Is 250W PSU the problem?

[shmily2much]

so i recently had my PSU go out, and it was a 250W and i went ahead and ordered another one (hoping that was all that was wrong) a 500W. It hasn't come in yet, but i was given a PC that had a HD crash, but the PSU was working fine. It was 250W. i decided i would stick that PSU in my PC and keep out the graphics card, and not hook up my DVD drives to the PSU and only hook up the original HDD and try to put the crashed HDD as slave to format it. i also unplugged all other USB cables from the motherboard, and have 512MB PC3200 RAM installed. but for some reason, when both hard drives are connected, the PSU won't power on at all. when i only have the Master connected, it powers on fine. is this a PSU problem, or is there something i'm missing when connecting both HDD. i figured with everything else unplugged 2 HDD would be fine for this wimpy PSU, but am i wrong?

 

[jsc]

Without all of the specifications including the original and replacement PSU's, I can't tell.

But I know that I would never put less than one of these:
Corsair 400CX (30 amp 12 volt rail)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
into any computer I ever built.

 

[wa1]

Never ever use a crappy low power PSU for your system, it can fry anything inside your case, as jsc said: use a good brand like corsair, ocz, antec, silverstone...

 

[shmily2much]

Without all of the specifications including the original and replacement PSU's, I can't tell.

But I know that I would never put less than one of these:
Corsair 400CX (30 amp 12 volt rail)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139008
into any computer I ever built.

the original PSU specs are:

+5V/25A
+12V/14A

and temp PSU specs are:

+5V/18A
+12V/10A

i never tried having 2 HDD on original PSU either.

it seems like it should do fine, the HDD i'm using are:

Master:

WD 320GB +5V/0.68A, +12V/0.55A

Slave:

Barracuda 160GB +5V/0.72A, +12V/0.35A

and i tested both HDD separately, the PSU powers on fine with either, but somehow not both.

 

[shmily2much]

Never ever use a crappy low power PSU for your system, it can fry anything inside your case, as jsc said: use a good brand like corsair, ocz, antec, silverstone...

is Cooler Master a decent brand? i read reviews and it seemed to be a decent choice.

 

[wa1]

yes, cooler master is one of the good brand...

 

[shovenose]

Cooler master is a better than average brand. Some of their psus are great and some are only mediocre, and cm in general isnt as good as corsair or antec but theyre fine.