HX850 P.G. "power good" value

[switch556]

Hi there,

 

I was attempting to SLi two GTX460s (768mb) on my machine. Here are the specs.

 

• Intel Core i7-950 @ 3.06ghz (stock)
  
• Gigabyte X58A-UD3R (rev. 2.0) mobo
  
• Corsair XMS3 12gb DDR3-1600 (downclocked to 1333) RAM
  
• MSI Cyclone GTX 460 w/768mb RAM (Factory OC'd)
  
• 4 SATA drives (all 7200 RPM)
  
• 1 optical DVD-R/RW drive
  
• Several external USB devices
  
• 1 internal USB/memory card reader
  
• Corsair HX850 PSU.
  
• Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate
  

 

Computer was running fine, I shut it down to install the 2nd card. I was using a grounding wrist cable, installed all the hardware and the PC started up, but then immediately shut down, didn't post. I thought maybe the PSU wasnt providing enough juice so I removed the 2nd (new) card and tried to start the PC again, but it was doing the same thing, but now it is in an endless start/reset cycle, it never posts and shuts down after about 3 seconds and then starts up again after like 15 seconds.

 

I purchased a power supply tester (Cool Max PS-228) and the PSU voltages test ok, but the tester alarm beeps and the P.G. value reads "HH" which means too high, according to the Cool Max site it means its running above 900ms.

 

I went out and purchased another HX850 figuring mine was bad and the brand new out of the box (not even installed into my case) HX850 is reading the same values.

 

Is it possible I could have 2 bad PSUs? Is the default P.G. value of the HX850 normally higher than 900ms?

 

What can I be doing wrong here? Not enough juice? I am not a novice around PCs, Ive been building my own gaming rigs since high school (in my 30s now).

[RAM GUY]

Its possible that the tester is not reading the PG value correctly on our PSU because of the components we use, I have seen this in the past. I would try resetting the BIOS and if you get the same issues, then the next thing I would suspect would be a short somewhere. To isolate a short, I would disconnect everything from the system that you can get away with and see if there is any change when booting from a barebones configuration. If there is still no change, then I would remove the board from the case and benchtest the system.

[switch556]

Its possible that the tester is not reading the PG value correctly on our PSU because of the components we use, I have seen this in the past. I would try resetting the BIOS and if you get the same issues, then the next thing I would suspect would be a short somewhere. To isolate a short, I would disconnect everything from the system that you can get away with and see if there is any change when booting from a barebones configuration. If there is still no change, then I would remove the board from the case and benchtest the system.

 

Thanks, I'll try what you said, but what is suspicious to me is that I tested the 2nd HX850 straight out of the box, never connected to ANY components with the PSU tester and it was giving me the same readings as the original HX850 I had... the same "HH" for the PG value.

 

My brother seems to think I have a short somewhere as well, but I don't know where it can be. How can I test for shorts in my mobo?

[RAM GUY]

My brother seems to think I have a short somewhere as well, but I don't know where it can be. How can I test for shorts in my mobo?

 

To isolate a short, I would disconnect everything from the system that you can get away with and see if there is any change when booting from a barebones configuration. If there is still no change, then I would remove the board from the case and benchtest the system.