Thread: Is my PC not getting enough power?

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Actually, the Opus 150w PSU is likely underpowered for that setup.
The Barton 2500+ has a max potential draw of 53.7w. The Opus 150w only has 60w available on the 12v rail.
Add in the video card and a 3.5" HDD, and you're definitely taxing the 12v rail of the Opus.

Options:
1 - Underclock the CPU or use a comatible CPU witha lower power draw, possibly a mobile version of the CPU.
2 - use onboard video (if available)
3 - Switch to a 2.5" HDD

Read this to understand how I arrive at this conclusion: FAQ: Will <insert PSU model> Power Supply work with my system?

Thanks for the info! I can't use onboard video, there is none ; ; ... but i will most likely get a mobile CPU and see if that works until i can get a mini-itx board. I want to keep my 120gb IDE just cause of the space and a 2.5" HDD that size is too much $$$ for me, if they even exist?

@ DarquePervert

I've been trying to find a 35w CPU for the last 15 minutes and i'm guessing they're not on the market anymore? I was wondering how this would do in a CarPC:

http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetai...Code=CPU%2D001

I don't know how much of the 12v rail that would use, as i can't find it on the site you listed. If you could suggest a CPU to go with and maybe even a motherboard that would be great ... i want to just rebuild a new PC, if i can used my 512ddr still that would be great! Thanks

Originally Posted by vairu

Thanks! How does the POL know when to turn on/off? I'm guessing it has some sort of connection to the MB? Or does it come on with an ACC wire like the OPUS itself?

It comes on with the ACC wire. It doesnt connect to the Carpc at all!

Base on my search a while back and what I have in hand. Most/all Athlon XP and socket A mobo (without 12V input) take power from 5V rail. There was a big thread on one of amd forum (pc perspective????), the guy showed that the CPU get it's power from 5V rail and vitural nothing on 12V rail.

My setup, a 145W AC PSU (18A@5V, 4.5A@12V) has no problem power it, but the DSATX (12A@5V, 12A@12V) choke on playing DVD. When I added a 5V POL to power the DVD, there is no problem.

For connection, connect the POL's ACC to yellow wire (12V) from the PSU so that the POL turn on and of with the PSU.

If you want to buy, the forum's store has it.
If you want to build, search for "POL" I posted in power suplly forum.

Originally Posted by vairu

@ DarquePervert

I've been trying to find a 35w CPU for the last 15 minutes and i'm guessing they're not on the market anymore? I was wondering how this would do in a CarPC:

http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetai...Code=CPU%2D001

I don't know how much of the 12v rail that would use, as i can't find it on the site you listed. If you could suggest a CPU to go with and maybe even a motherboard that would be great ... i want to just rebuild a new PC, if i can used my 512ddr still that would be great! Thanks

You need to read this thread:
FAQ: Will <insert PSU model> Power Supply work with my system?
It will reveal much.

Originally Posted by Cheekz185

It comes on with the ACC wire. It doesnt connect to the Carpc at all!

Originally Posted by MatrixPC

Base on my search a while back and what I have in hand. Most/all Athlon XP and socket A mobo (without 12V input) take power from 5V rail. There was a big thread on one of amd forum (pc perspective????), the guy showed that the CPU get it's power from 5V rail and vitural nothing on 12V rail.

My setup, a 145W AC PSU (18A@5V, 4.5A@12V) has no problem power it, but the DSATX (12A@5V, 12A@12V) choke on playing DVD. When I added a 5V POL to power the DVD, there is no problem.

For connection, connect the POL's ACC to yellow wire (12V) from the PSU so that the POL turn on and of with the PSU.

If you want to buy, the forum's store has it.
If you want to build, search for "POL" I posted in power suplly forum.

Thanks for the info!!

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

You need to read this thread:
FAQ: Will <insert PSU model> Power Supply work with my system?
It will reveal much.

Ok i actually read it and noticed the max wattage collumn on that one site. I found this on ebay and i was wondering how it would do:

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K7/AMD...1500ALQ3B.html
Pulls 35w max and i can just swap it out with my Barton 2500+ and keep my Mobo and RAM. Only $30 for it too, if it works lol. I'm guessing that should ease up the load on my Opus a little ... and i might get a separate DC-DC PSU to power my 15" LCD and i'll move my Lili over to that PSU to get it off my CarPC OPUS ... that should work right?

I got the 1500+ Atholon M in today and could not get any video with it installed ... so i put my 2500+ back in and still no video. I happen to have another Shuttle AN35n from another computer so i swapped it out with the AN35n i was running with my CarPC and i get video! Tested everything inside and temps were fine. I made sure i set the FSB and multiplier correct and everything was running smooth ...

So i put the Opus back in and hook everything up and put the PC back into the car. Starts up and everything runs fine .... doesn't shut down at any point. I ran Frodo with MP3s and the visualization full-screened and checked the temps of everything and they were all good.

So i take my key out and i'm waiting for the Opus to shut my PC down, and it doesn't ... after 5 minutes. I've never messed with the jumper for it and it's been set to the 10second shutdown. It's worked before but around the time i was having the original power problems it became faulty ... sometimes if i exited out of FrodoPlayer and was sitting on the desktop it would then shut down my PC .. i tried that just now and it still didn't shut-down, so i had to go to Start > Turn off blah blah. It did shutdown however and didn't come back on.

Why is it doing this? This is my only problem right now ... is my Opus F'd up?

Well i'm bring this thread back from the dead. I could never fix the problem i was having with the PC cutting off randomly, even with full A/C on and it freezing inside the car while driving on the highway, it would still cut off from time to time and may or may not come back on. So back like a year ago I just took the PC out of the car in hope of just building a totally new smaller CarPC and getting a newer OPUS 250w. Well I guess i just forgot about it for a year lol.

For some reason I decided to put the PC back in the car and just see what would happened. After started up fine and the screen and everything still worked to my surprise. I went for a test ride to see how it would do and it randomly cut off when i hit a bump in the road (my xB is lowered and i'm running 35 series tires so it's far from stock ride quality). At first i just assumed the bump was enough to jar the HDD or something but then i remembered that before i had this random-cut-off issue and i hit a *big* bump in the road, the PC would just freeze, not completely cut power.

So the next day i got up and planned on replacing the 12ga power with some leftover 8ga wire i had from my air suspension install. While taking out the old ****ty wal-mart amp kit wire with an inline fuse near the battery connection, i popped the cap on the in-line fuse holder. And the whole fuse was melted into the socket and couldn't be removed. So that whole time the issue was NOT the power supply, it was the damn melted fuse that was probably making a ****ty connection and when i'd hit a bump or something it would jar it enough to cut the constant 12v power from the battery! I ended up replacing the 12ga wire anyhow with the 8ga and now i can even start my car while the PC is already running and it won't cut it off!

As always there is still 1 issue, i'm not sure how severe an issue this is but the PC is running fine, it's not an issue thats causing it not to run right. Since i don't have a switch in place to cut the constant 12v wire from the battery to the OPUS i've been unplugging the connector at the OPUS overnight just in case it cuts on for any reason. After the PC's been running tho and it shuts down fine, i unplug that connector and almost burn my damn fingers it's so hot. I feel the wire and the wire is a little warm for about 8"~ back then it's cold the rest of the way to the battery. I'm not sure if this is normal or what? The OPUS power connector has 3 8"~ long pieces of 12ga wire I would guess and the power wire then runs to a butt-connector then the rest of the wiring is the 8ga. The 12ga portion of wire is what is warm to the touch then once it hits the 8ga part it's cold. And the connector is really hot. Someone tell me this is normal! lol