Power Supply Requirements? 4

[chromarog]

I'm currently running a 1.3 duron on an abit kt7, non raid. I'm currently running a geforce2gts 32meg card. I bought an mx440 128meg card. I plugged it in, it booted fine, detected the card, all was looking good. I changed the resolution and lost power. It constantly reboots once it gets to the the XP user selection screen. It's a 300w power supply, I thought it was a 350 but it says on the sticker 315max. Not sure how I got that wrong but that was while ago. I have 3 hard drives on it, and 2cd's, (one ide dvd, and one scsi cdr on an adaptec 2940u/uw). If I put the old video card back on, it works fine. I suspect it's a power supply issue but here are my questions that have me puzzled:

1. I removed all the scsi hardware, no change. I haven't attmpted removing drives yet, due to space. (that's my next upgrade)

2. Would a 400w power supply do the trick or do I need to go bigger? I'm already on a super-tight budget and I have get the on sale/clearance items.

Thanks
Chomarog

 

[garebo]

To Chromarog:

It should be pretty clear that likely it is not a power supply problem and likely has to do with the os and one or 2 drivers not working well together.

Also, I have read about probs with the geforce mx cards, in a lot of different places, to the point that I wouldnt even buy one. I would buy a ti or other geforce card but not an mx. They are causing a lot of probs for a lot of people. I dont have time to prove what I am saying but I CAN tell you that I have read a lot about probs with mx cards.
So maybe lose the card, sell it in a forum or something, maybe ebay or even here. Best thing to do is try the card in someone elses fairly newer computer and if there are no probs then you can sell it as new but slightly used. You can mention that you dont like the way it works with your system but that doesnt mean anyone else will have probs! It may work fine in my system! I have a radeon 7000 32mb and that is more than I need in a vid card but others need a geforce card for gaming.

Or, do what the people just above have mentioned. Get down to the very basic setup and go from there. Personally, if it were me, I might just sell the card, but its your call.

But you need to do something now, there has been enough talk. And I dont mean that rudely either!
Also, as for the person/s who think its the power supply. I dont mean to be rude to anyone else either, its just that I dont believe it is a power supply prob. And I think I can back that up by saying that power supply probs account for very few computer probs in the area that you are talking about with your problem. But I could be wrong, thats for sure. And also I have mentioned I believe too many people point to the power supply when power supply problems are overstated, imho. Now there is one area I can say that I have proof. You can read above about the system I am now running and I have other systems and know of other systems with a full compliment of goodies and smaller power supplies, all with no probs. On the other hand, and to be fair, I did have a system go on me once, the power supply burnt out. Who is to say why. Was it over-worked or just plain old bad luck, some small part quit and it killed the whole power supply and fried my vid card too!!!

 

[garebo]

I was typing my response when gargouille and nobrain were doing theirs. I had mine half done, went out for a while and came back and finished. So my post is kind of out of order.

I still urge Chromarog to start doing the suggestions that have been given.

 

[chromarog]

After trying a multitude of things, bios settings, etc etc. I never successfully got it up and running. Once the card got warmed up, it never got past the user selection screen. After trying it on an entirely different machine, with different OS and drivers and getting same results, I opted to trade it up for a TI. I have read in more than one post here that says ditch the MX and get a TI. So I am. Now I have to do the RMA trade up and go through that hassle but I should be up and running with a new card by the end of the week, possibly next Monday.

Thanks for all the help.

Chromarog