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Question

Is my PSU bad?

by Apr 5, 2017 9:22AM PDT

I have an i7 6700, gtx960 2gb, 16gb ddr4, Liquid cooling system, 2x SSD HDs, 1x 2tb HD, Bluray drive, AL-500w EXP power supply unit, and a Sabrent "USB 3.0 super speed flash media card reader" optical drive I installed mainly as the computer never came with a media card reader slot. I have had this computer for about 10 months now.

The issue I have is when I sometimes plug in a charging device (cell phone or controller to charge) to the Sabrent optical drive's 1 USB port. After plugging into this port the computer shuts off and restarts and it has never done this with a standard USB stick. The weird thing is that I did plug in a cellphone today in that same USB port and nothing happened. So this issue seems to be intermittent.. This issue has not happened when I plugged in a charging device into the computers factory USB 3.0 ports. Could this be a bad power supply or psu control motor?

Also when the computer reboots it states "Power supply surges detected during the previous power on. Asus Anti-surge was triggered to protect system from unstable power supply unit!"

Again only has occured from my knowledge when plugging into that Sabrent's usb port (sometimes).

Discussion is locked

10 Posts
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Answer
As a test.
by Forum moderator Apr 5, 2017 9:28AM PDT

Remove the Sabrent and use the motherboard ports. What happens?

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re
by bobsigny Apr 5, 2017 9:37AM PDT

the motherboard ports seem to work fine. Could the Sabrent drive be too much for the PSU to handle sometimes? The only issue I have is the USB port on the Sabrent drive and that is only sometimes.

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I've going with yes.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 5, 2017 9:56AM PDT

It's a bit of a drag but the test points to some incompatibility.

That Sabrent, if it doesn't have a PSU power connection it could tap the motherboard USB power a little too hard and trigger the issue.

Look over the Sabrent docs (if any?) and see if they offer a way to power the device.

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Answer
Usb port
by Apr 5, 2017 1:11PM PDT

The card reader draws it's power from the usb header on the mobo.
When you plug a charging device into the card reader there may be an initial surge and having two devices getting it's power from the same source overloads the source.

Don't use that port for a charging device.

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re
by bobsigny Apr 6, 2017 7:50AM PDT

Yea I did look at the motherboard and the Sabrent drive is connected to USB 3.0 port. I do remember that it is the only way to power the drive.

Is there a reason why I can charge devices and it will work whereas other times the pc shuts off? Is it hardware related? I guess im confused as to why the mobo would have an extra usb 3.0 connection for a drive like this if I cannot utilize it all the way.

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Reason?
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 6, 2017 8:21AM PDT

My guess is the Sabrent taps the power for reasons and then when you plug in, it's over the limit.

Frankly you have two choices here. Only use things that don't use much power, connect a second VCC to the USB input from an unused motherboard header to double the capacity. Slightly technical and not supported by me (but something I've done on my own gear.)

Example to show it's a real solution. https://www.amazon.com/HIGHROCK-Enhancer-Female-Charge-Extension/dp/B00NIGO4NM

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re
by bobsigny Apr 6, 2017 8:17PM PDT

It seems the issue only occurs sometimes and not always. I just wasn't sure if maybe my PSU was going bad or a mobo issue.

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I'm just an electronics designer.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 6, 2017 10:03PM PDT

And yes I ran PC and other repair shops. To me, it's not your PSU.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/installing-frontal-usb-ports/ tells use that Pin1 is the +5V source so what I did was to solder a wire from an unused motherboard USB header Pin 1 to the Pin 1 I used. This doubled my available current.

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there is limited power to USB ports
by James Denison Apr 6, 2017 8:29AM PDT

exceed that power and the computer crashes, and only crashes, if lucky.

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Answer
google
by Apr 6, 2017 4:10PM PDT
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