Ralck

Hey guys,

So normally I try and help out others, but today I've been stumped by my one rig!

As in my sig, I've got an Antec Trio 650W supply. So far it's been great: rock solid stable. However, a while back I noticed that it wasn't turning on my case fans when the computer started up (I was using the special fan cables). I thought that was odd, but figured maybe my case just thought it was too cool and didn't need them? I decided to just plug the fans in to the regular 12V connectors and run them at full speed. A little noisey, but oh well.

Now, I just went to put in a new harddrive yesterday. As I normally do, I turned the computer on with the side off just to make sure everything inside is working okay before I close it up again. One thing I noticed is that the fan for the power supply is not spinnging. I know this is a thermally controlled fan and it spins up only when the case gets a bit warm, but here's the problem:
I decided to do a little testing. I purposly reduced the airflow in my case (turned off the case fans) and also blocked the side air vent. I wanted to try to 'force' the PSU fan on. I then went and played some Halflife 2 to put a bit of strain on my CPU/video card. Well I've got my CPU to throttle back when it hits 65C to help prevent damage to it (actually, the effect is that it freezes the computer... I don't know if that's normal but it allows me to shut it down and reduce the load to let the CPU cool a bit). When I started playing HL2 obviously with not much airflow through the case it fairly quicky heated up and locked up the computer. I checked the PSU fan when this happenend and it wasn't spinning (but with the heat in the case, it should have been!).
I thought that maybe it was because the computer had locked up that the fan stopped spinning, so I restarted the computer, started up HL2 and checked the fan when it seemed to be getting hot, but before it locked up and sure enough, the fan still wasn't spinning.

I guess I'm wondering if there is some setting or switch I'm missing on this PSU to turn that stuff on, or if you guys think there is a problem with the thermo stuff that is not turning it on even when it should be on?

This is my first thermo-controlled PSU, so I'm not sure if I'm just missing something obvious, or if there is a problem? Thanks in advance guys!

mattlock

The PSU fan should spin at all times. It just spins faster when needed. Time to RMA.

speedster123

did you use the blue and black [bios monitoring] leed coming from the power supply to the board? if so, unplug it and try.

1 g0t 0wn3d

The fan cables are faulty they will only power 80mm non led fans (i was reading that in a review its amazing how that stuff actually comes up lol)

linderman

if the PSU fan wont spin when gaming / then its time to RMA the unit


thats the first confirmed "sick" trio I have heard of thus far

Ralck

I'll look into the bios-monitoring connector, but I'll probably be talking to Antec very soon about this.

Sheesh... why do I always have the bad luck with power supplies? The one in my old rig fried the motherboard/cpu and borked up the harddrive. My previous power supply in this one (an FSP) was supposed to be good but was a lemon TWICE (had to RMA it 2 times to FSP before I got a working one back!). Now I got this one and it's been fine up until now, but I get lucky with the first sick trio 650.

Time to find a new temp power supply since I can't afford to be without this computer (it's my film editing rig and I'm on a pretty tight deadline that I need to meet).

It's interesting to hear that the fan-only connectors only run 80mm non-LED fans, considering I've got 120mm LED fans . I'm positive that when I first plugged them into those connectors that they spun up just fine. And I don't remember reading any Antec documentation about only plugging in 80mm fans into the fan-only connectors, but I could have just missed it (yes, I actually did look at the documentation that came with the supply when I first got it because it was the first thermo-controlled supply I've owned!). Maybe plugging in those fans is why it's broken?

mattlock

If you've had it less than two months take it back to the store you bought it from for a replacement. (unless you bought it online)

As for the "Fan Only" molex. It only allows the connected fan to spin as fast as the PSU fan, and the PSU fan doesn't ramp up to full speed until it hits 45c. This thread was the first I had heard of a problem with it also, so I decided to test it out. I connected a 120mm LED fan to it last night, and it spun up but was at a very low RPM. The voltage was @ 6v, so the speed is controlled by reducing the voltage to that connector.

linderman

thats why I personally dont use the antec fan connections >>>> I like mine to sound like an F-14 tomcat ready for take off / but I dont burn things up any more >>>>>


if you need a temp power supply


go to mwave.com / refurbished and look for the antec earthwatts 500 watt

or trio 550 etc >>>>> really good deals and all I have bought thus far have been new retail boxed units



******* grrrrrrrr nothing any good in there today with the exception fo the coolermaster real power pro 850 watt for $124.00

their stock changes really fast though; keep an eye out !

mattlock

Earthwatts 500w for $35 after $40 rebate. Free Shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371007