Power Supply Time

He is testing the PSU external to the PC so is linking out the the ATX connector to simulate the power button to get the PSU running.

In your case, start the pc and then put a molex in handy position and then stick the probes in to check the voltages, check images on the web which show which pin is + and which -.

Edit:

See last images:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molex_connector
 
You can test the 5V as well using the molex connector. On a modern PC, the 5V rail doesn't do as much (older PCs used to power the CPU off the 5V rail), but it is still important.

If the 12V is consistently out of spec, then I'd change the PSU.
 
The 3.3V could be tricky to measure, as it's not on a molex connector and you're motherboard doesn't have dedicated probing points.

However, USB is powered off the 5V rail, so you're in luck.

If you've got USB speakers, I'd suspect that there could be a driver issue to blame. Do you happen to have them connected to a USB 3.0 port? That board uses the Etron EJ168 and I remember having a few issues with it on another system.
 
Last edited:
Borealis said:
The 3.3V could be tricky to measure, as it's not on a molex connector and you're motherboard doesn't have dedicated probing points.

However, USB is powered off the 5V rail, so you're in luck.

If you've got USB speakers, I'd suspect that there could be a driver issue to blame. Do you happen to have them connected to a USB 3.0 port? That board uses the Etron EJ168 and I remember having a few issues with it on another system.
Click to expand...



Its a USB Dac and its just running off a normal 2.0/1.1 port and its been fine for ages but every so often it just cuts the sound off that's why i was thinking it might be a PSU problem



.
 
Just had a look at my molex connector and all the wires going into them are black in fact every wire coming from that PSU is black. Am I right in thinking that on a Molex the 2 in the middle are the earth's and the ones on the ends are the +12v and the +5v



.
 
You should be fine. It's not like you're probing a mains voltage wall socket with a multimeter.

Years back a housemate of mine wanted to tidy up his excess cables, so took wire cutters to them while the system was on. Sparks ensued along with a burning smell and tripping the smoke alarm in his room. Surprisingly, the PSU and PC were fine!

Love the pic though!
 
Good luck with the testing. Hopefully it's something simple like a wonky PSU.

***inserts multimeter probe into molex plug****

BZZZZTTT!!!

(only joking):D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom