Soyo SY-K7V Dragon Plus! minus 5 volts

[skyhawk]

SY-K7V Dragon Plus! mobo
AMD Athlon XP 1400+ pcu
Via KT266A Chipset
256MB RAM
Seagate 40GB x 7200rpm HD

Turned on Smart Guardian and immediately got alarm for -5 volts. Default alarms are set at 10%. Is the -5 volts adjustable? Is it a mobo problem or a power supply problem? The -5 volts is being detected at -5.8 volts and setting off the alarm.

Am on my 3rd HD with this 2-month old system. 1st 2 just disappeared. Their presence simply stopped being detected by the system. Could this have anything to do with the HDs being "vaporized"?

Thanks for any input.

[BipolarBill]

Good question. All of my Soyos were a little "off" in the 5V arena. Most of them died, but I never lost a HDD. They are on the 12V rail and shouldn't be bothered.

That voltage is considered an acceptable variance. I would expand the alarm window a little - not too much though.

[skyhawk]

Thanks BiPolar Bill. I did try expanding the limits a little--up to 17%--but it didn't last long. I set it to 20% and now I only get a short beep once in a while. It seems to be a very unstable voltage. I may have missed it in the manual, but I didn't see what the acceptable limits are. Is this voltage supplied as -5v by the power supply or is it derived from the 12v supply somewhere on the mobo?

[iconoclastic]

Don't know enough about the SOYO boards problems but can think of a few reasons that the power supply could be flaky
and it might start at your house wireing take the time to verify that the circut breaker load is not out of spec both at the breaker box and the wall outlets
remember the power companies can be pluse or minus as much as %10 and it can damage a mov power supply also check you pwer supply fan to see if it functioning properly

[BipolarBill]

20% is a wee bit too much. Have you tried Motherboard monitor?

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

See if it reads differently.

[skyhawk]

I'll try MBM and see what I get. Thanks.