HELP!! The Seasonic Super T 300 Revision A3 is ramping up !!

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:28 pm

Just got this new PSU---Seasonic Super Tornado (Revision A3) from Silicon Acoustics about 30-60 days ago on a Antec 3700BQE case.

Today,this PSU just started "ramping up" the fan speed--like it had a mind of its own.... from "idle" (~ 750-775 rpms) to suddenly around 1,350rpms.

For example: I was looking at this web page (only) for about 5 minutes, when I first noticed it.

Here's the link I was viewing for ~ 5 minutes (maybe a little bit more as the phone rang):

http://www.driverheaven.net/

But still, is this page enough to make my PSU ramp to that extreme? Seems unlikely to me.

Ambient room temp is and was 74F.

Now, I've heard it ramp again at least 6 times since then.

System Background:
Intel 875 board. Zalman 7000 Alcu @ ~5v. 120 mm Papst fan @ 1,000 rpms. BQE case. Drive temps @ 35C (according to DTEMP). ATI 9800 PRO with Arctic Cooling VGA silencer rev. 3 (on low).

WHAT DO I DO NOW?

PLEASE HELP.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:41 pm

Are you sure it's a rev A3?

What is the reported case/board temp?

Have you opened up Task Manager to see if something's using your CPU cycles behind your back?

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:54 pm

ABSOLUTELY !

I am 100% certain it is REV A3.

Board Temps reflect ~ 91 F.

Task mgr non-indicative of any "background" apps running.

EDIT: Still seemed to have a "mind of its own". Ramped up 4 more times in the last 90 minutes or so.

The only thing I could think of after Ralf's reply was perhaps a corrupted video driver. (Longshot......not longhorn

)

I just finished uninstalling ATI Catalyst 4.7, and installed the ATI Catalyst 4.8. Any thoughts on that? Guess time will tell if I'm a RMA candidate.

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 3:47 am

Bump.

Well, this "wonderful" Seasonic Super Tornado 300 watt Revision A3 PSU STILL continues to "suddenly" ramp up.

This morning, I was cleaning out my Outlook e-mails, and all of a sudden, I have 1,400 + rpms..... ????

Ambient room temp is 72 F. Board temps are 90/91 F , and CPU temp is 100 F at idle (went to 104F when the PSU ramped). HDD temps are 93 F.

System temps from Intel Monitor, HDD temps from D Temp.

I' guess I'm the first to post a bad RevA3.... VERY DISAPPOINTING INDEED.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 5:52 pm

Hello Tad:

What case and fans do you have? Have you cleaned the air intakes and the fan blades recently? Is the exhaust air noticeably warm or hot? The 300watt Super Tornado's I have used run very cool and quiet.

It is possible that the thermistor (or the control circuit) is out of spec -- maybe an inquiry with SeaSonic about RMA'ing it? Can you tell what brand the fan is? The Yate Loons have a black label with gold lettering (IIRC).

wim · Post by **wim** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:01 pm

I do not have the mini PCB in my unit, but it's DEFINITELY a Rev 3 unit. So far---Very quiet to my ears.

- on june 29 in another thread.

so i take it from this the fan controller has just become stuffed recently, afer 60 days?
that's a worry, sounds like they're not really A-OK like mikec said

i hope mine doesn't blow up too, it's okay at the moment if a little disappointing (quieter than 3 hard drives). so far the fan only does the ramping thing if i stall it for a second but it sounds like the ST is a loose cannon...

sorry, addicted to that expression recently

Pigpen · Post by **Pigpen** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:35 pm

I have had my SS300 R3 for 2-3 months now and havent heard a peep out of it yet, it sits at 1500rpm all the time and this is in a unmodified Sonata (been to lazy).
My first thought would be along the lines of what NeilBlanchard suggested, dust buildup etc.... Have you moved the case recently
IE. set it down on the carpet and blocked an intake or something like that?
Certainly hope you dont have a dud or that these things still have problems.

wim · Post by **wim** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:53 am

Pigpen wrote:it sits at 1500rpm all the time

......yer deaf

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 2:22 am

Thanks for the input.

The interior of the case is very clean. The rear fan is a Papst 120 mm (newly installed within 30 days), the Zalman AlCu fins are clean, and the front intake 92mm Panaflo L is clean, too.

I have allergies to dust, so regular cleanings of this office are a must.

This unit is on a desk top--although plans are in the works to mowe it to the floor.

Sadly, until I resolve this situation with Seasonic USA, I've cranked up the voltage a "tad" on my Papst rear case fan to about 1,100 rpm from the ~1,000 rpm I previously had it set for . Now, at least the PSU does not ramp up when I open my Outlook e-mails.

But, my ambient temps are ~ 4F/2C cooler now than when I had the problem (it's been very cooooooooool at night here in West Michigan lately) making a head to head comparison of these changes more difficult.

FYI:

AS I write this:

Ambient temps in my office are 70 F /21 C

Zalman 7000 AlCu CPU fan @ 5.5v

Papst 120mm fan (raised up to) 7.9v, or ~ 1,100 rpms

92mm (front) Panaflo L @ 7v
HDD temps @ 31/32 C

Seasonic SS 300 FB idle @ 744 rpms (shhhhh--- very quiet)

I'll keep you all posted as more develops.

Tad G.

amdi8 · Post by **amdi8** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:01 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:Are you sure it's a rev A3?

Is there a way to tell what revision a Super T is? I bought mine about 9 months ago and I'm curious to see whether it's revision 1 or 2. Does it say in the label somewhere?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:15 pm

amdi8 wrote:
Ralf Hutter wrote:Are you sure it's a rev A3?
Is there a way to tell what revision a Super T is? I bought mine about 9 months ago and I'm curious to see whether it's revision 1 or 2. Does it say in the label somewhere?

Yes, it's on this label:

jamesavery22 · Post by **jamesavery22** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 1:22 pm

my not so quiet pc power and cooling did the same thing, cleaned it out (compressed air shot out a good amount of dust) and it settled down...

Have you tried cleaning it? And not just the fans... If a heatsink gets some caked dust it could heat up pretty quickly. Not saying your station isnt clean just might want to try...

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 3:03 pm

Thanks for the help.

You gotta believe that when I say it's clean---it's clean!! due to living a life with dust allergies...

I briefly shot some compressed air on the fins of the Zalman 7000 hs--but the whole assembly is so new (and clean) that it did not make a (performance) difference.

Compared to what little dust I saw on my Sonata heatsink ass'y w/ Thermalright SLK-900U with an 80mm Panaflo L running on it for a whole year, and what little dust had accumulated on those fins....

Heck, after 3 months of use even my 3M filtrete furnace filters look good!

amdi8 · Post by **amdi8** » Fri Sep 03, 2004 1:12 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
amdi8 wrote:Is there a way to tell what revision a Super T is? I bought mine about 9 months ago and I'm curious to see whether it's revision 1 or 2. Does it say in the label somewhere?
Yes, it's on this label

Ah, thanks. I checked and I do have a revision 2.

However, I did some more testing, and the noise is coming from the two hard drives, not from the power supply. I unplugged the hard drives, turned the computer on, and I thought I hadn't plugged it because it was totally silent.

Time to start checking the hard drive section, although I just moved the server in the closet and it's a lot better.

Tad G · Post by **Tad G** » Thu Oct 07, 2004 4:38 am

UPDATE!
I finally couln't take it anylonger, so I RMA'd the 300W rev A3 Super Tornado unit to SeaSonic. The ramping up and down under basic functions such as e-mail retrieval from Outlook was too much.
The replacement arrived yesterday. The RMA process was a little over 2 weeks.
Will see how the replacement works out.

davide_casarin · Post by **davide_casarin** » Sun Jan 16, 2005 2:43 pm

how has it worked out ?

HELP!! The Seasonic Super T 300 Revision A3 is ramping up !!

HELP!! The Seasonic Super T 300 Revision A3 is ramping up !!

What case and fans do you have?

Re: HELP!! The Seasonic Super T 300 Revision A3 is ramping u