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#1
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
Hi,
One of my PCs went dead last week, and I happen to have a spare Antec 450 power supply, so, to diaganose the problem, I put the Antec PSU into the PC. Thankfully, the PC powered up after I replaced the PSU with the Antec, but, I have a Dynex wireless PCI adapter, and that didn't work. I was able to get the wireless adapter to work once, by uninstalling the adapter in Device Manager, and then re-installing and rebooting, but then, the card disappeared completely from Device Manager, and I can't seem to get it to appear again. I know that this is probably a difficult question to answer, but I was wondering if, for some reason, wireless PCI adapters are particularly susceptible to having a too weak power supply? Thanks, Jim |
#2
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
ohaya wrote:
Hi, One of my PCs went dead last week, and I happen to have a spare Antec 450 power supply, so, to diaganose the problem, I put the Antec PSU into the PC. Thankfully, the PC powered up after I replaced the PSU with the Antec, but, I have a Dynex wireless PCI adapter, and that didn't work. I was able to get the wireless adapter to work once, by uninstalling the adapter in Device Manager, and then re-installing and rebooting, but then, the card disappeared completely from Device Manager, and I can't seem to get it to appear again. I know that this is probably a difficult question to answer, but I was wondering if, for some reason, wireless PCI adapters are particularly susceptible to having a too weak power supply? Thanks, Jim No, the cards do not require anything special in the way of a power supply...your card is probably just plain bad |
#3
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
philo wrote: ohaya wrote: Hi, One of my PCs went dead last week, and I happen to have a spare Antec 450 power supply, so, to diaganose the problem, I put the Antec PSU into the PC. Thankfully, the PC powered up after I replaced the PSU with the Antec, but, I have a Dynex wireless PCI adapter, and that didn't work. I was able to get the wireless adapter to work once, by uninstalling the adapter in Device Manager, and then re-installing and rebooting, but then, the card disappeared completely from Device Manager, and I can't seem to get it to appear again. I know that this is probably a difficult question to answer, but I was wondering if, for some reason, wireless PCI adapters are particularly susceptible to having a too weak power supply? Thanks, Jim No, the cards do not require anything special in the way of a power supply...your card is probably just plain bad Philo, That's what I would have thought. Also, I checked specs for the Dynex PCI card, and it only uses 250-510mA @ 3.3V. Anyway, I just realized after posting my original msg that I had several USB hard drives plugged in, and so I figured that I'd try running the PC without both of them plugged in, and, guess what? Yep. As soon as I did that, and rebooted the system, Windows detected the Dynex PCI card again, and it's working now! So, it seems like the spare power supply I put in is probably really marginal. I have another, different spare PSU, an Antec Earthpower 500 PSU, that my son brought over yesterday, so I'm going to try to swap that in tonight. Thanks, Jim |
#4
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
"ohaya" == ohaya writes:
ohaya Anyway, I just realized after posting my original msg that ohaya I had several USB hard drives plugged in, and so I figured ohaya that I'd try running the PC without both of them plugged ohaya in, and, guess what? ohaya Yep. As soon as I did that, and rebooted the system, ohaya Windows detected the Dynex PCI card again, and it's working ohaya now! ohaya So, it seems like the spare power supply I put in is ohaya probably really marginal. I think your OS is marginal. Windows gets confused at the slightest excuse. -- One man's magic is another man's engineering. Supernatural is a null word. ~ Robert Heinlein |
#5
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
Bob Fry wrote: "ohaya" == ohaya writes: ohaya Anyway, I just realized after posting my original msg that ohaya I had several USB hard drives plugged in, and so I figured ohaya that I'd try running the PC without both of them plugged ohaya in, and, guess what? ohaya Yep. As soon as I did that, and rebooted the system, ohaya Windows detected the Dynex PCI card again, and it's working ohaya now! ohaya So, it seems like the spare power supply I put in is ohaya probably really marginal. I think your OS is marginal. Windows gets confused at the slightest excuse. Bob (et al), Well, I got the Antec 500 PSU installed last night, and the wifi PCI card is back to not showing up again, even with the two external drives not plugged in. I'm really starting to think that the PCI card may just be plain bad at this point. This whole thing started when the original PSU went dead one morning when I powered up the system (was working fine the night before), so I'm thinking something happened over night that "zapped" both the PSU and, probably, that wifi card. I have another system that I can try to put the wifi card into, to see if it works there when I have some free time, so we'll see, I guess... Thanks, Jim |
#6
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
On Apr 13, 5:57*pm, ohaya wrote:
I'm really starting to think that the PCI card may just be plain bad at this point. *This whole thing started when the original PSU went dead one morning when I powered up the system (was working fine the night before), so I'm thinking something happened over night that "zapped" both the PSU and, probably, that wifi card. Motherboard could have insufficient bypass capacitors (which are not related to the power supply). Change the load and that defect (that remains) is temporarily not apparent. Furthermore, a perfectly good power supply can fail in some systems. And a defective power supply can still boot some computers. Just more reasons why swapping leave you still confused. Is the power supply defective? Numbers from a multimeter when the computer applies a maximum load would result in a useful answer. A simple task that almost anyone can do. Anything else is only speculation. Maybe a measurement of the 3.3 volts on the wireless card would have exposed a problem; but this is probably too complex for most to try. If a power supply created the problem, only a multimeter would have identified it. And probably could have identified that problem even months ago. If anything like USB devices or WiFi adds enough load to create failure, then the power supply was always undersized even without that load. And the meter could have identified it. Failing bypass capacitors would be another and a more likely reason. WiFi manufacturer's diagnostics might have reported something useful; especially when used in conjunction with heat. But it sounds like your choice is to keep replacing parts until something starts working again. Why would something fail? Most often a manufacturing defect (ie bypass capacitors) is especially apparent when a design (ie motherboard) is marginal. Swapping parts for marginal or intermittent problems typically creates much confusion. Smarter is to use diagnositic procedures that give definitive answers. |
#7
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
westom wrote:
On Apr 13, 5:57 pm, ohaya wrote: I'm really starting to think that the PCI card may just be plain bad at this point. This whole thing started when the original PSU went dead one morning when I powered up the system (was working fine the night before), so I'm thinking something happened over night that "zapped" both the PSU and, probably, that wifi card. Motherboard could have insufficient bypass capacitors (which are not related to the power supply). Change the load and that defect (that remains) is temporarily not apparent. Furthermore, a perfectly good power supply can fail in some systems. And a defective power supply can still boot some computers. Just more reasons why swapping leave you still confused. Is the power supply defective? Numbers from a multimeter when the computer applies a maximum load would result in a useful answer. A simple task that almost anyone can do. Anything else is only speculation. Maybe a measurement of the 3.3 volts on the wireless card would have exposed a problem; but this is probably too complex for most to try. If a power supply created the problem, only a multimeter would have identified it. And probably could have identified that problem even months ago. If anything like USB devices or WiFi adds enough load to create failure, then the power supply was always undersized even without that load. And the meter could have identified it. You don't give up, do ya? -- SteveH |
#8
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"Too small" power supply cause wireless PCI card to fail?
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:57:40 -0400, ohaya wrote:
I'm really starting to think that the PCI card may just be plain bad at this point. This whole thing started when the original PSU went dead one morning when I powered up the system (was working fine the night before), so I'm thinking something happened over night that "zapped" both the PSU and, probably, that wifi card. Sometimes the mechanical location of PCI cards into their slots is just plain dodgy. I have seen PCI cards with PCB lands which are very narrow. Mechanical location problems can be exacerbated by a flimsy computer case which flexes enough to put strain on the PCI card and move it just enough enough to stop it working. I have a machine with an Audigy 2 PCI card just like that. I dare not move the machine because usually after moving it the Audigy card stops working. |
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