Thread: What's Your M4 Look Like?

Originally Posted by soundman98

Blk02 brings up a excelent point-- maybe the're only testing with a certain brand mother board?

Jpinkerton, I had the exact same problem, but never looked at the inductors, and already returned the m4(so no pictures).

When mine didn't power on with the mother board, I used a ac-dc power brick(output is 13.8v/20amp, so no issues there), and a power supply tester, it still wouldn't work.

After all the posts on problems w/ the m4, I decided to go with the dsatx, and have not had any problems since.


EDIT: in case it is a motherboard issue-- i have a Intel D945GCLF, with 2 gb of Patriot brand memory.

See but that sucks, because the M4 is very competitively priced. For my install I need 2 of these and $85.00 a piece isn't that bad. If I go with OPUS, I'll be paying $188.00 per PSU, not to mention that the OPUS are big and I cant afford the loss of space. This is a really big let down........ How big is the DSATX compared to the M4? Does it have heating issues?

It looks like it could actually be smaller than the M4. I do like the details of the manual on the DSATX better, very descriptive, thorough manual. Compare the motherboard power connections on the DSATX to that on the M4, looks like the DSATX is smaller but I can't find the specs to be sure.

Soundman, when did you buy your M4?

Originally Posted by soundman98

the dsatx is slightly smaller, and the shutdown controller time, and voltage startup are variable without getting into programming (a big plus for me). I know what you are saying though, I got the m4 becasue of the price, and, after reading all the problems that people have had(many have had very good luck with these though). I decided to go with something that cost more, but i didn't have to worry about as much (its electronic, so it can still fail).

I have read about your planned setup in other posts, so I really can't even comment on the heat issue-- I have one 2.5" hdd, the mobo, and a dvd-r/w drive-- so very little power for now, and it maintains all of this fine with no heat.

Yea, my install is pretty much a huge can of worms, and I don't mean little worms, I mean the big giant worms like in the DUNE movie. This has got my stomach in knots, I hate the price for the DSATX also. At this point I'm trying to be a Scrooge about spending money since my install has sucked in so much of it already.

Out of curiosity ecog, were the inductors on the working ones you tested the same as mine?

I can't imagine that when the M4's are manufactured parts are put on in random order, I would imagine that they'd keep it pretty consistent. This to me would mean something changed in the assembly, new revision or something else was off to also cause these to show up opposite.

Originally Posted by ecog

Hahahaha! That's kick a**. First time I've seen a reference to Dune in a long time. Loved the movie, but doesn't do justice to the book.

So I tested a few stock M4s and they worked fine. I didn't get into too much detail (as in testing the different SSC modes), but they output power and P1 mode worked OK.

I went back to the RMAs and tested a few; they seemed to have the same issue. I remember one customer had a situation similar to jpinkerton's (2 RMAs, both dead, motherboard OK) except his second unit worked ONE time (the first time) and then died.

I sent an email this morning to mini-box to see if we can figure out a common cause. I'll post an update when something happens.

LOL, Im a big Sci-Fi geek, so when I thought worm, first thing that popped up was that fat floating man, then Iracis, then big worm with gaint razor like teeth, lol.

Thanx, I hope to see what you come up with and or what they say. I know jpinkerton was using it like normal, but me, Im not using it like most poeple do, so I want to be sure I dont turn into a big gaint fireball, or nothing happens at all.

PS: The DSATX is starting to look mighty good!

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

Thanx, I hope to see what you come up with and or what they say. I know jpinkerton was using it like normal, but me, Im not using it like most poeple do...

I don't think you do what most people do, wouldn't surprise me considering the scope of your project!

Also big shout out to ecog for taking the time to test a buncha M4s!

Originally Posted by jpinkerton

I don't think you do what most people do, wouldn't surprise me considering the scope of your project!

Also big shout out to ecog for taking the time to test a buncha M4s!

LOL, but I am hoping that in the future my way becomes standard for people all over the world (but I highly doubt it), lol...........