Enermax Liberty *Problems*

UTGamer

n00b
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
48
Ok, so I got this powersupply yesterday: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004. to replace my old one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159053 (sad, I know.) It will RANDOMLY (less than 10% of the time) power on.....in my room. Most of the time it will power on/off really quickly and kicks the circuit breaker. If I take it to a different room (on a different circuit breaker) it will power up perfectly EVERY time. Now if I hook up my old Coolmax powersupply, it will power up regardless of the room I'm in. I've tried everything combination I can think of by switching around different number of HDDs, fans, etc. The computer itself is not the culprit (I don't think.) The rig in question is in my sig. The house is new (built this year, so I really doubt the power is the issue---although possible.) Only odd thing I've noticed is the breaker is ACFI ( http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/afcifac8.pdf ) whereas the others are not. Doesn't mean much to me, hopefully it will to one of you guys, haha


I'm at a complete loss---any ideas?
 
V3|!UM said:
...sadly that enermax is a POS.

What's sad is that you took the liberty (hey, a pun!) to make that assumption based on one, single, solitude experience.

OP:

Similar problem?

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1039480

It's not defective. It's power factor correction. Although a second unit may not have the same effect because it only takes the frequency of the input voltage to be off by .1Hz for the problem to go away.
 
A little bit off topic..but are the Silverstone Strider 600W (the one V3|!UM suggested) and Enhance ENS-0560G 600W EPS SLI 2Xeon Power Supply the same thing? I know enhance is the OEM for silverstone but is the price difference only because of the brand name?
 
Yes. It is.

And Silverstone is pissed that MA Labs did Silverstone like that. The PSU's were supposed to be OEM for system builders, but you can't trust MA Labs (aka eWiz) to not gray market their own grandmother.
 
Wow....sounds exactly like my problem.

Oh well, guess I'll get a UPS w/ AVR..... :eek:

Thanks JohnnyGURU! :cool:
 
Don't talk out of yer azzez....the Liberty is a damn good power supply.
 
I've been running a Liberty 500 with my X2 4800+, 2gb memory, Asus A8N32-SLI, two 74gb Raptors, two 250gb Seagates, X1900XTX for the past couple of months. The PSU has performed FLAWLESSLY. It's rock solid and silent. I've had OCZ, PC Power and Cooling and many others, but this is my favorite PSU thus far.
 
welp then i must have gotten a bunk unit.I switched out the liberty with a really old 431 Watt Enermax. I put the 20 pin - 24 pin ATX adaptor on it and BAM! i am golden. everything is working and i got a solid oc of 2,250mhz using GENERIC ram!
I did put on a divider thoguh i think it was 166mhz w/ FSb of 250. i am afraid of pushin it any higher with such a low wattage PSU.
 
Well, my third Liberty 620 just commit suicide on me. Luckily, I still have my old Jeantech Arctic 600, so I'm not stuck. The PSU is connected up through a surge protector. And each one failed differently; first one blew up in a big way when i first switched on its main power switch and tripped the breaker (cloud of smoke was kinda cool), second blew in the middle of a BF2 game, loud crack, no smoke and no breaker, and finally.... the third one: main switch was ok, but as soon as i switched the PC on there was a crackling and then nothing! Gonna RMA it yet again tomorrow, and, if this one fails I'll try for a refund. BUT, I would NOT recommend this PSU to anybody.... it's just too unreliable. I've never had to RMA anything so often.

-Antho
 
jonnyGURU said:
Something's up.

Yeah. Three dead units to one person.....chances are mighty slim. Me thinks there is another underlying issue also.
 
Spectre said:
Yeah. Three dead units to one person.....chances are mighty slim. Me thinks there is another underlying issue also.

But, if there is an underlying problem why hasn't my Jeantech Arctic 600 had any problems? Bought the Enermax for more stability when I go crossfire(2 PCI-E supplies vs 1 on the Arctic). So, only difference on the system is the more powerful 620w PSU??
 
i have the 620 and it's fine. Not one issue.

3 power supplies going bad on one person, highly unlikely. I think you might have some other issue
 
Check your input power, try another circuit, pull your components from the case and make sure nothing is shorting out. You could be experiencing an undervoltage condition on your AC line. Hard to tell, but three dead seems really suspect of another under lying problem.
 
Not sure why you're upgrading from the Jeantech... I don't have any complaints about their product.

But I'm curious, was your Jeantech a PFC unit or non-PFC? Where are you located and what should your input voltage be?
 
jonnyGURU said:
Not sure why you're upgrading from the Jeantech... I don't have any complaints about their product.

But I'm curious, was your Jeantech a PFC unit or non-PFC? Where are you located and what should your input voltage be?


Actually, was only upgrading from the Jeantech to the Enermax because of a mis-diagnosed MB fault! But also wanted the higher amperage on the rails for a crossfire setup. The Jeantech is a PFC model This review persuaded me to pick it. May just stick with it and stick the rma'd enermax on ebay.
 
Ok, so I got this powersupply yesterday: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817194004. to replace my old one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159053 (sad, I know.) It will RANDOMLY (less than 10% of the time) power on.....in my room. Most of the time it will power on/off really quickly and kicks the circuit breaker. If I take it to a different room (on a different circuit breaker) it will power up perfectly EVERY time. Now if I hook up my old Coolmax powersupply, it will power up regardless of the room I'm in. I've tried everything combination I can think of by switching around different number of HDDs, fans, etc. The computer itself is not the culprit (I don't think.) The rig in question is in my sig. The house is new (built this year, so I really doubt the power is the issue---although possible.) Only odd thing I've noticed is the breaker is ACFI ( http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/afcifac8.pdf ) whereas the others are not. Doesn't mean much to me, hopefully it will to one of you guys, haha

I'm at a complete loss---any ideas?

UTGamer,

I can verify that ACFI is part of or completely your problem. I have a 2 year old home that has this ARC protection built into the circuit breaker switches for my bedrooms only. Every time I press power, the ARC protection trips my circuit breaker before my finger leaves the power button. After talking with an electrician, he told me this is common problem with ARC protection and some high end power supplies. He even told me light bulbs about to go out can also trip the arc protection.... it's very sensitive. That being said, I also was running the power supply fully unloaded but connected to my 1200VA UPS and 75% of the time, my UPS would momentarily trip. To me this is telltale signs of a bad PSU.

I have noted that there is a ROHS and non-ROHS version of the PSU and I have seen that there seems to be an unusually high number of bad reviews with respect to the ROHS version of the power supply. Don't know if this is coincidental or not.
 
id go for the zalman hp if you want modular its the same psu as a 700w OCZ gameextreme but seems cheaper and modular! tons of cables and a cool heatpipe in the back to keep it nice and cool.. i also own the strider 600w silverstone and its cool too i never trusted any enermax psu's.
 
Ive been threw 1 Enermax liberty, friend went threw two, similar systems, though he has x-fire and I have hard drives, both of us not using liberty's anymore. I'll vote for not using one. (mine even went out with a bang + sparks..)
 
I can now add myname to the ranks of those who have had a Liberty 620 explode. It was pretty spectacular - sparks and smoke and the smell of burning electronics.:eek:

I'm waiting on a replacement - in the meanwhile, should I expect this to have damaged my MB or any other components? What should I look for beyond obvious failure?
 
hehehe funny stuff i have no idea if there was mobo damage id guess No but who knows.. one thing for sure i wouldn't be using that pSU again!
 
The new one they sent me was different than the one I sent back. I'm guessing there was a revision done- obviously Enermax knows there were a lot of failures on these. Mine took nothing with it, and if it goes again, I'll replace with something else (warranty actually ran out last week).
 
Mines been rock solid since I bought it a year ago. As are the 3 that I got for friends. Must be real bad luck.. or something else thats burning them up for you.
 
Mines been rock solid since I bought it a year ago. As are the 3 that I got for friends. Must be real bad luck.. or something else thats burning them up for you.

I thought exactly the same as you until Christmas Eve when mine literally exploded in a spectacular light show. The RMA process was quite easy and pretty damned quick considering the holidays. The new one is humming along nicely (just as the old one did until the last moment). My guess is cheap capacitors going boom.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaizer View Post
Mines been rock solid since I bought it a year ago. As are the 3 that I got for friends. Must be real bad luck.. or something else thats burning them up for you.
I thought exactly the same as you until Christmas Eve when mine literally exploded in a spectacular light show. The RMA process was quite easy and pretty damned quick considering the holidays. The new one is humming along nicely (just as the old one did until the last moment). My guess is cheap capacitors going boom.

Well my 4th Enermax Liberty 620 has been running problem free for about 8 months now (touch wood) but the whole RMA experience has put me off any future Enermax purchases.
 
I know DFI threw the 620 off their recommended power supply list... sounds like there are issues... My 520 has been awesome so far
 
the whole RMA experience has put me off any future Enermax purchases.

I'm glad I found an Enermax thread that hasn't been closed/locked yet.

About 3 months ago I replaced an Enermax Liberty 400w on a friend's computer. Last night my wife's uncle called and said his system stopped working. It turned out to be a dead power supply. Both users had systems built by me... both systems are around 3-4 years old (well the case/power supply was). I built both systems with Antec full tower cases that came with Antec SL-350 power supplies. Both Antec power supplies died within a week of each other. Both power supplies were replaced with Enermax Liberty 400w power supplies.

My friend is running a s939 system with 2 HDs, 1 DVD-RW, 3 case fans, stock HSF, and a 7800 PCI-e videocard (with no additional add-in cards - onboard NIC and sound). His first Enermax Liberty was only 3 months old before it died.

My wife's uncle is running an older setup... AMD Barton 3200, 1HD, 1DVD-RW, 2 case fans, some aftermarket HSF (w/80mm fan), and a matrox G400 video card (also using onboard sound and nic). His Enermax lasted almost 6 months.

I'm staying away from Enermax for a while... never had issues with them in the past. As a matter of fact, my file server is running on an older 550W Enermax (24/7-365 for the last 2 years - with the occasional reboot for O/S updates) without issue.

The RMA process that I go through with MAXPOINT COMPUTERS (Enermax's rep for RMAs) sux azz. Aparently, they don't need to know details, or serial numbers... they just need a copy of the invoice (with a date to see if it is within warranty).

This leads me to believe one of two scenarios.

1. Enermax is freakin AWESOME and they will warranty their products without question! That's kinda hard to swallow, knowing how many people THINK they know about computers, and RMA parts that test out just fine (I used to work for a computer company and helped develop their trouble shooting procedures because of the many returns that turned out to be just fine... just too many "computer gurus" who didn't know how to diagnose stuff, and figured they'd replace parts until they fixed their problems)

or

2. Enermax knows that they have issues with recently produced power supplies failing, and the guy responsible for RMA issuance is tired of asking people to verify that the Enermax power supply is at fault.
(I tend to believe option 2, you probably should too)
 
Back
Top