i got from an electronics store, connectors much like the power plug that goes into a laptop. (dont know the technical term

)

i get a good ~12V at the connectors

Use a multimeter to check that the ITPS is putting out enough volts. I don't know anything about clean power supplies etc. as I have an Opus.

Are you using a cigarrette lighter, or have you tapped into the car's power supply ? You might be using a guage of wire that won't carry the amperes required. I'm not an expert on the power problem, but if you search in the forums I'm sure someone else will have had a similar issue.

If all else fails order a 150w Opus.

**saintx** · 11-06-2004, 04:45 PM

thanks for all the advise. my wires are connected directly to the car battery, i am using wires that are big enough. i will use a multimeter and see what i get. I hope i dont have to move to an opus. I do have a pw-70a, unless www.mini-box.com sent me the wrong thing. is there any way of looking on it and telling?

**jjh221** · 11-06-2004, 04:47 PM

Im not sure but i looked at mine a while ago when before i put it in and i think it said 120 on it.

**Bugbyte** · 11-06-2004, 05:00 PM

You definitely have a power problem. If it helps, I've had my 3.5" drive mounted horizontally with no shock protection and haven't had any problem with it. It's been in the car for months.

However, I have had the problem of not being able to boot with the car off. I'm using an ITPS and PW-120 DC-DC supply. I recently removed the ITPS as it drops the voltage and I suspected it as the cause of several mysterious freezes and as the source of problems requiring me to reload windows a half dozen times.

Running the power straight into the PW-120 didn't hurt the computer but it didn't solve my problem of being able to boot with the car off. I finally caved in and am switching to a laptop hard drive that requires less voltage. You can find lots of people advising that either this or an Opus is the way to go.

They are right.