sonic209 said:
Scorpei said:
Well you said it worked once right? Try what I suggested to you a while back, simply try using the machine with no HDs attached (and such). Simply build up from there if it runs at that point. It could be that the 250 is really simply running short (30W really isn't much you know though 65% efficiency might be a slightly low guestimate). Deattaching things from the machine should help. Naturally though components that are needed at least are the CPU, motherboard and videocard. Try those, and then those in combination with your boot HD only.
Also as for your other question to disable ur onboard vid card. There should be an option in your BIOS saying something like:
Onboard VIDEO [ENABLE/DISABLE] or
Primary video adapter [PCI/PCI-E/*]
Then select PCI-E (probably)
You might also need to disable it in windows (friend of mine had that problem).
it already is on PCI and im going to try to run the video card by removing the dvd drive
just to let you know here are some of my specs
Processor:AMD Athlon X2 4800
Optical Drive

VD/CD Burner with Lightscribe Technology
Memory:3G
Hard Drive:320GB
Graphics:NVIDIA Geforce 6150 SE Graphics(onboard)
EDIT:is there anyway i can just turn off the optical drive without having to unplug it
no! you have to unplug it otherwise its still using power!
@Scorpei you will know that servers dont need a graphics card either or a burner or a massive processor anything else much really apart from hard drives and a board and even get away with a low mhz processor to run from they don't even need a screen hence 90w psu will suffice just fine
start adding big graphics cards dvd/cd burners monitors etc it will obviously draw more power moreso if they monitor is connected to the back of the tower for power and not direct to mains socket! (oddly enough a lot of machines still have this plug through on the psu for monitor power!
Under load such as games playing etc will draw more ... you can add it all up as much as you want ...but every systems different they will all draw different amounts under different strain, different usage!
An AMD Athlon X2 4800 and a 320gb drive on their own will still draw a lot from a tiny 250watt PSU even without doing a great deal else!
so check ...is your monitor/screen connected to the mains direct or looped through your tower?
400 - 500 watt seems overkill for an average system but it covers you plenty for adding more stuff later