Is my 150W mini-PSU enough, or is the problem a faulty PSU?

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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Deathmelon
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Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:14 am

Is my 150W mini-PSU enough, or is the problem a faulty PSU?

Post by Deathmelon » Mon Jul 08, 2013 3:16 pm

Hello,

bought a HTPC a while ago. I landed on Intels DH77DF motherboard, coupled with a i3 35W processor. I have a 3TB WD Green HD, and an old Intel 80GB SSD. To fuel this, I purchased Streacoms 150W nanoPSU, which I landed on mostly because it's the easiest available product here in Norway, noone sells PicoPSU. I plan to add a slim slot-in Blu-Ray.

I've been plagued with weird errors, and I've been assuming these was caused by a faulty motherboard, such as:
- My Logitech wireless-products, which is communicating with the Unifying-dongle, was crippled in range. They lagged if they moved more than a foot or two from the computer.
- If I shut down my computer, to any state, be it S5 or hibernate/sleep, it would not power back up again. I had to remove my powerplug for a minute or two and plug it back in, and then I could boot again.
- I was unable to access my BIOS-updating page, the one that I access when hitting F7 right after powering my computer. My computer would just freeze and I'd have to forcibly shut it down with my power button for 5 seconds.
- Weird CMOS errors, time/date fail, CMOS checksum errors etc. Oddly enough, my settings were never reset. Was always only the time.

With my somewhat limited knowledge of the inner workings of a computer, I attributed these things to a faulty motherboard. How on earth would a PSU cause my PC to freeze when I hit F7 to upgrade my BIOS, etc.

The computer is mostly only used to download through uTorrent and stream media through XBMC. There's no stressing or hard tasks involved. Sometimes I use HandBrake to encode stuff, but that's rarely and never for long at a time. These issues are constant, regardless of computer load, which processes are running or how long it's been on even.

However, I was finally able to borrow a PSU from my brother. It's an old as hell 350W Enermax PSU, with a 20(!) pin ATX-connector. And suddenly, everything is working brilliantly. Or so I think, I haven't been able to replicate the CMOS-errors yet, but they were random at best, so it might take a few days to establish if they are gone aswell.

So, are these symptoms of me needing more than 150 watts of juice, or do I have a faulty PSU? Any ideas?

Thanks, Kristoffer

xan_user
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Re: Is my 150W mini-PSU enough, or is the problem a faulty P

Post by xan_user » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:11 pm

I would run memtest 86+ for 24 hours before jumping to any conclusions.

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