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What's taxing my 3.3V rail? (finally solved)

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wsmeyer
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2010/11/03 11:49:22 (permalink)
************** UPDATE *****************
After messing around with this forever I finally found the culprit, a loose connector inside the molex connecting the PSU to motherboard. A little tweaking with a needle and it's steady at 3.26V
 
**************************************
 
Up until 2 months ago I had been using a Koolance PSU and the 3.3V rail always ran low, in the 3.14V to 3.2V range. I wasn't thrilled about it but the system was stable so whatever. Then I switched to a Corsair PSU and one of the first things I checked was the 3.3V rail and it was dead on at 3.3V. Two days ago, my Areca RAID card starts sending me warning emails that the 3.3V rail is low and sure enough, it's now way down at 3.02V !!
 
In all cases, the BIOS, E-LEET, the Areca RAID card, and a DMM all report voltages within a couple hundred millivolts.
 
All the voltages look like this:
 
Power +12V >> 12.038 V
Power +5V >> 5.053 V
Power +3.3V >> 3.024 V
SATA PHY +2.5V >> 2.544 V
DDR-II +1.8V >> 1.872 V
PCI-E +1.8V >> 1.872 V
CPU +1.8V >> 1.872 V
CPU +1.2V >> 1.232 V
DDR-II +0.9V >> 0.928 V  
It seems unlikely that two PSU's in a row would have the same problem so anybody know what else could be causing this?
 
William.
post edited by wsmeyer - 2010/11/16 11:07:01
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    boredgunner
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 11:51:10 (permalink)
    Software readings for PSU voltages mean nothing.  You should check with a multimeter/voltmeter.  Only accurate way.  RAID setups and memory are powered by the +3.3v rail I believe.


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    wsmeyer
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 12:13:05 (permalink)
    Sorry, I thought everyone knew a DMM was a Digital Multi Meter
     
    William.
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    linuxrouter
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 12:17:17 (permalink)
    Where did you measure the 3.3v at? If you take out the Areca controller, does the 3.3v rail measure the same?

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    wsmeyer
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 12:23:47 (permalink)
    I measured it at the molex connector on the PSU. All my HD's are on the Areca so without it I can only boot into the bios screen. I could measure it again at that point but it seems to me that a lot of other stuff wouldn't be fully powered up at that point?
     
    William.
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    linuxrouter
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 12:28:39 (permalink)
    I was thinking maybe the controller or another device was causing the load somehow. A process of elimination might help track down the issue. If it is not too much hassle, you might also pull the board out of the case and boot it up outside of the case to see if there is a short with the board in the case.

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    wsmeyer
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 12:36:54 (permalink)
    I'm all about the process of elimination, but not really sure what all uses the 3.3V rail.
     
    Unless the Areca is the most likely culprit it's going to have to be the last step though as to really test without it means loading windows onto another drive.  And do SSD's or other HD's use 3.3V's? Unplugging the Areca also means 12 drives will just be idling.
     
    William.
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    wsmeyer
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 19:13:16 (permalink)
    Well, I pulled all the RAM out and booted with just one stick in slot one and it was back at 3.26V
     
    Next I test each stick by itself in slot one and all resulted in 3.26V
     
    Then I put all the sticks back in booted and was at 3.21V
     
    I'd be happy with that but now after 4 hours of use it has slipped down to 3.14V
     
    William.
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    KMoore4318
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/03 22:46:53 (permalink)
    wsmeyer

    Well, I pulled all the RAM out and booted with just one stick in slot one and it was back at 3.26V

    Next I test each stick by itself in slot one and all resulted in 3.26V

    Then I put all the sticks back in booted and was at 3.21V

    I'd be happy with that but now after 4 hours of use it has slipped down to 3.14V

    William.

    3.14 is as low as you ever want to see it. as thats just barley in spec.
     


      
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    donta1979
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    Re:What's taxing my 3.3V rail? 2010/11/04 00:17:09 (permalink)
    first post your full system specs so we have an idea about how much power your pulling or if something else is at work.

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