Am I imagining this PSU activity? (Enermax Platimax 600)

[semicodin]

Is it normal for the Enermax Platimax to have a delayed boot</SPAN>? I'm asking because I'm doing my first motherboard installation and haven't yet attached a monitor (bench stage, only PSU + motherboard out-of-case, on an anti-static mat).

The motherboard in question is an ASROCK A75 Extreme6 that I've been having difficulties getting the board to turn on owing to my ignorance of the CMOS pin configurations. A few days ago I was attempting once again to get the PSU to light and was sitting there cursing the motherboard . . . when all of a sudden one of the chassis-header LED wires lit up, and I saw the PSU fire up!! What the . . .

Being in the bench stage it dawned on me that this Enermax PSU might be running an internal diagnostic before activating power and I can't see (anything) because no monitor is attached.

Anyone else have this particular Enermax? Do they all do this?

s</SPAN>

[parsec]

Re: Am I imagining this PSU activity? (Enermax Platimax 600)

Is it normal for the Enermax Platimax to have a delayed boot</SPAN>? I'm asking because I'm doing my first motherboard installation and haven't yet attached a monitor (bench stage, only PSU + motherboard out-of-case, on an anti-static mat).

The motherboard in question is an ASROCK A75 Extreme6 that I've been having difficulties getting the board to turn on owing to my ignorance of the CMOS pin configurations. A few days ago I was attempting once again to get the PSU to light and was sitting there cursing the motherboard . . . when all of a sudden one of the chassis-header LED wires lit up, and I saw the PSU fire up!! What the . . .

Being in the bench stage it dawned on me that this Enermax PSU might be running an internal diagnostic before activating power and I can't see (anything) because no monitor is attached.

Anyone else have this particular Enermax? Do they all do this?

s</SPAN>

I'm having a hard time understanding what is going on in your situation, "the chassis-header LED wires lit up, and I saw the PSU fire up". I assume that means the chassis power LED connected to the system panel header came on, and your PSU as well.

I am not aware of any PSU that runs an internal diagnostic when it is activated by the mother board. When the power switch on the PSU itself is switched on, the PSU is active in the sense that it is now ready to receive the operating mode power on signal from the mother board. Any delay caused by a diagnostic feature would need to be documented to prevent user confusion.

When the PSU's switch is turned on, it supplies power to some parts of the mother board, including those that monitor the power switch on the PC case. If that did not happen, the PSU could not be completely activated by the mother board and PC case power switch.

A power supply connected to a mother board with its 24 pin connector, and the PSU's switch turned on, can also be activated simply by shorting the two pins that the power switch on the PC case are connected to. That can be done with a screwdriver or other metal object.

When the chassis power button is connected to the appropriate pins on the system panel header, and then pushed, that creates a momentary short circuit, which triggers the PSU, just as shorting the two pins on the header will do.

Why your PSU suddenly came on is a mystery to me. You must have shorted the two pins that the PC case power switch connects to, which will start any PC PSU.

Do you think you could see something on a monitor about the PSU running a diagnostic? Output to a monitor cannot happen unless the PC's video source is operating, which requires the mother board and CPU to be operating.