RAID Controller Issue or something else?

[dustbuster]

Hello,

I have an older system that originally had Windows 98 but I formatted it and reinstalled XP. There was no problem there. I wanted to upgrade the hard drive space to 2 300GB Maxtors but the motherboard (AX3SP-U) doesn't support SATA. I didn't think it would even support those size of drives so I got an Adaptec RAID controller and ran it off of there.

Now I'm getting problems where sometimes one of the original hard drives isn't recognized in windows and other times the system freezes.

The Device Manager reports that the Raid Controller is working fine.

In the system I have:
40GB Maxtor
60GB Maxtor
300GB Maxtor
300GB Maxtor
Liteon CD-R/RW
Power Supply: 300W
Motherboard: AX3SP-U
WindowsXP
256MB RAM

Could these issues be related to the power supply?

Thanks

 

[BadBigBen]

To answer your question YES, it could be related to the PSU...

In my opinion, a 300 watt PSU is not enough for 5 drives, a GFX-Card, and what else is installed (hardware)... also 256mb of RAM is a bit low for XP, here I would suggest upgrading to at least 512mb, and on the PSU I would go with 400w or more...



Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[kmcferrin]

You can use a PSU calculator like the one shown here to get an estimate of what is necessary:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

I just ran the info that you had, plugged in some mid-range models for CPU, video, and audio, and it came back recommending 333 watts or higher (which in reality is 350 or 400 watts, since they don't make 333). I would go with a minimum of 400 watts in your case, and probably 450 if you're buying an off-brand PSU.

 

[dustbuster]

I ran the calculator kmcferrin linked to and matched my specs. It came out to 276 watts. I still might upgrade the PSU, though.

Does the drive size make much of a difference (between a 60GB and a 300GB)?

Is there anything else that might be causing these problems?

The DVR wasn't having these kinds of problems until I added the extra controller and hard drives.

 

[kmcferrin]

The thing about the calculator is that it provides a rough estimate.

Also, not all 300 watt PSUs are equal. Many of the less expensive PSUs will be more lenient in their power rating. For example, on a cheap 300W PSU that 300W rating is the peak rating, but it may not be capable of providing 300W of sustained power. It may only be able to provide 220W or 250W of sustained power.

If you are looking at some of the higher-end "brand name" or "performance" PSUs like Antec, PC Power and Cooling, etc then that 300W rating will be the sustained power, and it would likely be able to offer peak levels a tad higher for short periods of time.

I would definitely put my money on the PSU being underpowered.

The size of the drive doesn't make any real difference, but drives that spin faster will obviously consume more power. So if you have a WD Raptor 10000 RPM drive it will draw more juice than a standard 7200 RPM drive. Other than that the differences should be fairly negligible.

 

[dustbuster]

Ok. I'll definetly look at the power supply then.

Thanks for your help.