[ale] OT: Can Bad PS Cause Hangs?

[Jeff Hubbs]

I've been trying to chase down the cause for occasional freeze-ups with an
Asus K7V mobo with an Athlon 700.  Freeze-ups tend to be high-activity
related (e.g., SETI at Home client, fractal screensaver).  

My first attack was a big hockin' heatsink and two beefier fans that pull a
nice updraft through the case.  A Good Thing to be sure, but this didn't
cure the freeze-ups.

When checking the BIOS settings, I noticed that two of the power supply
voltage alarms on the mobo had been disabled.  When I re-enabled them, I
found out that the -5V supply was sitting at about -5.50V - low enough to
make the alarm go off.  The other voltages are within range (at least as far
as the mobo alarms are concerned).  

This box was built-to-order by a local establishment.  My suspicion is that
the tech that built up this box intentionally disabled the alarms to cover
up a bad PS.  

My question to you is this:  in your experience, would this condition likely
result in freeze-ups under load, and would you regard -5.50V as being way
off for a 300W PC PS?

- Jeff
--
To unsubscribe: mail majordomo at ale.org with "unsubscribe ale" in message body.