Low power supply causing hangs?

[microboft]

Okay due to ****erdad as he's affectionately known, i was forced to get my new pc custom built from a shop.
ati radeon 64meg ddr
T-bird 800
133hz 128meg ram
big hdd etc

now, i installed everything fine with my ps/2 mouse, everythign working games drivers etc, but i plug my intell i mouse explorer in (lite thing :)) and it hangs.

Now for the best bit, i have a 230 watt supply after i specifically asked for a 300 watt one. Is there any other possibly reason for the system to hang completely as it does aside from power?

The shop said something along the lines of "Oh No its not the power" which im damn sure it is.

Help much appreciated. Oh I', also running winme, s'ppose best try the latest drivers then. But I bet they dont work either.

[werewolf_bite]

I would doubt the mouse would draw enough power to cause it to hang, it's more likely a driver probelm i'm afraid :(

The intellimouse explorer only draws 100ma (about twice that of a normal mouse).

Although with a 230 PSU you are very likely to have problems if you add another hard drive or CD/cdrw/dvd drive

Have you got any other mouse software installed?
I ask because i was getting crashes due to a conflict between my logitech mous software and my M$ mouse software, the M$ wasn't smart enough to warn me of the possible problem, but the later version i downloaded was.

[[HLnC]Jay-Dee]

i had winme on before i got an optical intellimouse and when i tried to install the drivers it had one of them things where it says not designed for this version of windows
i clicked details and it told me this
[b]After the IntelliMouse software has completed setup, follow the below procedure to enable full functionality for the USB IntelliMouse Explorer in Windows Millennium Edition. If your mouse does not use the computer's USB port, these steps are not necessary.

Click Start, click Run, type msconfig.exe, and then click OK.
In the System Configuration Utility dialog box, click the Win.ini tab, and then click the Plus ( + ) sign to the left of the folder [Compatibility95].
Under the [Compatibility95] folder, select the line POINT32=0x00000002, and then click Edit.
Change the line to POINT32=0x00080002.
Click OK, and then click Yes to restart your computer.
After your computer has restarted, click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click Mouse, and then click the Buttons tab.
In the Device field, verify that IntelliMouse Explorer is selected, and then click OK.

[Calzor Suzay]

Which version of the mouse drivers where you using?, The 3.2 retail (http://www.microsoft.com/products/hardware/mouse/driver/3_2/default.htm) ones from MS have WinME support.

[[HLnC]Jay-Dee]

the cd that came with mine says Intellipoint 3.1
i suppose i might as well upgrade then

microboft
does the mouse work if u put it into the ps2 port using the little green adaptor that u get with it ?

[Cara]

Are you sure your psu isn't 230v but output is 300w, It's
a common mistake to look at the psu switch on the back of the computer and think that it is the wattage when it's the voltage. Maybe you do have a 300w psu after all?.
Also if you have proof you asked for a 300w and they gave you a 230w then they have to supply you with what they promised.
Oh and make sure the usb is enabled in the bios if it's a usb mouse.
GL.

[NumbNutz]

AMD reccomends that you use a 300W PSU when using their processors. I'd seriously reccomend that you get hold of a 300W AMD approved PSU besides any drivers that you may change. They cost less then £30 and are a doddle to fit. Lets face it, a new PSU will cost less than the moose!

[microboft]

i was being a fool there, what it is is irq conflicts.

And ive got so many i cant get rid of them :(

and due to stupid shop cant swap slots round or i break the warrenty. grrrr. any ideas on irq conflicts?

[Murchin]

make a note of which is in each slot, and then if it does go wrong put them all back, but slot hopping is your easiest fix. Dont worry about the psu AMD does recomend 230 watts anyway, it all depends on the quality.

[NumbNutz]

IRQ stands for InteRrupt ReQuest. The hardware in your PC has to talk to the CPU, it cannot all do this at the same time. To keep things in order, different bits of the hardware are assigned an IRQ so that when they communicate with the CPU they do so in an orderly fashion. In older systems, each piece of hardware was assigned an IRQ and this was a rigid structure with no sharing allowed. Nowadays, a good BIOS and W98 can handle more than one item with the same IRQ. This is sometimes reffered to as "PCI Steering".

The above staatement may not be exactly correct but that is the basic premise of IRQ's.

OK, so onto your system and the system hangs with the USB moose. You should make sure you have the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. For example the VIA "4 in 1" drivers help with IRQ sharing assigment and sharing multiple items with the same IRQ. If your motherboard has the option (my ABIT KT7 does) make sure you set the BIOS to have "PnP OS Enabled". This will allow the operating system to control the IRQ's along side the BIOS.

You should be able to see the conflicts in your system if you right click on "My Computer" and then select "Properties" and then "Device Manager". Look down the list of installed hardware and look for any conflicts. These would be indicated by either yellow exclamation marks or red crosses. Right click on these items and check what it says about any conflicts.

Arrrgh! I hear you cry - B"ut I cannot do this as the system hangs". Fear not, leave the USB moose plugged in but also stick in a PS2 moose so that when you boot into "Safe Mode" you can still work.

See if you can determine the conflict from the Device Manager, you may even be able to change the IRQ of a device with a conflict from these screens. Be carefull though, make a note of what items you change manually so that you can put them back in case of more problems.

As for the hardware itself, moving cards in the PCI slots can make a difference. You might find that if you move your sound card from one slot to another you free up an IRQ. I know it sounds daft but moving your cards can help. It's also worth noting that you may get problems with cards placed next to the AGP and ISA slots. The reason for this is that PCI #1 (next to the AGP slot) and the slot next to any ISA slot will more than likely be sharing an IRQ already. Having cards in these slots can cause problems so it might be best to move any cards you have out of these slots.


And due to stupid shop cant swap slots round or I break the warranty

What a load of old tosh! It seems that you have more than one IRQ conflict and this will be because the PC hasn't been setup correctly in the first place. I would suggest to them that if you are not allowed to take any action yourself due to warranty restrictions, then they are saying they take responsibillity of the PC and it's well being. Consequently the shop should be looking to ficx the problems for you. If they don't then the PC is not "fit for purpose" and is un-usable under the Sales of Goods act.

If you do have one IRQ conflict, then you might be able to resolve it via software tweaks in the Device Manager. However, if you have more than one, this will very likely require cards being moved inside the PC. I really do think it's gonna be a case of opening the machine up to move things around. Sorry :cry:

[microboft]

M8, you have been the greatest help I have yet seen. I stopped trying to fix it for a few hours and am now back in full force.

I've sorted out the bios properly (thing i facked it last time) and am formatting and about to install me, ive took the usb ports from having an irq and from my dos boot up read outs i appear to have one more conflict between s/c and some acpi thing (dunno what that is) so when i boot up winme ill be able to find out a bit more.

More news as i get it me thinks :)

and thank yuo all for help :)

[microboft]

Okay

Ive disabled my usb ports, enabled the pnp os thingy, and disabled apci and now according to the dos read out nothing is sharing a port, installing winme now

[ybw]

If the problem is still there after your format and reinstall, then I suggest that you remove all of your cards bar the essentials(gfx card..), and get one thing working at a time. This means that you can still replace the rest of the cards in their correct slots, and that should at least keep the shop happy.

Good luck

[[HLnC]Jay-Dee]

u didn't answer if the usb mouse works in the ps2 port using the supplied adaptor

i would recommend disabling your COM (serial) ports in the bios if they are not in use to free come IRQ's :)

also if your parallel port is on 'ecp' mode that uses an IRQ too
change it to 'epp' because that doesn't need an IRQ :)

[NumbNutz]

I've just been looking at a problem on my PC (unrelated to yours!) and the FAQ I've been looking at has some interesting articles.

Things like :

Why don't my USB devices work?
What is ACPI? Should I enable it?
How do I avoid IRQ conflicts?

.....which you may find very helpfull. The FAQ is all about the ABIT KT7 and KA7 motherboards but the topics discussed and solutions suggested will be of use to yourself.

To access this great piece of work, click here (http://go.to/kt7faq). I hope that you get your system up & running, let us know how you get on. :)

[[HLnC]Jay-Dee]

by the way acpi is something to do with advanced power management i think

standby. suspend etc.

[microboft]

Right

after much fiddling all of it works

the network sent 2 gig over no probs

the radeon is playing games at stupid speeds

the sound card is blasting out stuff

one slight prob, i ended up using a com port mouse cus ps2 died somehow too.

i also took it to the shop, paid them 50 quid to let them do it

then half an hour later went back and said id have another go :E

And now its alive weeeeeeee!