mobo - overloaded?

[spoon2001]

Can a mobo be overloaded, powerwise ... with too many devices? That is,
even if the PSU is more than adequate, the mobo just can't deliver the
required power to all the devices that are demanding it?

I blew a power supply not long ago ... an Antec, 3 years old ... replaced it
with an Antec Truepower 2.0, 400W - thought that might take care of things.

But today when I tried to hook up my TV as a secondary display through my
ATI All-in-Wonder, I got several spontaneous reboots. It didn't stop (I
hope it has!) until I disconnected the TV from the TV-Out of the AIW.

Three internal hard drives. Five fans.

The USB ports are also fully loaded ... though that shouldn't be too much of
a power demand, because I've got most of my devices plugged into two powered
hubs.

 

[David Maynard]

Can a mobo be overloaded, powerwise ... with too many devices? That is,
even if the PSU is more than adequate, the mobo just can't deliver the
required power to all the devices that are demanding it?

I blew a power supply not long ago ... an Antec, 3 years old ... replaced it
with an Antec Truepower 2.0, 400W - thought that might take care of things.

But today when I tried to hook up my TV as a secondary display through my
ATI All-in-Wonder, I got several spontaneous reboots. It didn't stop (I
hope it has!) until I disconnected the TV from the TV-Out of the AIW.

Three internal hard drives. Five fans.

The USB ports are also fully loaded ... though that shouldn't be too much of
a power demand, because I've got most of my devices plugged into two powered
hubs.

More likely to be a ground loop problem between the computer and the TV.

 

[Dave]

More likely to be a ground loop problem between the computer and the TV.

That, or the video card might be working loose from the expansion card
socket, and the extra weight of another cable hooked up was just enough to
cause an intermittent problem. I've seen that one myself, more than
nce. -Dave

 

[David Maynard]

That, or the video card might be working loose from the expansion card
socket, and the extra weight of another cable hooked up was just enough to
cause an intermittent problem. I've seen that one myself, more than
nce. -Dave

That's a good suggestion.

 

[spoon2001]

More likely to be a ground loop problem between the computer and the
TV.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a ground loop problem?

Odd thing, but the TV actually worked pretty well as a secondary display for
little while. Either as a "clone" of the primary display, or a horizontal
or vertical extension of it.

 

[Michael Hawes]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a ground loop problem?

Google is your friend,
Mike.

 

[Dave]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a ground loop problem?

I've never heard it called that, but I have seen it. Basically, if your
computer is plugged into a particular (building or room) electrical circuit,
and the TV is plugged into a DIFFERENT (building or room) electrical
circuit, that can interfere with the two devices communicating with each
other. All voltages are referenced to GROUND. Theoretically, GROUND should
have the same electrical potential, regardless of where you plug a device
in, because you are literally plugging it into THE EARTH ITSELF. However,
there can be differences in how different circuits are wired. There might
be more resistance on the ground line of one circuit than there is on the
ground line of another circuit. This can cause a floating ground, meaning
that there is actually some minimal voltage where there should be NONE.
THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM for any and all electronics plugged into the same
circuit. But if you have two electronics devices connected to each other,
and they are running off two different circuits with different grounds, that
can be a huge problem.

An EXTREMELY simplified example would be something like:

Circuit 1 has a floating ground potential of about .5VAC (for example)
Circuit 2 has a relatively stable ground potential closer to true ground
(ZERO VAC)

Device on Circuit 1 is sending a ~1V video signal, floating around .5VAC
Device on Circuit 2 is expecting to receive a stable ~1V video signal (from
device on circuit one), but it actually receives a signal fluctuating around
1.5V, and varying wildly, and it doesn't recognize this signal as video that
it can process. (because the signal being sent by device on circuit one is
in reference to the ground that is floating)
If Device on Circuit 2 was plugged into Circuit 1, ground would be floating
but IDENTICAL to the ground on Device on Circuit 1. So the ~1V video signal
would LOOK like a ~1V video signal, to BOTH devices, and thus they would
work well together.

Depending on what type of ground mismatch you have and what type of signal
they need to share, there are adapters that you can put between them to make
them play nice with each other. But the best solution is to attach all
devices to the same circuit, if they must communicate with each
ther. -Dave