Need a little help. No power to drives

[Mitchell_10]

I know this is old tech, so don't laugh.

Current rig is an HP XW4600 Workstation. Core2 Quad Q9300 @ 2.5gHz 6gB RAM. Win Vista 64

Have been running dual 24" monitors. Looking to add a third. Minor gaming. Nothing serious. Mainly need the real estate for working.

Found a good deal on a used pair of NVidia GeForce GTX550Ti cards and a Raidmax RX-850ae power supply. Everything was operating in a running computer when I picked them up.

As usual when changing things, one piece at a time. Reboot and make sure it works before moving on to the next. Installed the power supply. Hit the switch, fan starts and things light up. HP screen comes and goes. BIOS screen comes and goes. Then comes the Non System Disk Error. Please insert boot drive and hit any key.

Go to the settings page and no drives are listed. Apparently the drives aren't getting any power. I tested with a volt meter and get the proper voltages. Reinstall the old supply and it fires right up and loads Windows perfectly.

Any ideas? The only thing I can think of is the power supply needs to have the PCIe power cables connected before it supplies power to the drives, but that really doesn't make sense.

 

[Calculagator]

HP might have some non-standard connectors somewhere in there. I'm not sure on this model.
I would definitely try to use the original PSU. Those old HP workstations used pretty good PSUs. I would think they would be MUCH better quality than anything Raidmax. The OEM PSUs should also be overbuilt enough to make using adapters perfectly safe if you need an extra connector to get both GPUs functional.

 

[Mitchell_10]

HP might have some non-standard connectors somewhere in there. I'm not sure on this model.
I would definitely try to use the original PSU. Those old HP workstations used pretty good PSUs. I would think they would be MUCH better quality than anything Raidmax. The OEM PSUs should also be overbuilt enough to make using adapters perfectly safe if you need an extra connector to get both GPUs functional.

The reason I picked up the P/S with the cards is because of the wattage. My original is only 450 compared to the 850 on the Raidmax. Surely the two GPUs are going to require more than my original can provide.
As far as connectors, I didn't see anything weird.

 

[Mitchell_10]

Finally figured out my PSU problem. Getting no voltage to the drives. Not because of the PSU. The proper voltages are present at the modular connections at the case. I can only assume the cables aren't the originals that came with the supply.

I am going to try and pull the wires from the modular connector and align them properly just to get everything up and running. However, I will be buying a new supply.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

That workstation uses a proprietary power supply.

Standard ATX won't work.

 

[Mitchell_10]

That workstation uses a proprietary power supply.

Standard ATX won't work.

How so? The housing is a bit different, but it has the same 20+4 connector, the 4 pin CPU connector, SATA and Molex connectors.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/xw4600-PSU-upgrade-problem/td-p/5049689
Scroll down.

Yes you need an HP power supply. Or you need to be good at sodering and moving around wires on pinout connectors.



HP uses different voltages in its pinout than what is normally seen with ATX power supplies. An ATX supply can blow out your components if you havent fixed the voltage pinouts, so be careful.



Check the Spare Parts section for your particular computer, and see what the replacement power supply part number is. Then look for it online. Also, you can look at your computer's service manual in order to compare the hp power supply pinouts to the ATX pinouts. Then you can embark on a modding journey if you'd like.

 

[Mitchell_10]

Hmmm.

So far the computer fires, just no drives present. I will get the VOM out again test all of the voltages again.

The SATA harnesses are wired differently than what is required. The 12v and 5 v wires are in the wrong holes. The 12v one is in a blank spot! lol

 

[Mitchell_10]

This is what the service manual shows on Page 159 Connector pin descriptions for the 24-pin main power cable connector.

1 +3.3V
2 +3.3V
3 GND
4 +5V
5 GND
6 +5V
7 GND
8 POK
9 +5 Vaux
10 +12 V-B
11 +12 V-B
12 Unused
13 +3.3V
14 -12V
15 GND
16 PS_ON_L
17 GND
18 GND
19 GND
20 GND
21 +5V
22 +5V
23 Unused
24 GND

Here are the voltages of the Raidmax

1 3.3v
2 3.3v
3 GND
4 5v
5 GND
6 5v
7 GND
8 POK
9 5v
10 12v
11 12v
12 3v
13 3.3v
14 -12v
15 GND
16 PS ON L
17 GND
18 GND
19 GND
20 Not Used
21 5v
22 5v
23 5v
24 GND

The only differences I can see are 3v on pin 12 which is not used, the pin 20 slot is empty, and 5v is on pin 23 not used.

When I get a chance I will shut down the comp and measure the voltages on the OEM supply.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/xw4600-PSU-upgrade-problem/td-p/5049689
Scroll down.

Yes you need an HP power supply. Or you need to be good at sodering and moving around wires on pinout connectors.



HP uses different voltages in its pinout than what is normally seen with ATX power supplies. An ATX supply can blow out your components if you havent fixed the voltage pinouts, so be careful.



Check the Spare Parts section for your particular computer, and see what the replacement power supply part number is. Then look for it online. Also, you can look at your computer's service manual in order to compare the hp power supply pinouts to the ATX pinouts. Then you can embark on a modding journey if you'd like.

 

[Mitchell_10]

Disconnected the OEM supply and got the numbers shown from the service manual. I don't see how the noted couple of minor differences would damage my motherboard. AS I said earlier, the computer fires up, just no power to the drives, an issue that I have solved.