Seasonic X400 problem / question

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oversight
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:52 pm

Seasonic X400 problem / question

Post by oversight » Mon Feb 14, 2011 10:27 pm

Ok so I finished assembling my second ever PC (and my first for seven years...) and it's got a strange quirk, but first, the PC itself:

Case: Antec P182 Fans: Two Noctua NF-S12B ULNs with the supplied undervolting thingiemagigs. One is the intake on the front drive cage, the other is the exhaust on the back. One Noctua NF-P12 on the CPU Heatsink (Thermalright Venomous X) running full-tilt.
Motherboard: ASUS PH8-67 M-Pro Processor: 2500K
Aforementioned heatsink.

There's an Intel SSD and a blu-ray drive, and that's pretty much it at the moment.

Ok so the problem:
When I press the power switch, the system starts for about two seconds.. stops, then starts again, and behaves normally from then on. The P182 doesn't have any speaker input to connect to the motherboard so I can't hear any POST noises...
What could the problem be?
Is it just a low-power start up thing? Or something more sinister?

Secondly, a question.
My initial plan was to have an undervolted fan in the lower chamber to cool the PSU... But I didn't anticipate the length of the PSU. Stupid, I know. So, I can't easily fit a fan in there. It's possible, but it's super tricky and by that point I was just super frustrated and gave up. Since there's only an SSD in that compartment, the PSU only has to deal with it's own heat, and the system isn't going to draw much power anyway (I mean, rarely above 100w by my estimation), so my question is, should I even bother with the fan? Or is the PSU fine?

Feedback appreciated.
Thanks!!!!

m0002a
Posts: 2831
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2004 2:12 am
Location: USA

Re: Seasonic X400 problem / question

Post by m0002a » Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:11 am

oversight wrote:Ok so the problem:
When I press the power switch, the system starts for about two seconds.. stops, then starts again, and behaves normally from then on. The P182 doesn't have any speaker input to connect to the motherboard so I can't hear any POST noises...
What could the problem be?
Could you be a lot more specific on what is happening and why you think there is a problem? How do you know the system stops, then starts again?

frenchie
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1346
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:53 am
Location: CT

Re: Seasonic X400 problem / question

Post by frenchie » Tue Feb 15, 2011 4:39 am

Welcome to SPCR !!

What you describe is exactly what my motherboard (Asus as well) does when I turn the power completly off (with the switch at the back of the PSU, or when I unplug the computer) and then try to boot the system. It starts for a few seconds. Turns off. Starts perfectly normally.
I think I remember reading somewhere it was a clock sync "feature" of certain asus boards (something to do with the clocks synchronizing).

oversight
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 9:52 pm

Re: Seasonic X400 problem / question

Post by oversight » Tue Feb 15, 2011 5:14 am

Ahh, that makes sense.
Yes, I did flick the switch off each time, seeing as I was adding/removing bits inside.
I can't test it at the moment, mind, but I'm sure you're right.
Duh!

Thanks so much!
And thanks for the welcome too. Long time lurker here.

tim851
Posts: 543
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:45 am
Location: 128.0.0.1

Re: Seasonic X400 problem / question

Post by tim851 » Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:07 am

The PSU is fine. Isn't there even a sticker or something when you unpack that explicitly states that the PSU is responsible for its own cooling?

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