My first reaction was to curse everyone and everything in sight.  Then I decided it was time to improve the home office.  What I needed was a combination Uninterruptible Power Supply / Line Conditioner.  The UPS part acts as a battery, keeping your computer running during a total powerloss.  The line conditioner part keeps the power at a steady level, protecting against brown outs (too little power) or surges (too much power).

The trick is finding one that is dependable, has enough power to handle your system, and is affordable.  I ended up purchasing the Tripp Lite HT1000UPS 1000VA USWith LCD for only $126.50 new. These things weigh a ton, so always factor in shipping.

My Tripplite unit arrived and set up easily. It had no trouble handling my 750watt power supply and 22″ monitor. You can stand it up vertically or horizontally as shown.  Don’t bother connecting all the audio/video shielding unless you’re running a home theater system.  Since installation I’ve averaged one bad power condition per day, not once losing my desktop.  A small price to pay for a little extra piece of mind.

Function: The card functions by inserting it into an available PCI slot.  While the manufacturer claims it will work in “Any motherboard with an open PCI slot”, we found this not to be true.  On the few pre-Pentium 4 motherboards tested, the card prevented the computer from booting.  Once the card is installed, connect a power supply to the motherboard, along with a cpu (and heatsink), ram, keyboard, and a video card.  The card will work in fully assembled systems as well.  Press the power button, or temporarily short the power header pins to begin the boot sequence.  Alphanumeric codes will begin to flash on the 3 displays of the Soyo Card, and a sequence of LED’s will light up.

The LED’s have multiple functions.  The first LED should flash momentarily and then go off.  If it doesn’t, that could mean a bad powersupply, reset switch, or improper grounding of the case to the motherboard.  The other LED’s should stay lit and indicates proper voltage on each voltage rail. If the computer boots successfully, a display of “00” will be shown.  Any other reading indicates an error.  The last POST code displayed is the last function successfully executed.  If the boot fails, you have to look up the code in the included book containing 3 different sections corresponding to your bios type, Award, AMI, or Phoenix.

Test Results: I only had one bad motherboard lying around to test, along with several new motherboards.  The new boards all booted with a proper “00” code.  The one bad motherboard, an Asus P5B premium, became the test subject.  By removing various bits of hardware we were able to produce different failure codes. 

In the case of the Asus board, I knew the issue had to do with the keyboard.  Despite trying both USB and PS/2 connectors, I could not get the computer to boot.  Nor could I hit the delete key to play with the bios settings.  The board ultimately stopped posting with an error code 37, which in AMI BIOS POST Code listings shows “Display mode set”.  Since that is the last graphics card entry, it tells me everything tested before, including the graphics card, was fine.  Looking at Error Code 38, “Different BUSes init (input, IPL, general devices) to start if present”.  Right after that error code is the position where you hit the “DEL” key to enter setup.  So there was the error, input device failure preventing bios from reaching the point where you press the “DEL” key.  Since it wasn’t a keyboard error, it had to be a physical motherboard error or corrupt bios.  Either way the board should be RMA’d.

Conclusion: In practice this card has limited applications where it would be useful.  New systems that won’t boot and field units that have failed are the 2 scenarios that come to mind.  Unfortunately, the only issues that can be fixed are limited to ram, cpu, and graphics card.  At least you will know why your board won’t post, even if you can’t fix it.  If enough failed boards are analyzed, the card can also generate statistics on what is failing.  As soon as you get a known error code that is an issue for that board, you can stop testing. That should make RMA’s easier.  Best use of this card would be for someone that has to check a stack of motherboards to decide if they are good or not.

COOLMAX PS-224 LCD Power Supply Tester @ Newegg.com

Features of the Tester: 

ATX 24 pin test
8 pin and 4 pin Molex test (motherboard)
6 pin Molex test(pci-e)
4 pin Molex test(IDE power cable)
SATA power connector test
Floppy drive power header test
P.G Test (Power Good)*

*Many people wonder what the Power Good Value means. It’s simply the time in milliseconds from when the supply is turned on, to when the actual voltage is applied. Motherboards also have a Power Good rating that tells them how long of a delay to wait before checking for the proper voltages.  Both values should be similar, and usually are.

Use:
1. Plug the 24 pin ATX connector into the Power Supply Tester. This powers the unit for all tests that use the LCD
2. The LCD screen should turn blue, and you will probably hear a beeping from the test unit. This is normal. The beeping is because the +12V2 cable is not connected yet. Any flashing voltages, or the letters “LL” or “HH” displayed indicate an error.
3. To stop the unit from beeping, connect either the 8 or 4 pin motherboard Molex connector, or the pci-e 6 pin Molex connector. You will now see the “LL” under 12V2 replaced with a proper voltage.
4. The SATA and IDE power tester connections are located on the sides of the unit. There are 3 green lights corresponding to the +12v, +3.3v, and +5v that will light up if the proper voltage is detected.  You should disconnect the 24 pin ATX connector before conducting this test.

Accuracy: The claimed accuracy of the Power Supply Tester is +/- .1 v. In practice the actual measured voltage may vary depending on the power supply model. Below is a comparison of 2 power supplies, the Power Supply Tester Voltage, and voltage as measured with a voltmeter. 

As you can see, voltages differ at most +/- .41 from the voltmeter readings, except for the 4.5 vs 5.11 reading on the Thermaltake 500w +5v rail.  Obviously, if you get a bad reading, further checking with a voltmeter may be in order.  I checked a few other Thermaltakes 500w and got similar readings.  I believe the discrepancy is cause by the +5v having a load on it used to check the P.G value, which the volt meter doesn’t add.  For general use I think this tool can be a good quick power supply checker for building new systems and examining old systems.

Problem 1: Some cases like Lian Li use metric screws.


On the left is a Lian Li Thumb screw.  On the right is a CoolIT Screw.  You can see the difference in threads.  2 of these screws are required to secure the CoolIT fan to the top of your PCI brackets.  Unfortunately, CoolIT does not provide you with alternate screws for different cases if their stock ones don’t fit.  The solution is to completely remove the 4 screws supplied by CoolIT.  For the bottom screws, use motherboard hex standoffs, you probably got a few extra with your case. On top of that use your Lian Li Thumbscrews.  Simple, but effective.

Problem 2: The CoolIT fan is secured to the metal using cheap sticky tape.

The Cooling Booster is composed of two major assemblies: the fan and the PC mounting bracket. Unfortunately, the fan is mounted to the PC metal bracket with 4 pieces of doubled sided sticky tape.  This method of holding the fan to the bracket often fails before you even open the package.  The failure causes the fan to detach from the bracket.

Corrective Action:

Two holes will be drilled into opposite corners of the metal bracket. These holes will be placed such that they allow the use of appropriate screws, nuts and locking washers to secure the fan to the metal bracket.

Instructions:

1 – Identify the two corners that will be drilled for the screws. See picture.

2 – Place a strip of wood under the corner of the metal frame that is to be punched. 

3 – Use a punch inserted through the plastic fan (using the existing holes as a guide) to prevent the drill from walking during drilling.

4 – Again using a strip of wood under the metal frame to take up slack, and using the existing fan holes as a guide, drill 2 holes through the metal frame with a #19 drill bit.

5 – Remove all sharp edges from holes using a countersink on other side.

6 – Blow clean.

7 – Secure fan using 2x 6-32 x ½” screws and 2x 6-32 kep nuts (Hex with Tooth Washer). [Do not over tighten.]

Modded Fan to Fit Lian Li Case

CoolIT SYSTEMS FC-1001 PCI Slot Case Cooler