Tweet
Hi,
I am having a weird problem I can't figure out. I'm hoping someone has the knowledge or experience to explain this one to me (well, everyone else also... :P).
To make it short, I made a booboo and blew up my Intel 945GCLF2 motherboard and wanted to replace it with something less power hungry. The system is very VERY compact. It's in a Mini-Box M350 enclosure, Pico-PSU 150-XT, two 2.5" HDDs and two USB microdisks. The big power consumed by the thing was, of course, on the i945 chipset; hence the switch to something better.
What could be better than a Via Nano-E processor with VX800 chipset? So I got myself a new mobo. The thing is that it won't start. I narrowed it down to the PSU. The motherboard boots fine with a normal size ATX PSU but the Pico-PSU won't start it.
I can boot the thing by tricking the system thinking it's an AT power supply instead of ATX (motherboard has a jumper for this). It does have a hard time starting but manages to start (I know because when it tries to start and fails, the mobo emits a faint buzz; when it starts this way, the buz comes on and off a few times before starting). It boots once but can't boot again. I have to fiddle with the board (AT-ATX-AT-ATX, try try try) and the it will start again.
I tried many things. I powered the PSU unconnected and verified the voltages; everything seems to indicate that the PSU is good. Put it back in place, short the PWR_ON pin to GND and won't start. I tried to short the PWR_GD signal to 5V; nothing happens; same difference.
My initial idea was that the PSU required some minimum current to be drawn from it in order to stay alive. But it does power up unconnected and does power up the board; agreed with hesitation but does start it.
Anyone has had some kind of experience like this one? What could make a PSU incompatible with a motherboard besides pins and voltages? I mean, the Pico-PSU is very efficient and voltages are quite stable; PWR_GD is behaving in a weird manner if it is actually doing what's explained in the manual but besides this, this PSU has been doing a very good job. I'm even thinking of using this kind of PSU for my next project: Low power, low noise HTPC.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
tcn
I am having a weird problem I can't figure out. I'm hoping someone has the knowledge or experience to explain this one to me (well, everyone else also... :P).
To make it short, I made a booboo and blew up my Intel 945GCLF2 motherboard and wanted to replace it with something less power hungry. The system is very VERY compact. It's in a Mini-Box M350 enclosure, Pico-PSU 150-XT, two 2.5" HDDs and two USB microdisks. The big power consumed by the thing was, of course, on the i945 chipset; hence the switch to something better.
What could be better than a Via Nano-E processor with VX800 chipset? So I got myself a new mobo. The thing is that it won't start. I narrowed it down to the PSU. The motherboard boots fine with a normal size ATX PSU but the Pico-PSU won't start it.
I can boot the thing by tricking the system thinking it's an AT power supply instead of ATX (motherboard has a jumper for this). It does have a hard time starting but manages to start (I know because when it tries to start and fails, the mobo emits a faint buzz; when it starts this way, the buz comes on and off a few times before starting). It boots once but can't boot again. I have to fiddle with the board (AT-ATX-AT-ATX, try try try) and the it will start again.
I tried many things. I powered the PSU unconnected and verified the voltages; everything seems to indicate that the PSU is good. Put it back in place, short the PWR_ON pin to GND and won't start. I tried to short the PWR_GD signal to 5V; nothing happens; same difference.
My initial idea was that the PSU required some minimum current to be drawn from it in order to stay alive. But it does power up unconnected and does power up the board; agreed with hesitation but does start it.
Anyone has had some kind of experience like this one? What could make a PSU incompatible with a motherboard besides pins and voltages? I mean, the Pico-PSU is very efficient and voltages are quite stable; PWR_GD is behaving in a weird manner if it is actually doing what's explained in the manual but besides this, this PSU has been doing a very good job. I'm even thinking of using this kind of PSU for my next project: Low power, low noise HTPC.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
tcn
Comment