YAOP (yet another Opus problem)

Frankino · 06-18-2005, 06:25 AM

I received my 150w "naked" opus yesterday, wired it, everything ok
led blinks OK, then ACC on and the pc starts to boot fine
Windows XP bootup logo, 5 sec, 10, 20, 60, Blue Screen Of Death
it won't boot properly
I plug my standard ATX psu and it works oerfectly, boots up and goes into stanby. I replug the opus, pc starts and wakes up from standby but it's VERY slow, it take about 5 min to do a complete shutdown. After that it won't boot, it still hangs on Windows bootup logo.
I think it might be related to poor 5v rail but it's 10A, same as M1 and same as my old DC-DC, and with both of them it works perfectly, but I've gotr 12v overload issues so I purchased an Opus.
don't know what to do, I tried to power up the hard drive using another ATX psu, same problem.
the configuration is pretty soft..

amd xp-m 2500+ (but it boots up at 600mhz...)
256mb ram
ecs mainboard with audio-video-lan-usb
20gig 2.5" hdd
dvd-rom

I tried to remove dvd rom, same problem
the entire pc drains about 4A from the battery.. I was thinking about checking the 5v drain from the mainboard, where should I check this value?
by the way, it is really NOT supposed to give 5v overload problem..
any ideas?

Below I quote the email I sent to the Opus support..

Quote: Originally Posted by Opus email

Hello, I just installed my brand new opus 150w and I have a problem
the system freezes during Windows bootup logo, I can't get it to complete
the booting of the operating system (with a standard ATX power supply it
works perfectly)
the PC I'm trying to power up is

AMD XP Mobile 2500+ (but forced to boot at 600mhz)
Mainboard ECS KM400-M2 (video, audio and lan onboard)
256mb pc2100
20gb 2.5" hdd

no other devices at all
if I connect a DVD-ROM drive the system recognizes it but if I try to use a
3,5" 7200rpm it seems to not spin up correctly (it even makes a strange
noise)
I tried another DC-DC psu, it has exactly the same specs of
opus 150w (12v, 5v and 3.3v) and with this power supply the system boots up
without problems
I even tried a cheap and less powerful M1-ATX 90w power supply and even with
this the system boots without problem
I tried to power up the 2,5" HDD with an external power supply with no luck
I EVEN tried to cut the first wire of the ATA cable (the 5v coming from the
board) and still no luck
I measured 12.8v at the 12v input connector of the Opus but I also tried to
boot the pc with the car engine on (13.5v at the input pins) with no luck
I measured a 4A drain from the 12v input (coming straight from the battery)
I measured 12.2v and 5.14v at the molex connector
the opus system led does not indicate any error
I really don't know what to do.
can you help me in some way?

p.s. in idle state when the pc is off it only consumes 0.04A which I think
it's the only good news for me

CAA · 06-18-2005, 10:27 AM

Sorry I can't suggest anything to help you, but I have suffered similar issues with a new Gigabyte MicroATX board and Celeron D 2.8 CPU.

I'll be waiting with anticipation for you to post the response from Opus on this one.

Frankino · 06-18-2005, 11:10 AM

well I think cel 2.8 needs is far mor power than my mobile athlon @600mhz

somehow I'm sure I won't solve this problem..

fuctup · 06-18-2005, 08:57 PM

try to clear the cmos and and even try installing windows again from the car pc running off the opus if you havent already

update the bios on your motherboard too maybe

Frankino · 06-19-2005, 04:45 AM

at what purpose? my pc works perfectly with a standard atx power supply, it freezes as soon as I power it up using the opus

shizzle · 06-19-2005, 05:24 AM

Sounds like the opus is defective... send it back. Have you tried powering another mobo off the opus? I bet it does similar crap. Also... does your mobo have cpu throttling, and if so, is it enabled? that can cause issues with power consumption.
Good Luck.

Frankino · 06-19-2005, 06:56 AM

guys, this is weird, really
I built an ATX cable to easy check voltages and drain for each rail
I did some tests, 2.5A on the 3,3v, 3,5A on the 5v and 1,2A oh the 12v rail
as you can se,, well into opus specs.
but this is NOT the weird part
during my tests I checked 12v, then 5v and then 3.3v
well, when I was testing the 3.3v drain (placing my tester between mainboard and psu) I noticed that the pc for the first time booted up fine. ok, it's a coincidence. I remove my tester and repower the pc and the pc won't start. Ok. Then I reconnected my tester (again in serie) and my pc power up normally. I started to think it couldn't be a coincidence again.. well after about 10 times removing and replugging my tester I come to the fact that if I connect the my tester the system boots up properly; if I remove it the systen won't start. I cannot believe myself when I realized it but, guys, these are the facts. Does anyone have the slightest idea what's going on?
by the way, my tester reads 3.44v at the 3.3v points, I don't know if it may be a problem

justintime · 06-19-2005, 09:12 AM

Have you thought of soldering your tester to the carputer? hahahahaha

SAScooby · 06-19-2005, 09:25 AM

heres my take on your problem

the tester draws current (adds resistance)- the opus provides current so it works

your current pc and mobo dont draw enough current to get the opus into its operating range, and hence its pushing out wussy current. The opus is probably designed to only push out as much as is required, the mobo doesnt draw as much as is needed to kick the opus into doing something. there is a formula to explain what I am talking about - current draw but havent a clue how to explain it in other words

you need to think a little out of the box here, i would try your pc with the proper clock speed and all and add as many peripherals as you can.

mindracing · 06-19-2005, 09:58 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Frankino

guys, this is weird, really
I built an ATX cable to easy check voltages and drain for each rail
I did some tests, 2.5A on the 3,3v, 3,5A on the 5v and 1,2A oh the 12v rail
as you can se,, well into opus specs.
but this is NOT the weird part
during my tests I checked 12v, then 5v and then 3.3v
well, when I was testing the 3.3v drain (placing my tester between mainboard and psu) I noticed that the pc for the first time booted up fine. ok, it's a coincidence. I remove my tester and repower the pc and the pc won't start. Ok. Then I reconnected my tester (again in serie) and my pc power up normally. I started to think it couldn't be a coincidence again.. well after about 10 times removing and replugging my tester I come to the fact that if I connect the my tester the system boots up properly; if I remove it the systen won't start. I cannot believe myself when I realized it but, guys, these are the facts. Does anyone have the slightest idea what's going on?
by the way, my tester reads 3.44v at the 3.3v points, I don't know if it may be a problem

Check the impedance of your tester. If it's a cheap one the impedance may be low and what it is doing is causing the voltage to drop and limiting the current on the 3.3 rail.

In theory, you could connect a resistor of the same value as the impedance of your tester in place of the tester (if that makes sense) it would then boot up. (Don't recommend it as a solution though).

It sounds like the Opus is running out of spec on that rail and that is what is causing your problem.

If your tester has a low impedance then the readings you are getting may be incorrect.

It always pays to use a high quality high impedance meter for solving problems like this.

Hope this helps some.

mindracing · 06-19-2005, 10:04 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by SAScooby

heres my take on your problem

the tester draws current (adds resistance)- the opus provides current so it works

your current pc and mobo dont draw enough current to get the opus into its operating range, and hence its pushing out wussy current. The opus is probably designed to only push out as much as is required, the mobo doesnt draw as much as is needed to kick the opus into doing something. there is a formula to explain what I am talking about - current draw but havent a clue how to explain it in other words

you need to think a little out of the box here, i would try your pc with the proper clock speed and all and add as many peripherals as you can.

Surely, with the meter being connect in series to measure the amps it would reduce the current anyway? It would have to be in parallel to increase the current. If anyhing, from the test results, the system is drawing too much and the insertion of the tester is limiting it.

Frankino · 06-19-2005, 10:09 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mindracing

Surely, with the meter being connect in series to measure the amps it would reduce the current anyway? It would have to be in parallel to increase the current. If anyhing, from the test results, the system is drawing too much and the insertion of the tester is limiting it.

the system is absolutely under the opus specs, I posted the drains before
my multimeter is a good one, fluke is the way :P
by the way I'm gonna spend the evening in my car, I'll post later

rando · 06-19-2005, 10:26 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by mindracing

Check the impedance of your tester. If it's a cheap one the impedance may be low and what it is doing is causing the voltage to drop and limiting the current on the 3.3 rail.

The impedance of an ideal current meter is ZERO. Lower is better! Still, the point is well taken. The meter in series with your 3.3V rail will induce a voltage drop linearly related to the current draw. Less expensive meters generally have a higher impedance and thus will drop more voltage. It's possible your meter is helping to get your 3.3V rail within the range your motherboard desires.

The Opus 150W is rated at 2% on the 3.3V rail. Under load, you should see 3.234-3.366V. The ATX 2.01 specification allows 5% on the 3.3V rail (3.135-3.465V). The voltage you measured on your 3.3V rail appears outside of the Opus specifcations but still within ATX specifications. Get a a replacement Opus or motherboard or both.

Using a resistor to patch your problem will be problematic because it won't give you fixed regulation. If your system varies the current draw on the 3.3V rail too much, you may still end up going in and out of the specified range.

mindracing · 06-19-2005, 10:53 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by rando

The impedance of an ideal current meter is ZERO. Lower is better!

YEP! You're right there.

REM: Must type AFTER thinking.

Frankino · 06-19-2005, 11:17 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by SAScooby

you need to think a little out of the box here, i would try your pc with the proper clock speed and all and add as many peripherals as you can.

well, you're the man!
I forced my board to boot at 1ghz clock speed, instead of 600mhz
mobile athlons default multiplier is 6x so instead of using 100mhz I set the board to use 266mhz fsb
at this configuration the system boots up properly
after that I tried to add another hdd, and it worked
then another dvd and it also worked
I really think we've solved this issue guys, and I'm very happy

I'll do some more tests just to be sure, something like rolling back to 600mhz and see if it stops booting again
don't know if it's the opus or the mainboard which gave the problem, and I don't even care right now