Power Supply Issue - machine will not boot with new PSU

[oldtimer]

I recently purchased an Corsair RM1000i to upgrade my PC in preparation for a new video card. It's a modular PSU. I hooked everything up (2 hdd, 1 blu ray, graphics card and 24 & 4 pin on motherboard) and tried to power it up. The power switch lit up yellow for a second or two, the case fan and PSU fan started to spool, and then nothing. Pushed the power button again, ditto. And again, same result. Checked connections and retried, same result. Unhooked and rehooked everything, same result. Checked connections again, same result. I reinstalled the original power supply and the machine booted right up, no issues. I contacted Corsair support. They recommended that I plug in the PSU with no cables hooked up and try the fan test switch. The fan spooled. The next test was to just hook up the 24 & 4 pins on the motherboard and the 6 pin to the GPU and see if it would boot at all. It did not, same result as above. Based on that and the previous testing I did, they said to send it back. I just received the replacement today and tried that last test (motherboard and gpu only). This produced the same result as the first PSU above. Again reinstalled the original PSU and it boots up like a champ. No way I would get two bad PSUs, so what am I missing? It's a power supply, so as long as the appropriate connectors are used (and it's hard to use incorrect ones) there shouldn't be any compatibility issues, right? Is there some basic step I am forgetting? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

The unit is an HP Pavilion with a i7 920 on a Pegatron motherboard.

Thanks!

 

[Jetster]

Being an OEM PC it could have preparatory wiring system. You could check for online wiring diagrams or take a good look at the board plugs and wires. Try another generic PSU and see if it does the same thing. And you tried it with out the new GPU?

I haven't ran across any with standard plug and different wiring but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist

 

[Toothless]

Pegatron... That brand will forever haunt me..

Well, just make sure all of your plugs are in correctly and check your fans, as (at least for me) those tend to prevent a PSU from powering up, for some reason..

 

[Caring1]

Being an OEM PC it could have preparatory wiring system. You could check for online wiring diagrams or take a good look at the board plugs and wires. Try another generic PSU and see if it does the same thing. And you tried it with out the new GPU?

I haven't ran across any with standard plug and different wiring but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist

This ^^^
Compare the original and the new 24 pin plugs side by side and check the wiring is the same.
The review here is very favorable: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/RM1000i/

 

[basco]

are you splitting the 8pin eps connector or is there a seperate 4 pin for cpu?

 

[Jetster]

That's a thought. Both 4 pins are not the same. Do not force a 4 pin CPU connector

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

So there's two potential issues here, as far as I can tell.

1) The connector on the motherboard is a standard 20/24 pin connector, but the voltages are screwy. Occasionally I've seen OEM PCs that do this, just to force you into buying their replacement parts. In order to prove or disprove this find the model number of your PC (Pavillion refers to quite a bit from HP), and search it on the web.
2) The connector you're referring to is not right. There are generally 2 4 pin power connectors for the motherboard, and on larger ones you use all 8 pins. If you force the wrong version into the 4 pin connector on the motherboard you're never going to get it to boot.



I'm assuming you've disconnected the PSU, jumpered the green wire to a black one, and had a test fan spin up? That's the easiest way to test a PSU. Honestly though, I'm thinking this is an OEM thing. Pull that wiring diagram, and see if everything is kosher.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I ran across a wiring issue between two modular PS's. The older one (forgot brand) and an OCZ branded PS. The SATA drive power cable was no compatible for the other PS, using the wrong one would prevent the PC from posting. So it wouldnt surprise me to see a "few wires" switched on your OEM PS. I have yet to see a modular PS cable be interchangeable between brands.

The wire color coding might "look" right but that doesnt mean they are right internally.

 

[EarthDog]

So there's two potential issues here, as far as I can tell.

1) The connector on the motherboard is a standard 20/24 pin connector, but the voltages are screwy. Occasionally I've seen OEM PCs that do this, just to force you into buying their replacement parts. In order to prove or disprove this find the model number of your PC (Pavillion refers to quite a bit from HP), and search it on the web.
2) The connector you're referring to is not right. There are generally 2 4 pin power connectors for the motherboard, and on larger ones you use all 8 pins. If you force the wrong version into the 4 pin connector on the motherboard you're never going to get it to boot.



I'm assuming you've disconnected the PSU, jumpered the green wire to a black one, and had a test fan spin up? That's the easiest way to test a PSU. Honestly though, I'm thinking this is an OEM thing. Pull that wiring diagram, and see if everything is kosher.

This. But who buys a 1KW PSU to drop in an old arse OEM box with ONE GPU? Im certain you could have saved well over a hundred dollars and bought a 650W PSU and been in great shape (unless your card is a dual GPU card). Return that PSU, go buy an EVGA GS 650W or something similar...

 

[Frick]

This. But who buys a 1KW PSU to drop in an old arse OEM box with ONE GPU? Im certain you could have saved well over a hundred dollars and bought a 650W PSU and been in great shape (unless your card is a dual GPU card). Return that PSU, go buy an EVGA GS 650W or something similar...

He did say it was for a new card, but still unless it's a 295x it's pretty daft.

@oldtimer If you have the part number we can take a gander at it.

 

[oldtimer]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will have to investigate the pin mapping. That would be a bummer and definitely a game changer. Regarding the need for a 1000 watt PSU, it is an i7 rig, not a Pentium III. It's a solid starting platform. Based on the current configuration, and with the addition of the GPU I am planning to install (an R9 390), the calculators put consumption at a little over 800 watts. The 1000 watt PSU gave me some headroom to down the road upgrade my motherboard/processor and possibly add a liquid cooling system without having to replace the PSU again.

 

[Caring1]

Once again those dodgy PSU calculators strike, and over estimate.
realistically a 750W would have been ample.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I will have to investigate the pin mapping. That would be a bummer and definitely a game changer. Regarding the need for a 1000 watt PSU, it is an i7 rig, not a Pentium III. It's a solid starting platform. Based on the current configuration, and with the addition of the GPU I am planning to install (an R9 390), the calculators put consumption at a little over 800 watts. The 1000 watt PSU gave me some headroom to down the road upgrade my motherboard/processor and possibly add a liquid cooling system without having to replace the PSU again.

Those calculators are probably suggesting an 800 watt.

 

[Aquinus]

Those calculators are probably suggesting an 800 watt.

This. The machine can't be using more than 600 watts with that hardware. I should know, I have an i7 3820 and a 390 and I haven't seen draw exceed 550-watts from the wall with the GPU overclocked. Either way, you're bound to run into issues when replacing parts on an OEM machine.

 

[64K]

Taking a look at peak card draw from a slightly overclocked 390

I would say even with the i7 920 and the rest of your hardware that you probably won't be using much more than 450 watts peak and of course will average less. Add in overclocking then a 650 watt quality PSU is enough. If you like a large margin of safety then grab a 750 watt PSU. Most quality PSUs have a reserve capacity also.

Contrary to what card manufacturers and PSU calculators claim R9s do not cause a neighborhood brownout when you game with them.

Draw from the wall plug isn't the same as what the PSU is providing due to inefficiency. newtekie1 did a nice job explaining it here

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/t...lly-need-an-80-plus-gold-power-supply.129456/

If a quality PSU is rated for 650 watts then it will provide 650 watts but draw more than that from the wall. Even a Platinum rated PSU will be a bit inefficient. At 75% load somewhere between 89% and 92% efficiency. Let's use 90% efficiency at 75% load then on a 650 watt PSU you would be drawing 542 watts from the wall but the PSU would only be providing 488 watts for your system. Well within specs. At 100% load (650 watts at 89% efficiency) you would be drawing 730 watts from the wall but the PSU would be providing 650 watts to your system.

 

[oldtimer]

Again, thanks all for the comments and feedback. Although my main issue was the power supply not working, it seems that the bigger direction this conversation has taken is what could I possibly have been thinking to buy a 1000 watt power supply. Sure the calculators were a part of that, however there was actually more thought that went into it than just that. Prior to purchasing anything, I spoke to a tech at ASUS to discuss compatibility with my OEM machine, etc. Part of that discussion included powering the machine. We talked about the current configuration and the increased GPU needs. Based on that, he recommended a minimum of 750 watts. As I mentioned in a previous post, I anticipate at some point upgrading my motherboard/processor as well as possibly adding liquid cooling at that point so I wanted additional headroom in the PSU output department. Finally, since the cost differential between an 850 watt or even a 750 watt PSU and the 1000 watt of the same quality level was not that significant, I didn't mind paying for a little overkill as running the PSU at 75% of capacity will generate less heat and thus better reliability than running one at 95% of capacity.

Now, back to the real reason for the thread.........

I spoke to two support techs at HP regarding the potential of a proprietary wiring configuration for the motherboard. While I didn't have a lot of faith in the first tech, the second seemed to be a bit more knowledgeable. Both gave the same answer. Nothing proprietary, the 24 and 4 pin connectors should have a standard configuration and thus any aftermarket PSU should work. I then followed up with a tech at Corsair I have been working with, and among a couple follow-up tests I will look into, part of the question becomes 'is it possible there was a faulty batch of PSUs or cables?'. Both the initial and replacement PSU came from the same vendor. I'll just have to see what shakes out.

 

[Cartel]

try clearing the CMOS and test your battery

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

@oldtimer I didnt see you say but, Did you try to plug in the PSU without the new video card installed?

Also, are you sure they didnt send you the same PSU back to you? LOL

 

[basco]

you did not really answer what eps connector you are using? you got 2 x 8pin maybe both splitable?
and did you try running it single or multirail? or is this software related? or is there a switch on psu for this?

 

[cadaveca]

I spoke to two support techs at HP regarding the potential of a proprietary wiring configuration for the motherboard. While I didn't have a lot of faith in the first tech, the second seemed to be a bit more knowledgeable. Both gave the same answer. Nothing proprietary, the 24 and 4 pin connectors should have a standard configuration and thus any aftermarket PSU should work. I then followed up with a tech at Corsair I have been working with, and among a couple follow-up tests I will look into, part of the question becomes 'is it possible there was a faulty batch of PSUs or cables?'. Both the initial and replacement PSU came from the same vendor. I'll just have to see what shakes out.

With all the boards I have tested, I have run into similar problems once or twice. I even sent my PSU all the wait to Taiwan for the manufacturer to test for the problem. The problem was the PSU.

More directly, -5VSB. It's not commonly used any more, but some board do require a certain output which some PSUs just aren't capable of.




Hmm. At least, I think that's what they told me. LOL. It's been a while.


That said, that same PSU worked fine on like 99% of other boards, just those few that stuck out. So maybe you've run into a similar issue.

 

[RejZoR]

I was pumping out around 500W with my Core i7 920 @ 4,2GHz and HD7950 overclocked to 1200/7000. I don't think you need a 1kW PSU...

 

[oldtimer]

Update: I never did get the RM1000i to work with my machine. It tested fine and on a 20 pin configuration did boot up an older PC. However, it simply would not power up my current PC. I ended up returning the 2nd PSU as well. I picked up a Corsair CX750M on Craigslist so I could do some testing and that booted up my machine with no issues, so that effectively rules out proprietary/OEM issues. For some reason the RM1000i just did not work and play well with my Bloomfield i7/Pegatron motherboard. I will probably end up going with an EVGA SuperNOVA G2.

 

[HWTactics]

Can't go wrong with the EVGA. I wouldn't stick with the CX750M with the bad reviews and reliability it has seen, but seeing as how you're eyeing the Supernova I have a feeling you know about that already

 

[oldtimer]

Can't go wrong with the EVGA. I wouldn't stick with the CX750M with the bad reviews and reliability it has seen, but seeing as how you're eyeing the Supernova I have a feeling you know about that already

Agreed. I picked up the CX750M on Craigslist at a good price in an effort to prove/disprove the fact that an aftermarket PSU would work in my existing configuration. It was different enough in design and cabling from the RM1000i that I thought it should provide viable results even though it was the same brand. I do not intend it to be a permanent solution. I am waiting on a final response from Corsair, but depending on how that turns out I will most likely pull the trigger on the EVGA purchase today or tomorrow.