Do i have too many components in my box?

S

Switch10

Geek Trainee
I just built this machine the otherday:
quad core proc
4gb ram
1gb video card
2 x 1 TB drives
500 watt psu

I just added 4 more gb of ram, and the machine failed to boot. It gave me an error saying it couldn't find the boot device. I unplugged the "slave" drive (even though it is sata) and it booted just fine.

Is this an issue with my power supply not supplying enough power?

Is there a program (windows or Linux) that shows me power usage for each individual component? I'm having a hard time finding it in the manuals.

Thanks in advance for the help

Dave
 
It sounds like your PSU doesn't supply enough power. Try this website. It calculates exactly how much wattage you need to run all those peripherals of yours.

If you do have enough power, it might be that you have to set up your boot priorities in the BIOS.

Finally, if all of the above don't apply, it might be a faulty RAM stick.

I'd check these possibilities consecutively.
 
scorps65 said:
It sounds like your PSU doesn't supply enough power. Try this website. It calculates exactly how much wattage you need to run all those peripherals of yours.

If you do have enough power, it might be that you have to set up your boot priorities in the BIOS.

Finally, if all of the above don't apply, it might be a faulty RAM stick.

I'd check these possibilities consecutively.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

The website you recommended says that with everything installed, the minimum recommended wattage was 286. Well below my 500w PSU, so something else is at fault here.

can my boot order change after installing RAM? I will mess with my BIOS tomorrow to see if I can uncover anything...

all of the sticks of RAM read good in Linux and Windows..

Any other ideas?
 
Switch10 said:
The website you recommended says that with everything installed, the minimum recommended wattage was 286. Well below my 500w PSU, so something else is at fault here.
Click to expand...
I did a generic test using the data you gave me on that site and i got around 432w. I'd recommend you do it again just in case and fill up everything (ie. fans, dvd drives, exact cpu, exact vga, number of RAM sticks installed, extra pci cards or pci-e cards, and fill up the last one called "Capacitor Aging" and put "30%")

Switch10 said:
can my boot order change after installing RAM? I will mess with my BIOS tomorrow to see if I can uncover anything...
Click to expand...
No. Your BIOS boot order cannot change after installing RAM. Only after installing HDD's, CDROMS, or FDD's, can it change.

I had a similar problem once because one of my drives was SATA and the other, IDE, and my BIOS kept on booting the IDE. Are both your drives SATA?
 
scorps65 said:
I did a generic test using the data you gave me on that site and i got around 432w. I'd recommend you do it again just in case and fill up everything (ie. fans, dvd drives, exact cpu, exact vga, number of RAM sticks installed, extra pci cards or pci-e cards, and fill up the last one called "Capacitor Aging" and put "30%")


No. Your BIOS boot order cannot change after installing RAM. Only after installing HDD's, CDROMS, or FDD's, can it change.

I had a similar problem once because one of my drives was SATA and the other, IDE, and my BIOS kept on booting the IDE. Are both your drives SATA?
Click to expand...

I included everything that is in the case. Exact CPU, video card, etc. I only have 1 pci card installed. I did put capacitor aging to 30% and it lowered my Recommended Minimum PSU Wattage to 257w.
 
Hm well in that case its not your PSU. What connections do your HDD's use? And which one do you want to boot from?
 
I've since removed the hard drive and I am using it in an external case. I would like to put it back in the case if possible. They are both SATA drives in SATA 6 and 7 on my motherboard. I will mess with my BIOS too to see if I can uncover anything.

Thanks for the help

Dave
 
I seem to have fixed the problem. I changed the SATA setup so I am using 1 2 and 3 instead of what was the easiest to reach :). I also switched the SATA power for the optical drive. All works well. Thanks for the replies.

Dave
 
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