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In the site:
Regarding the
price of the MT300 (300 Watt replacement PSU), that is in fact a PSU that
offers over 35% more power than the SL220s - but if the SL220s are still
under warranty then you shouldn't have to pay anything for that replacement.
I had a 20 month old Antec SmartPower 350W power supply (came with the
Antec case) give up on me Friday morning.
Lightly Loaded Test
You might suspect the real problem is a simply a computer requiring massive
power.
And since I
don't have strength to go into another argument with sales people, Antec will
probably continue its existence as dust collector on my shelf for old
components.
Needless to say, I have a hard time believing all
the hype in the trade literature about Antec power supplies.
But who has guilt for those parts broken?Who?Antec or my distributor?
So I call in Holland to speak with tech support from Antec.
I know the power supply is not being overtaxed because the box is a micro motherboard with a relatively slow CPU and the el-Cheapo power supply is of a lower wattage.
With the original gforce4 video card installed, USB devices
reconnected, and the CPU busy encoding a video file, the power consumption
shown is only slightly over 100 watts.
Yes there was an
incompatibility issue between the early versions of the NeoHE power supplies
and certain Asus motherboards, but both parties have modified their products
to work fine together now.
I believe that there should be a class action
lawsuit brought against Antec because they have to know what is going on.
If Antec released a new REVISION of the HE, and ASuS did not refer
to ANY BIOS flash that solved an incompatibility issue with Antec power
supplies, I am assuming that it is ALL Antec's issue.
Since I wrote you last to tell you about my experience
with them, I have had 6 more power supplies fail.
So I got back to the
store, argued with the salesperson a while (regard for consumer's rights is
still not very high here in Serbia) and eventually got my replacement PSU.
Antec Power Supply Trouble
Update: Many people have reported
this same problem with other motherboards.
Luckily my supplier has stopped replacing the failed supplies with Antec
supplies, so maybe I'll get over this problem now !!
Rgds,
Bruce.
Aside from venting some personal
frustration, my hope is also that this page will serve a constructive
purpose to warn other Antec customers about this problem, possibly
solving troublesome problems, hopefully before they cause data loss.
It was after I received the last hard drive that still exhibited problems
that I decided to check the voltage at the power connector and found that it
seemed a little low at 4.
The funny thing that I wanted
to mention is that the failed Antec Power Supply still passes the test at
my local electronics store.
Update: The Asus A7N8X motherboard,
which is installed in this system, powers the CPU from the
5 volt line without using the 12 volt input much.
I might
not even still be bitter by then :-)
I should quickly mention that the Antec Sonata case (in the photo)
is one of the quietest computer cases I've ever heard.
After two and half years use my Antec 380SP gave out loud pop sound and
died which I guess was due to a capacitor failure.
Measuring the voltage on an unused drive power connector, which obviously
doesn't have any current flowing in the wires, gives an accurate reading of
exactly what voltage is being produced by the power supply.
have you bought a 2nd PSU to replace the 2 other failed or are you waiting an answer from antec?
Rgds,
John F.
Well, it's costing me
a fortune!
They will replace any power supply that is (1)under warranty, and (2)can
prove purchase date.
The day after installing I checked the space
above the power supply as I had to decide if I would mount an extra harddisk
there or not.
My first Antec True power 430
lasted for 1,5 years and the warranty replacement True power 480(They were
nice and gave me bigger one because 430 were not available) lasted 10 months.
I decided to replace the factory original 250 watt power supplies that came
with the generic ATX cases because of the high fan noise and to increase the
overall available power as I plan to add additional hard drives in the near
future.
I already replaced the power supplies in BOTH my
customers machines with power supplies from retired Dell GX workstations, and
the Minuet case is MUCH MUCH happier, and cool I might add.
Antec has failed to reply to my concerns regarding an inherent
defect with the type of capacitor used in these units (Fuhjyyu and Teapo)
they have RMAed me twice the same model and both exhibit the same issue --
high pitch whine then computer reboots on it's own after a couple of days.
And as for
service, Antec sells through retail stores like CompUSA that have service
departments, but once sold, the convenience of the company apparently trumps
the convenience of the consumer.
My first thought was vid card so I bought
a new vid card that didn't require additional power, plugged it in and
it I was back up.
I HATE ANTEC AND THE BOAT THEY
ARRIVED ON!! I would rather pack all these up and send to you for further
investigation then waste money sending to Antec.
However, I need to use
my PC in the mean time, so I have to go buy another power supply before I can
take them up on their offer.
The troubleshooting continued and I began to notice electrical crackling
and feedback coming through the speakers and I really started to worry
about a bad mobo or power supply damaging my CPU.
Sadly, lots of websites still
recommend Antec as a top-quality brand and people only seem to find
this little web page after their Antecs dip to 4.
When the system went into standby, it would reboot and if
unattended, this would continue until it was manually powered down.
The system in these two photos runs
an AMD Athlon 2600 processor, 1 gig ram, one 120 gig hard drive, two cdrom
drives, one scsi card (for one of the cdrom drives), a matrox g400 video
card, a cpu fan and one 120 mm case fan (from the dedicated fan output of
Antec's power supply).
Because this problem is so insidious, and it's caused me grief not once but twice
now, I've written this rant to help warn others about Antec's 5 volt output.
I put it together and got a
warning from the power manager that there was abnormal voltage activity.
Engineers and overclockers know that CMOS chips operate at their highest performance
when their power supply voltage is at the upper end of the usable range, and when the
chips are cold.
The power supply is about 15 months
old and I was having a hard time believing that this could be the problem.
Have previously
used cheap power supplies with no problems after several years use - have
yet to have one fail.
Is there a possibility in launching a class action lawsuit against antec?
-Joe
Many thanks for placing and maintaining your Antec PSU resource
online.
I replaced the dead power supply with the second, replacement Antec and let it run, without the covers on for about 2-3 hours.
well i be damned
psu crapped out so i go out and buy another antec psu a 430w truepower install
it and everything is fine for about a year then today all of a sudden u will
never guess what happened? yep u got it graphics corruption, restarted pc about
12 times before it decided to boot for me still have not heard the click whirl
of the hd's shutting down but i expect it soon.
hi there fellow unlucky antec user in my search for other people who have had
this problem i have found you.
The hard drive (tried several) made a sound
like it was powering up and then back down several times during the boot
process.
Here is a photo of the screen on the second computer to the plagued
by this Antec voltage inadequacy.
Replacing it with a different power supply (even one with
a lower rated power) fully solved the problems.
The NeoHE power supplies worked fine on other brand
motherboards and also the Asus motherboards worked with other models of Antec
power supplies.
Certainly a single AMD 2600
CPU, 2 dimms, 1 drive, 2 cdrom, 1 card and 2 fans is a moderate load for a 380
watt power supply.
I can't understand how Antec can advertise more than 80,000 hours MTBF in
their spec sheet for this PSU.
I asked where on the Antec Store site, because
I explained I had looked under the power supply category and had not found
the product.
After months of reloading software and drivers, and replacing hardware, all
that remains is the motherboard and power supply.
Charles
Australia
Your web site is well written and describes my exact experiences with Antec power supplies.
In fact, a salesman at Fry's yesterday, upon my trip there to purchase a
replacement, strongly suggested an Antec.
I was planning to just go and buy another Antec PSU, but after reading
the info on your site, there was no way in hell I was wasting my money
on their product again.
I got an RMA number from Antec but they expected me to pay postage
overseas for 2KG PSU!! no thanks I wouldnt want another Antec PSU
anywhere near my system anyway.
I am running
SCSI hard drives on my computer with an Adeptec 29160 controller card and the
thing that I noticed when the computer would hang was that the motor in the
boot drive (C:) would spin down and then back up again constantly as though it
was loosing power.
I can set you up for an RMA to get the newest
revision of the NeoHE power supplies to take care of the problems you are
experiencing with this combination.
Hi Paul!
December 2005?
I just installed two new Antec 380 watt power supplies in my two existing
personal computers.
New (identical) power
supply was installed and almost immediately the same problems continued
until the other day the second PS went.
My system with an Antec Tru480 recently started hanging and
sure enough it's 5V line reads out between 4.
or create a link to this page to help others find it!
Maybe you have dozens or hundreds of Antec's running perfectly and you went to
every single health monitor screen to verify their voltages? Maybe you own just
one Antec that's working perfectly, but you're a fan of Antec?
Maybe someone from
Antec may someday read this and want to comment, or offer an explanation or apology?
Feel free to contact me by email, and if you like I'll post your comments at the
end of this page as appropriate.
But when I checked the power settings at start up I found several went out of
spec when my additional hard drive was hooked up.
In December 2005, when building a new PC, I purchased an Antec
SLK3800B case along with an Asus A8V Deluxe.
Unless I can get some assurances that this
problem has been fixed I will not be buying Antec power supplies for this
computer or any that I build in the future.
The best I can do is
serve my customers well by replacing the defective product with OTHER THAN
ANTEC.
Prior to that computer
was making strange noises on startup which I now believe was the hard disks
struggling to spin - perhaps due to low voltage?
I thought Antec were a reputable brand but having experienced the failure
and read your comments I will not be buying Antec again.
That display showed the power
consumption at approximately 75 watts with the computer configured as shown
in this test.
my little story started with a video card upgrade going from a nvidia gf3 ti200
to a ati 9700 pro a couple of years ago the psu that came with my case was not
powerful enough for all my stuff so i then upgraded to a antec truepower 550.
After a full month being engaged in a back and forth RMA
process with Antec, I can firmly state I will never buy anything from their
brand again.
When the PC is off it slowly heats up, when I turn
it on the air blowing out the power supply is hot (and it smells a bit in the
beginning).
Poor Power = Poor Reliability Strange Problems
My point is that a drooping 5 volt power line, running at 4.
- Ben Sprague
Hello:
I am in the process of replacing the second Antec power supply in a box I put together about 18 months ago for one of my daughters.
The SL220 power supplies are no longer available for purchase because
they have been discontinued.
Maybe it was a fluke, but my Antec is still alive and
kickin with no random crashes that I can think of.
What
could be so proprietary about any power supply? Either it has the correct
voltages, or it doesn't.
Thank you again for the help :D Brian
Hi Paul,
I discovered your site Friday while searching the net for info
regarding Antec power supply failures.
Since you have not been doing business much in the past with
our overseas competition, I can only say I hope it won't be too painful for
you to discover why Antec is known for having much better service than them.
I clicked page 2 and I didn't see a
picture of the power supply, so I asked him where it was on page 2.
Cliff
Delft, The Netherlands
I have read your article on problems with the Antec True Power supply.
com
----- Original Message -----
From: Robin Ballard
To: 'Roscoe - Antec CS'
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 11:39 AM
Subject: RE: WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM ANTEC
Roscoe,
Attached to this reply is a photo of all the Antec product that is in my office
because it is defective.
As far as paying you that rip off price to
replace the power supply, I will be able to get much better service purchasing
new microtowers from Newegg and they will cost less than the power supply on
your site.
The power-up button now has to pressed several times each morning
before it actually starts the POST and boot processes.
To be fair, it's quite possible Antec knows about
this problem and has already fixed it, or soon will fix it in newer models.
Asus did not modify anything about their motherboards to make them
compatible with a power supply! They would most certainly deny that.
After searching the web and
reading your article along with other sites, apparently Antec has a problem
with this one.
THEN I WAS
SHOCKED BY THE RIP OFF PRICE! I have only sold 4 of those cases and ALL 4
power supplies died.
On the other
hand, it's measuring somewhere on the motherboard, where the power is
actually consumed after being delivered through wires, connectors and
traces on the circuit board, all of which likely reduce the voltage somewhat
due to resistive losses when current is flowing.
php?p=355865&sid=44edf40df813ba64a0020db128556ec3 And sure enough upon opening my Antec 430, it had bulging capacitors
(Fuhjjyu brand) just like the photo shown in the link above (scroll down
that page).
What does Antec think I am going to do with the replacements
they send? Put more defective products into my customers machines? Not even
IF hell freezes over!
Attached is a picture I took and sent to Antec of their failed product and
the email corerespondence with them FYI.
Update: Eric provided a link to
this discussion (with photo) of Antec's use of poor quality capacitors which causes this problem.
You know I just never expected a problem with the power supply since its
fairly new 12 to 18 months old and it a component that I would really expect to
last for the life of the system.
The
first supply Antec 450 watts and was still in warrant but I made the mistake
of opening the unit before checking warranty status.
She did say that
they were having problems with Antec products, but it wasn't them who had
the issue, it was Antec.
Using one of these failed Antec power supplies puts all chips that
rely on the 5 volt power at their worst operating condition.
After replacing or swapping many other components, I finally discovered
the power supply was at fault.
com
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 5:54 PM
Subject: Re: WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM ANTEC
Dear Robin,
Given the amount of trouble you seem to have had, I am not surprised that
you are upset.
Feedback Welcome
Perhaps I was unlucky? Twice! Perhaps you're experiencing similar Antec power
problems? If so, please speak up.
My antec SL350 watt psu
pulled this trick on me and is now on it's way back for replacement, but I
figure I will just buy a better unit instead.
Next morning i got up and turned on the
pc, nothing happend! then i could hear a whining sound that lasted a few
secconds before a loud hiss and white smoke started pouring out the back of
the power supply at a great rate of knots, i quickly turned it off at the
wall but it took a while for it to stop spewing smoke everywhere.
After a couple of weeks I decided I couldn't bear the coil-whine (however
faint - it probably wouldn't add any dB on a noise-meter reading), and the
Nexus went back in, where it remains, quite happily powering a system that
is theoretically on it's ragged edge.
A couple of the hardrives were giving me weird issues that I figured were caused
by a stressed 300watt SparklePower PSU-- so I decided to get a 500watt PSU
on sale at Frys.
The following email correspondence
with Antec should explain my whole problem and the shoddy business practices
that Antec employs.
So I emailed Antec and received prompt attention; they would replace it within
a week to 10 days after the unit was shipped to them.
These power supplies are in the picture:
2 SL220's (D03063828513, D03063828857) on top of a PP-412X (21006462)
4 SL300S (I03123350257, I03103355894, 20013813, 20039652)
NEO (D04084969370) on top of a NEO HE (S05090013260)
(((((check out how long it took them to reply to my last email.
Also, how on Earth could Antec get
constantly high grades at reviews??
My system: * Asus A7N8X2.
I'm in Australia, and have an Antec Sonata case with Antec True Power 380
with an ASUS A7N8X motherboard.
I then purchased an Antec True Power 430 and it is now causing
startup problems after 17 months of service.
What is the most troubling about it, however, is that
cheap manufacturing IS NOT limited to the power supply!
Returning these power supplies to Antec for replacement is not an option for
my company.
For sending the RMA documents to
Antec, you can send them to me instead so I can make sure it gets taken care
of promptly.
com
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 2:57 PM
Subject: WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM ANTEC
To Whom it May Concern;
My name is Robin Ballard.
(Spare Parts? OK didn't know power supplies were spare parts, but
ok!) I then asked where from there, because it wasn't on page one of multiple
pages.
Antec Power Supply Trouble
Im glad to see a site detailing the problem with antec PSU just wish Id
found it before I brought an antec PSU.
My PC is decently strong for what I do (CAD
programming), but is by no means a gaming beast, so Antec should handle it
with ease.
I have an Antec 380W supply which gave
my PC (very similar setup to the one you've displayed) strange behavior.
However, after a few days I realised something was bugging me, and it turned
out it was *coil whine* coming from the Antec.
If you believe the system health monitor readings are accurate, it's clear that some voltage
is lost as the current is delivered to the chips on your motherboard, which makes
an under performing power supply output even more serious.
Next, the SL220's I have looked and looked for compatible power supplies and
have failed to find suitable replacements.
So I very MAD about ANTEC because their power supply has burn my MB,
video card,and 2 hard drive!!!
So.
only power supply i have around is a 300w generic psu said what the hell took
out the antec installed the generic booted up.
Anyway I ran the Antec tester on it and saw the fan on the TP430 was
idling rather than spinning and pushing air around.
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