Power Supply Diagnostics?

[Angry Moth Town]

I recently put a new video card (Geforce 7900GS) in my rig so that I
could play Oblivion, and now I'm coming up with some odd behavior.
After the game has been running a while the system tends to either
freeze up and freeze the screen, or freeze up and the screen goes into
power-save mode, and the power and reset buttons are unresponsive
(have to turn off the power supply and then turn it back on).

I'm trying to diagnose this problem, and would like to rule out the
power supply crashing under heavy-load from the new card. Any tips
for how to do this? I believe it is a 350W brand-name model, and have
had no issues up to this point.

Also, you might say that the issue is obviously my new graphics card,
since that was when the issue started, but before I installed this
card, I never played any games or did anything really demanding on
this system. Email and Firefox was about it.

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Electric Pickle]

I recently put a new video card (Geforce 7900GS) in my rig so that I
could play Oblivion, and now I'm coming up with some odd behavior.
After the game has been running a while the system tends to either
freeze up and freeze the screen, or freeze up and the screen goes into
power-save mode, and the power and reset buttons are unresponsive
(have to turn off the power supply and then turn it back on).

I'm trying to diagnose this problem, and would like to rule out the
power supply crashing under heavy-load from the new card.  Any tips
for how to do this?  I believe it is a 350W brand-name model, and have
had no issues up to this point.

Also, you might say that the issue is obviously my new graphics card,
since that was when the issue started, but before I installed this
card, I never played any games or did anything really demanding on
this system.  Email and Firefox was about it.

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated!

I personally wouldn't even attempt putting that card in a system with
under a 400W PS and if you ask me that's even pushing it. I just
killed an Antec Truepower 400 with my 8600GT in 3 months time. RMA''d
the thing but went and bought a Antec Basic 500W so hopefully that
does the trick. Dunno if you have a CompUSA near you but I got that
Antec there for 44.00 not even on sale!

 

[DaveW]

Your PSU is too underpowered to run that power-hungry of a video card along
with the rest of your computer's components. Time to invest in a more
powerful PSU.

 

[John Doe]

I recently put a new video card (Geforce 7900GS) in my rig so that
I could play Oblivion, and now I'm coming up with some odd
behavior. After the game has been running a while the system tends
to either freeze up and freeze the screen, or freeze up and the
screen goes into power-save mode, and the power and reset buttons
are unresponsive (have to turn off the power supply and then turn
it back on).

I'm trying to diagnose this problem, and would like to rule out
the power supply crashing under heavy-load from the new card. Any
tips for how to do this? I believe it is a 350W brand-name model,
and have had no issues up to this point.

Wattage means little or nothing by itself. A namebrand can mean a
lot. I have been running a 7950GT/512MB and a power-hungry CPU for
many months using an Antec TruePower II 380W. Does your video card
have an auxiliary power jack connected to the power supply? There
are utilities from AMD and probably Intel that will show power
voltage levels while in Windows.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[sandy58]

I recently put a new video card (Geforce 7900GS) in my rig so that I
could play Oblivion, and now I'm coming up with some odd behavior.
After the game has been running a while the system tends to either
freeze up and freeze the screen, or freeze up and the screen goes into
power-save mode, and the power and reset buttons are unresponsive
(have to turn off the power supply and then turn it back on).

I'm trying to diagnose this problem, and would like to rule out the
power supply crashing under heavy-load from the new card. Any tips
for how to do this? I believe it is a 350W brand-name model, and have
had no issues up to this point.

Also, you might say that the issue is obviously my new graphics card,
since that was when the issue started, but before I installed this
card, I never played any games or did anything really demanding on
this system. Email and Firefox was about it.

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have a Geforce 7600GS with a built-in power jack (re; John Doe
reply) & have left it off in error to get messages of power loss. With
you recently (I recently put a new video card) installing it you may
have done just that??

 

[Electric Pickle]

Wattage means little or nothing by itself. A namebrand can mean a
lot. I have been running a 7950GT/512MB and a power-hungry CPU for
many months using an Antec TruePower II 380W. Does your video card
have an auxiliary power jack connected to the power supply? There
are utilities from AMD and probably Intel that will show power
voltage levels while in Windows.

Good luck and have fun.

I agree with that to a point. Hell I ran a 6600GT in a system that had
a power hungry CPU, 2 dvd burners, 3 hard drives, 2gb of DDR400 and
all 4 usb ports in use with a 300w Bestec PS! The power draw from a
7900GS is between 43 and 50 watts (depending on oc or not) which isn't
that much but unless the PS rating is "true" then ya never know what
your getting. It's best IMO to have as much headroom you can get to
accommodate voltage fluctuations. So while you may not need a huge PS
to run a 7900GS it certainly doesn't hurt to have a PS that will be
ready to take future upgrades that WILL require big amounts of power.
Also have to account for possible dirty power and low power unless the
OP has a decent UPS unit.

 

[Electric Pickle]

Wattage means little or nothing by itself. A namebrand can mean a
lot. I have been running a 7950GT/512MB and a power-hungry CPU for
many months using an Antec TruePower II 380W. Does your video card
have an auxiliary power jack connected to the power supply? There
are utilities from AMD and probably Intel that will show power
voltage levels while in Windows.

Good luck and have fun.

Just wanted to add also the importance of amperes which is probably
what you were getting at. It's definitely more important than wattage
when running a power hungry system. Watts don't mean shit if you don't
have the amperage.

 

[John Doe]

....

Just wanted to add also the importance of amperes which is
probably what you were getting at.

Well, at least that is how I can tell. I look at two power supplies
rated for the same Watts, but one has twice as many amps for each of
the voltage outputs. By that I know that the wattage ratings are
about meaningless. All you have to do is look at the side panel
labels on various power supplies, like by taking a look at Newegg
pictures (if they still show that).

I think the problem is how they measure wattage/amperage/whatever.
Apparently there is no standard for power supply wattage measurement
so it means little or nothing without knowing more. Another
manufacturer would rate an identical 380 W power supply as a 600 W
power supply, for marketing purposes.

 

[Angry Moth Town]

...

Just wanted to add also the importance of amperes which is probably
what you were getting at. It's definitely more important than wattage
when running a power hungry system. Watts don't mean shit if you don't
have the amperage.

Ok, so my power supply is actually a 550W Sunbeam, and I bought a
power supply tester, and found a small program that monitors voltage
levels, and everything seems to be ok, so I think I'm going to look
for another cause. The reason I looked to the power supply first was
because I'd never seen behavior where even the power and reset buttons
stop working. I guess I'll point fingers at heat next, although that
seems equally unlikely. Thank you everyone!

 

[Paul]

...


Ok, so my power supply is actually a 550W Sunbeam, and I bought a
power supply tester, and found a small program that monitors voltage
levels, and everything seems to be ok, so I think I'm going to look
for another cause. The reason I looked to the power supply first was
because I'd never seen behavior where even the power and reset buttons
stop working. I guess I'll point fingers at heat next, although that
seems equally unlikely. Thank you everyone!

To test processor and memory, try Prime95 from mersenne.org . If
prompted to "Join GIMPs", say No. When you see a custom setup
dialog, leaving the default settings will test a maximum amount
of RAM (but leave little RAM for other stuff to run, so better
for an overnight test). Selecting a smaller total RAM setting,
leaves room for other stuff to run. After that, the program will
run a thread per core. This maxes usage of the CPU, and because
the Prime95 program is doing math calculations with a known answer,
it can check for correctness of operation. That is a good test that
the core of the computer works good. No error reports are acceptable -
you want an error free run.

http://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v255a.zip

For video card testing, a game is as good a test as any. If you
suspect the game itself has a bug, you can use a less demanding
test, like leaving 3DMark2001SE running in its demo loop overnight.
If a computer video card can survive rendering that all night, then
the basic functions of the video card are probably OK. I select
this particular version of program, as the download is only 40MB or
so. Later versions might make a better test, but the download
will be a lot larger.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=99

When a machine freeze, there can be a lot of potential culprits.
For example, at one time, a bad network driver was released, and
it froze a ton of machines. People may have mistakenly blamed all
sorts of stuff, based on what they were doing at the time, but it
was the network driver that was stuffed. Unless a freeze happens
to write an error to the Event Viewer, it can be pretty hard to
figure out the cause, except via indirect testing (i.e. discovering
you have bad RAM).

Paul

 

[mmarkoe]

John Doe/Mark Orrin Benders recent postings:
1. (www.cncircle.com)professionally wholesale sports shoes from
china,main product including:Footwear-sneakers series
(nike,puma,adidas,Jordan 1-24,nike max,nike shox,nike dunk,nike
kobe,nike rift,bapesta,timberland
http://groups.google.com/group/free.spam/browse_thread/thread/6b1753e...
2. MMOFLY is an exchange site designed specifically for game virtual
currencies and items trading.


Here is the Mark Bender, aka John Doe, dossier:


29-10947 Mark
O. Bender
7/25/2007
Dossier


REQUEST OF CLIENT


On July 24, 2007, Martin Markoe with eMicrophones, Inc. contacted
Kelmar & Associates, with the request for a full background/dossier
on
Mr. Mark O. Bender.


SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION


Our office found Mr. Mark Bender's current address is 509 Frost, SATX
78201, to be owned by Ms. Gloria Trevino. There are many rental homes
in this area. Mr. Bender has never owned property. He does not own a
vehicle. He doesn't have a TX Driver's license. He does have a TX
State ID. He has been arrested twice for Assault/Family/Domestic
Violence. Both charges were dismissed. There is a possibility that
the
"Mark Bender" named in the Bexar County Civil case for damages could
be the same Mark Orrin Bender with in this report. The court
documents
would to be ordered at any additional cost to the client.


Custom Comprehensive Report
Date: 07/24/07


Report processed by:
San Antonio, TX 78230
(210) 342-0509 Main Phone
(210) 342-0731 Fax Report Legend:
- Shared Address
- Deceased
- Probable Current Address


Subject Information:
Name: MARK ORRIN BENDER DOB:01/22/1957
SSN: 507-82-xxxx issued in Nebraska between 01/01/1972 and
12/31/1973
Age: 50


Others Associated With Subjects SSN:
(DOES NOT usually indicate any type of fraud or deception)
[None Found]


Comprehensive Report Summary: (Click on Link to see detail)
Names Associated With Subject:
None Found
Others Associated With Subjects SSN:
None Found
Bankruptcies:
None Found
Liens and Judgments:
None Found
UCC Filings:
None Found
People at Work:
None Found
Driver's License:
None Found
Address(es) Found:
1 Verified and 5 Non-Verified Found
Possible Properties Owned:
None Found
Motor Vehicles Registered:
None Found
Watercraft:
None Found
FAA Certifications:
None Found
FAA Aircrafts:
None Found
Possible Criminal Records:
1 Found
Sexual Offenses:
None Found
Professional Licenses:
None Found
Voter Registration:
1 Found
Hunting/Fishing Permit:
None Found
Concealed Weapons Permit:
None Found
Possible Associates:
None Found
Possible Relatives:
1st Degree - None Found
2nd Degree - None Found
3rd Degree - None Found
Neighbors:
1st Neighborhood - 3 Found
2nd Neighborhood - None Found
3rd Neighborhood - 2 Found


Bankruptcies:
[None Found]


Liens and Judgments:
[None Found]


UCC Filings:
[None Found]


People at Work:
[None Found]


Driver's License/State ID Information:


Texas ID Detail:


Name
BENDER,MARK ORRIN License number
20826255 Address
5320 BLANCO #1803 DOB
Jan 22 1957
Class
I City/Zip
SAN ANTONIO 78216 Last transaction date
Apr 9 2003 Last transaction
Original, not permit or MRDL


Above information as provided by state - Our annotations are below
Address (click to find others)
5320 Blanco Rd Apt 1803
City/State/Zip (click to find others)
San Antonio , TX 78216-7052


Address Summary:
509 FROST, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201-3347, BEXAR COUNTY (Nov 2005
-
May 2007)
4210 309 APT B, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201, BEXAR COUNTY (Dec 2002 -
Oct 2003)
4210 FREDERICKSBURG RD APT B309, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201-1912,
BEXAR COUNTY (Jan 1991 - Jan 1999)
5347 BLANCO RD APT B8, SAN ANTONIO TX 78216-7027, BEXAR COUNTY
(Apr 1986 - Dec 1992)
4210 FREDERICKSBURG RD APT B316, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201-1914,
BEXAR COUNTY
7458 LOUIS PASTEUR DR APT 701, SAN ANTONIO TX 78229-4517,
BEXAR
COUNTY


Active Address(es):
MARK O BENDER - 509 FROST, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201-3347, BEXAR
COUNTY (Nov 2005 - May 2007)
Current phones listed at this address:
BENDER MARK (210) 734-3107
TREVINO MICHELLE (210) 736-5743
Property Ownership Information for this Address
Property:
Parcel Number - 08441-026-0240
Lot Number - 24
Owner Name 1 - TREVINO GLORIA C
Address - 509 FROST, SAN ANTONIO TX
78201-3347, BEXAR COUNTY
Owner's Address - 509 FROST, SAN ANTONIO
TX 78201-3347, BEXAR COUNTY
Land Usage - SFR
Total Value - $79,610
Land Value - $13,230
Improvement Value - $66,380
Land Size - 9,000
Year Built - 1926
Homestead Exemption - YES
Exterior Walls - STUCCO
Roof Type - ASPHALT SHINGLE
Air Conditioning - AC.CENTRAL
Heating - FORCED AIR
Sale Price - $0
Legal Description - NCB 8441 BLK 26 LOT
24 & 25 & 26
Data Source - A
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 37
Median Household Income: $38,438
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $47,100
Average Years of Education: 10


Previous And Non-Verified Address(es):
MARK ORRIN BENDER - 4210 309 APT B, SAN ANTONIO TX 78201,
BEXAR COUNTY (Dec 2002 - Oct 2003)
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 30
Median Household Income: $32,417
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $50,100
Average Years of Education: 12


MARK O BENDER - 4210 FREDERICKSBURG RD APT B309, SAN ANTONIO
TX 78201-1912, BEXAR COUNTY (Jan 1991 - Jan 1999)
SANTA FE PLACE (210) 735-8767
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 32
Median Household Income: $18,304
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $91,300
Average Years of Education: 12


MARK O BENDER - 5347 BLANCO RD APT B8, SAN ANTONIO TX
78216-7027, BEXAR COUNTY (Apr 1986 - Dec 1992)
NIMITZ APARTMENTS (210) 341-5285
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 29
Median Household Income: $23,611
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $65,500
Average Years of Education: 12


MARK O BENDER - 4210 FREDERICKSBURG RD APT B316, SAN ANTONIO
TX 78201-1914, BEXAR COUNTY
SANTA FE PLACE (210) 735-8767
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 32
Median Household Income: $18,304
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $91,300
Average Years of Education: 12


MARK O BENDER - 7458 LOUIS PASTEUR DR APT 701, SAN ANTONIO TX
78229-4517, BEXAR COUNTY
SAN ANTONIO STATION (210) 614-3679
Neighborhood Profile (2000 Census)
Average Age: 41
Median Household Income: $31,783
Median Owner Occupied Home Value: $111,800
Average Years of Education: 14


Possible Properties Owned by Subject:
[None Found]


Motor Vehicles Registered To Subject:
[None Found]


Possible Criminal Records:
Texas Arrest Report:
Name: MARK BEDNER
SSN: 507-82-xxxx
Address: 5200 BLANCO RD 407, SAN ANTONIO TX 78216-7074
State of Origin: Texas
County of Origin: Bexar
Party Status: REL'D ON P-R BOND

 

[Fitz]

After the game has been running a while<

Possibly a heat problem. Try removing the side from the case, place a
common house fan next to the case blowing on the graphics card and play
for awhile. If it doesn't crash or freeze, then you've isolated your
problem.

Good luck,
Fitz

 

[w_tom]

Ok, so mypower supplyis actually a 550W Sunbeam, and I bought
apower supplytester, and found a small program that monitors voltage
levels, and everything seems to be ok, so I think I'm going to look
for another cause.  

Correct is to verify power supply 'system' integrity since a
'system' defect can make any other device do strange things.

The power supply testers reports nothing useful. A defective supply
can still be declared good by a tester. Money wasted because the
tester does not report a definitive answer, the tester has no other
useful function, and the tester did not test all components of that
'system'.

A marginally defective supply will only be obvious when under high
load. Power supply tester cannot provide anywhere near to that load.
However a computer is a best load for testing the supply - and the
rest of a power supply 'system'.

A two minute procedure would have answered your questions as posted
in "When your computer dies without warning....." starting 6 Feb 2007
in the newsgroup alt.windows-xp at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh

Most important part of that procedure for your problem are voltages
on orange, red, yellow, and purple wires when multitasking is
accessing all peripherals simultaneously. Just fully tasking the
processor (ie PRIME) is insufficient loading. IOW complex video
graphics, while accessing the internet, while searching for files on
the hard drive, while playing sound on the CD-Rom, while reading a CD,
etc. Only now is a power supply sufficiently loaded to detect a
failure.

What are those numbers? Previously a power supply monitor reported
voltages OK. But what numbers are you using for OK. Reporting those
numbers here will result in further information for the few who even
designed power supplies. And finally, what did you use to calibrate
that monitor. It is a monitor intended to detect change. If not
calibrated, then those voltages can vary too significantly. Just
another reason why money spent on that power supply tester was better
spend on a multimeter - a tool sold in Kmart, Walmart, any hardware
store, Lowes, Radio Shack, etc.

As others have noted, a 550 watt power supply could also be the same
wattage as a 375 watt. Neither manufacturer was lying. Maybe it
should be sufficiently powered. But even a good supply yesterday can
be marginal today. Of the supply could have been marginal when first
built and is only just exposing that defect with age. Two minute
procedure would have detected the defect when the system was new.

Only valid suggestions were those that suggest measuring what you
have - not guessing based on numbers for what you should have. So
what are numbers that caused you to believe that power supply 'system'
is OK? And were those numbers taken only when the system was under
max load - multitasking to everything? Some defects can only be
detected (and cause strange failures) when load is maximum. Putting
those numbers here would have provided more useful information.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message
<b5d029d7-c4f9-4d31-a976-4a8504a7c948@s19g2000prg.googlegroups.com>

The power supply testers reports nothing useful. A defective supply
can still be declared good by a tester. Money wasted because the
tester does not report a definitive answer, the tester has no other
useful function, and the tester did not test all components of that
'system'.

Cheap testers can provide a reliable "bad supply" result for certain
failure modes, but they cannot definitively confirm a power supply is
reliable in all cases.

They're a tool, and if properly understood, the information they provide
is useful.

Unfortunately, they're marketed as being able to tell you when a supply
is good, when in fact, all they can return is "definitely bad" or "maybe
good"

 

[w_tom]

Cheap testers can provide a reliable "bad supply" result for certain
failure modes, but they cannot definitively confirm a power supply is
reliable in all cases.

If spending that much money for a tester, then spend a little more for
the 3.5 digit multimeter that actually says something useful, provides
definitive answers, provides numbers so that other can provide useful
replies, AND has other purposes. There is no good reason to waste
money on a power supply tester. A tool so simple and ubiquitous as to
be available immediately in K-mart, Sear, Lowes, Radio Shack, Tru-
Value Hardware, and Walmart. Just another reason why the meter is a
faster solution.

 

[John Doe]

The vast majority of PC users should not open the case while the
computer is turned on or plugged in to the wall.

If the user (of a modern computer) needs to know voltage levels
while the PC is under load, he (or she) should use a utility while
in Windows.








See also:
"surge suppressor"

 

[RobV]

The vast majority of PC users should not open the case while the
computer is turned on or plugged in to the wall.

Correct. They should open the case with the PC powered off and
unplugged, then power the system up with the case panel removed and
check voltages.

When did the vast majority of PC users appoint you to speak for them?

If the user (of a modern computer) needs to know voltage levels
while the PC is under load, he (or she) should use a utility while
in Windows.

BIOS measurements of voltages are notoriously inaccurate. Even a cheap
DVM will be more accurate, at least enough to see what the PSU is
actually outputting.

w_tom <w_tom1 usa.net> wrote:

Header info snipped

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message
<[email protected]> w_tom

If spending that much money for a tester, then spend a little more for
the 3.5 digit multimeter that actually says something useful, provides
definitive answers, provides numbers so that other can provide useful
replies, AND has other purposes. There is no good reason to waste
money on a power supply tester. A tool so simple and ubiquitous as to
be available immediately in K-mart, Sear, Lowes, Radio Shack, Tru-
Value Hardware, and Walmart. Just another reason why the meter is a
faster solution.

A multimeter won't even power up an ATX based power supply on it's own,
nor will it help you test voltages under any sort of load. I don't know
about you, but I wouldn't plug a suspect PSU into a known-good
motherboard without checking the PSU's output first, at least if it's a
cheapo one.

(Yes, any quality PSU will fail gracefully, without harming other
components. Do you think $30 cases that include 400w PSUs are built for
quality?)

Even on a working system, unless you're suggesting that end users should
poke around in a live system with multimeter probes, I'm not sure what
good a multimeter will do for an average end user.

If you ARE suggesting that an average end user should poke around inside
a live system with a multimeter's probes, I'd suggest that perhaps we're
in completely different realities.

The majority of PSU failures I've personally run into *can* be
identified by a tester, since it's not a matter of one or more voltages
going off spec slightly, but rather, failing completely -- In about half
of the cases I've seen, the power_good never comes up, which can be
trivially tested with a tester -- Could you use a multimeter,
absolutely. Does it look way more technical to pull out a meter and
work on a live system? Definitely.

Honestly, I wouldn't enjoy working without either, the PSU tester to
bring up a PSU without connecting a system and provide minimal load, and
a multimeter to verify the voltages while the system is live.

 

[w_tom]

In message
<[email protected]> w_tom




A multimeter won't even power up an ATX basedpower supplyon it's own,
nor will it help you test voltages under any sort of load.  I don't know
about you, but I wouldn't plug a suspect PSU into a known-good
motherboard without checking the PSU's output first, at least if it's a
cheapo one.

(Yes, any quality PSU will fail gracefully, without harming other
components.  Do you think $30 cases that include 400w PSUs are built for
quality?)

Even on a working system, unless you're suggesting that end users should
poke around in a live system with multimeter probes, I'm not sure what
good a multimeter will do for an average end user.

If you ARE suggesting that an average end user should poke around inside
a live system with a multimeter's probes, I'd suggest that perhaps we're
in completely different realities.

The majority of PSU failures I've personally run into *can* be
identified by a tester, since it's not a matter of one or more voltages
going off spec slightly, but rather, failing completely -- In about half
of the cases I've seen, the power_good never comes up, which can be
trivially tested with a tester -- Could you use a multimeter,
absolutely.  Does it look way more technical to pull out a meter and
work on a live system?  Definitely.

Honestly, I wouldn't enjoy working without either, the PSU tester to
bring up a PSU without connecting a system and provide minimal load, and
a multimeter to verify the voltages while the system is live.

 

[w_tom]

A multimeter won't even power up an ATX basedpower supplyon it's own,
nor will it help you test voltages under any sort of load. I don't know
about you, but I wouldn't plug a suspect PSU into a known-good
motherboard without checking the PSU's output first, at least if it's a
cheapo one.

No minimally acceptable power supply must ever damage any computer.
No computer will damage that power supply. Reasons why and
redundancies that make such failures virtually impossible are
numerous. What must the human do to make that fear real? The ill
informed human is so naive as to use $20 power supplies. Supplies that
'forget' to include many essential functions. How curious. Same
people also recommend a power supply tester. No one who builds
reliable computers would use a $10 or $20 supply. Where bad practices
are advocated, then also recommended is a power supply tester.

Why is the OP waiting for a power supply tester to be delivered?
Because most people don't waste money on foolishness and don't buy
miracle cancer curing drugs based upon a TV commercial. The meter is
available in most every town, does everything the power supply tester
would do - and much more. Whereas the power supply tester might see a
defective supply, the meter may identify the defect every time. Why?
Metert provides numbers. Meter can even test a power supply that is
not connected to any computer. DevilsPGD lied when he said,
"multimeter won't even power up an ATX basedpower supplyon". He also
lied when posting, "nor will it help you test voltages under any sort
of load".

Testing under load is exactly why the meter is so useful AND exactly
what a power supply tester cannot do. Again, the electrically niave
is making recommendations. I have no patience for posters who would
lie this blatantly due to ignorance.. Too many gnerations of design
experience have contempt for such lies. He did just that - lie to
recommend the power supply tester.

. Why waste money on a tester that has no other function? The OP
must wait for it to be delivered. Tester cannot even provide a useful
answer. After using the power supply tester, a meter must still be
used.

Smarter people use the meter which is why meters (not the tester)
are found in Lowes, Radio Shack, Wal-mart, K-mart, Sears, Home Depot,
and any properly stocked hardware store. Power supply tester is so
expensive and so pathetically limited as to be sold special order as a
'magic box'. Every reason for recommending the tester is wrong
headed. But a power supply tester can quickly identify an electrically
uneducated human. That is its best function.

Buy my "shammerly". Its a magic device that can pound nails. But
you must wait for it to be delivered. The minimally educated human
would instead buy a better device - a hammer - downtown where
multimeters are also sold. The "shammerly" is recommended by same
reasoning that recommended a power supply tester.