Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run?

djw54 · 12-03-2007, 12:44 PM

First time visitor here, so have mercy.

I have a desktop system at home, a barebones system that I bought from Tigerdirect about a year and a half ago (I'll have to fill in specs later). About six months ago, the PSU stopped working, so I got a replacement under warranty. Now my machine is acting up again, in that it will occassionally freeze, or refuse to wake up. After trying several diagnostics, I came upon a recommendation in this forum to try sensorsview to track CPU temp, voltage, etc., and to compare voltage from sensorsview to the reading in BIOS.

Well, sv says that my +12V circuit is at 10.4V, and -12V is at -0.5V. Bios does not have any readings for 12V+/-.
The CPU temp runs at ~40C, but periodically spikes to 250C.

Can these readings possibly be correct? I would have thought th system wouldn't even run at 10.4V, but it does, though falteringly.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

Don

**twajetmech** · 12-03-2007, 03:05 PM

Hello and welcome to the TSF, the ATX spec calls for no more than a 10% variance in the 12V rail, so at 10.4V you are below that level and I doubt the computer will post. It is not uncommon to see computers fail to boot at 11.5V. You can check the voltages in the bios if you can get into it, but sensorview is normally pretty good. Tigerdirect tends to use a lot of "Ultra" products and psu's.....they are not normally on our list of quality psu's. Your temps should not spike that high, it could be a faulty sensor or a bad application of thermal paste, you could clean off the old paste and reapply some new....see the artical linked below on thermal paste.

**TheMatt** · 12-03-2007, 08:50 PM

The newer ATX 12V 2.2 and the EPS12V 2.91 spec call for tight ±5% tolerances on all voltages except the Power_Good. I doubt any modern computer could successfully POST with any voltage below 11V.

**speedster123** · 12-04-2007, 10:44 AM

the supplies that tiger direct uses in their barebones units arent usually good.

dai · 12-04-2007, 11:18 AM

see what this gives you
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
software utilities are not the best at times check it with a multimeter is the best option
http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f77/ho...-rails-130666/

djw54 · 12-05-2007, 07:38 AM

Thanks for all the replies.

The computer does POST, but sometimes doesn't wake up, and sometimes freezes. Performance is slow.

Installed pcwizard as suggested. It shows 10.5V on the 12V supply. It does not show the temperature spikes on the cpu that sensorsview shows (both programs running simultaneously).

Haven't tried the manual voltmeter measurement yet.

Don

p.s. the board won't let me edit my original post, but the -12V reading is not on my computer, I must have read it on someone else's report and combined the two in my head; my sensorsview doesn't even show a -12V reading.

dai · 12-05-2007, 09:31 AM

the wizard will only give you a snapshot of what it see's when you run it
sensors view continually monitors
check with speedfan
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html

djw54 · 12-11-2007, 10:09 PM

Just an update on my..er...stupidity. I swapped out the power supply before checking the old one with a multimeter. Still getting the 10.4V reading with sensorsview.

Then, if that weren't enough, the new psu I purchased is an Antec, but unfortunately it's a Basiq, which I now read in another thread is "junk".

Tomorrow, I can try speedfan, or just get my multimeter out. Oh, still need to run memtest.

BUT, what is causing the CPU temperature reading to spike? The spike is sudden and short-term, from 46 degrees to 450 degrees F.

Don

**twajetmech** · 12-12-2007, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twajetmech

Hello and welcome to the TSF, the ATX spec calls for no more than a 10% variance in the 12V rail, so at 10.4V you are below that level and I doubt the computer will post. It is not uncommon to see computers fail to boot at 11.5V. You can check the voltages in the bios if you can get into it, but sensorview is normally pretty good. Tigerdirect tends to use a lot of "Ultra" products and psu's.....they are not normally on our list of quality psu's. Your temps should not spike that high, it could be a faulty sensor or a bad application of thermal paste, you could clean off the old paste and reapply some new....see the artical linked below on thermal paste.

From my post above !

12-03-2007, 12:44 PM	#1 (permalink)
djw54 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP	Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? First time visitor here, so have mercy. I have a desktop system at home, a barebones system that I bought from Tigerdirect about a year and a half ago (I'll have to fill in specs later). About six months ago, the PSU stopped working, so I got a replacement under warranty. Now my machine is acting up again, in that it will occassionally freeze, or refuse to wake up. After trying several diagnostics, I came upon a recommendation in this forum to try sensorsview to track CPU temp, voltage, etc., and to compare voltage from sensorsview to the reading in BIOS. Well, sv says that my +12V circuit is at 10.4V, and -12V is at -0.5V. Bios does not have any readings for 12V+/-. The CPU temp runs at ~40C, but periodically spikes to 250C. Can these readings possibly be correct? I would have thought th system wouldn't even run at 10.4V, but it does, though falteringly. Thoughts? Thanks. Don

12-03-2007, 03:05 PM	#2 (permalink)
twajetmech I helped the forums. Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: LGA, NYC Posts: 2,388 OS: XP-Pro Sp2 & XP-Pro Sp2 Tablet Edition, Vista Ultimate My System	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? Hello and welcome to the TSF, the ATX spec calls for no more than a 10% variance in the 12V rail, so at 10.4V you are below that level and I doubt the computer will post. It is not uncommon to see computers fail to boot at 11.5V. You can check the voltages in the bios if you can get into it, but sensorview is normally pretty good. Tigerdirect tends to use a lot of "Ultra" products and psu's.....they are not normally on our list of quality psu's. Your temps should not spike that high, it could be a faulty sensor or a bad application of thermal paste, you could clean off the old paste and reapply some new....see the artical linked below on thermal paste. __________________ PSU Selection/Info // Bench test // Thermal Paste // Memory Selection // Bios Beep Codes // CPU-Z// Posting System Specs

12-03-2007, 08:50 PM	#3 (permalink)
TheMatt TSF Enthusiast Join Date: May 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 13,701 OS: Win 3.1, 98, NT 4.0, XP Debian 4.0, Kubuntu 6.06 My System Blog Entries: 3	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? The newer ATX 12V 2.2 and the EPS12V 2.91 spec call for tight ±5% tolerances on all voltages except the Power_Good. I doubt any modern computer could successfully POST with any voltage below 11V. __________________ - Matt M - KB1OSC - Folding@Home 85015 [url="http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/"] If TSF has helped you, please consider donating. If I have stopped responding to a thread, feel free to send me a PM with a link to the thread. It is advisable to subscribe to threads so you will receive updates when replies are posted. You can subscribe to threads from the "Thread Tools" Menu. »Memtest86 »Prime95 »UBCD »SpeedFan »NHC Personal »Everest »Sandra »PC Wizard »RivaTuner »ATi Tool Click here for Useful Articles and Guides

12-04-2007, 10:44 AM	#4 (permalink)
speedster123 Mentor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: United States-New York-Long Island Posts: 5,212 OS: xp pro SP3	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? the supplies that tiger direct uses in their barebones units arent usually good. __________________ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

12-04-2007, 11:18 AM	#5 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,548 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? see what this gives you http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php software utilities are not the best at times check it with a multimeter is the best option http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f77/ho...-rails-130666/ __________________

12-05-2007, 07:38 AM	#6 (permalink)
djw54 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? Thanks for all the replies. The computer does POST, but sometimes doesn't wake up, and sometimes freezes. Performance is slow. Installed pcwizard as suggested. It shows 10.5V on the 12V supply. It does not show the temperature spikes on the cpu that sensorsview shows (both programs running simultaneously). Haven't tried the manual voltmeter measurement yet. Don p.s. the board won't let me edit my original post, but the -12V reading is not on my computer, I must have read it on someone else's report and combined the two in my head; my sensorsview doesn't even show a -12V reading. Last edited by djw54; 12-05-2007 at 07:42 AM.

12-05-2007, 09:31 AM	#7 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,548 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? the wizard will only give you a snapshot of what it see's when you run it sensors view continually monitors check with speedfan http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html __________________

12-11-2007, 10:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
djw54 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 3 OS: Windows XP	Re: Basic Sensorsview Question: At 10.4V, Will it even run? Just an update on my..er...stupidity. I swapped out the power supply before checking the old one with a multimeter. Still getting the 10.4V reading with sensorsview. Then, if that weren't enough, the new psu I purchased is an Antec, but unfortunately it's a Basiq, which I now read in another thread is "junk". Tomorrow, I can try speedfan, or just get my multimeter out. Oh, still need to run memtest. BUT, what is causing the CPU temperature reading to spike? The spike is sudden and short-term, from 46 degrees to 450 degrees F. Don